Paintings of Mykola Krychevsky to be exhibited at The Ukrainian Museum (02/07/99)

Paintings of Mykola Krychevsky to be exhibited at The Ukrainian Museum

by Marta Baczynsky

NEW YORK - The paintings of Ukrainian artist Mykola Krychevsky (November 24, 1898 - September 11, 1961) will open at The Ukrainian Museum on Saturday, February 20, for two weeks, until March 7.

The paintings are on loan from the Krychevsky family collection. The exhibition is billed as a "farewell exhibit" to the works of the artist. Following this exhibition and a short showing of the paintings on March 10 at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, they will be permanently relocated to museums in Ukraine. The opening reception is scheduled for Sunday, February 21, at 2 p.m.

Krychevsky was born in Kharkiv, into a family of artists and art scholars whose contributions have made a deep impact on the development of the arts in Ukraine in the early 20th century. His father, Vasyl H. Krychevsky (1873-1952), was an outstanding architect, painter, graphic artist and an enthusiastic student and collector of Ukrainian folk art. He was also the founder and first president of the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts in Kyiv. Fedir Krychevsky (1879-1947), Vasyl's brother was one of the leading figures in Ukrainian art, a prolific painter, as well as respected teacher of the arts.

Raised in a sophisticated environment of creative energy, it was inevitable that Mr. Krychevsky would choose to express his creativity through the arts. Initially he studied art with his father. As a young man he expressed a great interest in the theater and was, for a time, an actor at the Sadovsky Theater, the first Ukrainian resident theater in Kyiv in the 20th century. In 1919 Mr. Krychevsky left his native Ukraine and lived in Prague for several years, where he completed his studies at the School of Industrial Design. In 1929 he moved to Paris, where he lived for the rest of his life.

Ultimately Mykola Krychevsky became a noted painter, but throughout his creative career he expressed himself in different art techniques. He worked as a theatrical scenery designer and painter (Prosvita Theater, 1921-1923, in Uzhhorod; Théatre Hébertot, 1924; and Théatre des Arts, 1939, in Paris, as a wood engraver, as a book illustrator, and in other art forms. Painting, however, was his favorite mode of expression.

Krychevsky painted in the neo-impressionist style. His most prolific output was in watercolors with which he embraced the grace and charm of Paris and Venice, the countryside and in later years, when he traveled across the Atlantic, the American landscape.

Critics called his paintings "fresh, clear and bright." A French critic wrote: " With an always narrative but sensible brush stroke, the small pictures of this artist are works of a quiet and amiable charm" (Denis Chevalier, France Illustration, 1948). Another wrote: "Krychevsky - a painter of poetry. His watercolors posses a clarity and retinue, a limpidity which is not common for the artists of today" (Maurice Rostand, 1951).

Reviewing one of Krychevsky's exhibitions in the U.S., Peter Andrusiw wrote in America (1965): "The works of M. Krychevsky are skillfully executed, and easily understood by their viewer. Krychevsky is a master in the technique of watercolor, which he uses like a virtuoso." One of the unique characteristics of Krychevsky's work is that even his oil canvasses have the lightness of watercolor.

Mykola Krychevsky exhibited his work in numerous one-man shows in major cities of the Western world on both continents. Most of his exhibitions, however, were presented in many famous galleries of Paris. Mr. Krychevsky left a legacy of more than 7,000 paintings, which remain in museums and private collections throughout Europe, the United States and Canada.

The Ukrainian Museum is honored to be able to present an exhibition of watercolors and oils of artist Krychevsky. Although these works will shortly find a new home in museums in Ukraine, here they will be photographed and the images of the works will be preserved in the archives of the Museum's Fine Arts Collection.

For further information, please contact The Ukrainian Museum, 203 Second Ave., New York, NY 10003; telephone, (212) 228-0110; fax, (212) 228-1947; e-mail, [email protected]; or; http://www.brama.com/ukrainian_museum

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