OBITUARY: Halyna Krychevska-Linde, artist and daughter of renowned architect (09/17/06)

OBITUARY: Halyna Krychevska-Linde, artist and daughter of renowned architect

by Heather Fernuik
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - Halyna Vasylivna Krychevska-Linde, an artist and daughter of the renowned Ukrainian architect and artist Vasyl Krychevsky, who is credited with preserving his works during World War II, passed away on April 4 in her home in Caracas, Venezuela.

Perhaps Ms. Krychevska-Linde will best be remembered and honored for her relentless fight for freedom from oppression and heroic preservation of Ukrainian national art, architecture and ideals. In the face of constant destruction, she saved lives, memories, paintings, books and a piece of Ukrainian national identity. -Born in Kyiv in 1918 to Prof. Vasyl H. Krychevsky, the renowned Ukrainian architect, artist, teacher and scholar, and his second wife, Yevheniya M. Shcherbakivska, sister of the two famous archeologists Vadym and Danylo Shcherbakivsky, Ms. Krychevska grew up in a fertile environment of Ukrainian national thought and culture that shaped her life's artistic and patriotic contributions.

As a young girl, Ms. Krychevska displayed a natural aptitude for languages and assisted her mother in translating archeological and other documents from German, French and English to Russian and Ukrainian.

Upon completion of secondary school, Ms. Krychevska entered the National Academy of Art and Architecture, founded by her father, to study architecture and painting. The beginning of World War II interrupted her formal education.

In 1937 Ms. Krychevska-Linde married engineer-geologist Ivan Ivanovych Linde in Kyiv.

During the Nazi occupation of Kyiv, Ms. Krychevska-Linde utilized her architectural drawing skills in the Department of Agriculture and Nutrition, Section of Agrarian Reform. Rather than cower at the Soviet-inflicted destruction of art, architecture and human lives, the attempted eradication of everything Ukrainian, Ms. Krychevska-Linde, at great personal risk, actively led anti-Nazi resistance efforts.

Prior to the forced exodus of 1943, Ms. Krychevska-Linde had the foresight to send many of her father's paintings, drawings and other artwork ahead to Lviv. Ms. Krychevska-Linde then aided her parents and family in escaping to safe havens in Lviv, Austria, Paris and ultimately, Venezuela.

Without Ms. Krychevska-Linde's heroic efforts, the continued creative work of Vasyl H. Krychevsky until his death in 1952 and the return to Ukraine of over 300 pieces of his artwork in 2003 with the generous aid of Michael and Nataliya Bleyzer would have been impossible.

Once in Venezuela, Ms. Krychevska-Linde worked from 1961 to 1981 as the executive assistant to the agricultural attaché at the United States Embassy.

Ms. Krychevska-Linde never ceased studying and learning, despite her failing health in later years and immense personal challenges. She studied Japanese for over a decade. At the time of her passing, she was fluent in 10 languages.

A prolific artist, her elaborate embroidery pieces, original patterns for hand-made tapestries, ceramics and paintings have been exhibited in Ukraine, Austria, France and Venezuela. Ms. Krychevska-Linde painted the Holy Protectress image in Caracas's Ukrainian Orthodox church in 1952.

Ms. Krychevska-Linde manifested her undying devotion to her family not only in her courageous efforts to ensure their escape, but also in laboriously caring for her parents until their deaths. She loved to educate her children and spent countless hours translating scholarly articles on various topics and in writing Ukrainian-Russian-English-Spanish dictionaries for family and friends.

Ms. Krychevska-Linde was preceded in death by her husband, Ivan (1961), her daughter Irma (1974), and her granddaughter Beatriz (2005). She is survived by three children, Myroslava, Oksana and Vasyl, nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Note on the Krychevsky family

Vasyl H. Krychevsky (1873-1952) is revered in Ukrainian history for his tremendous contributions to the formation of Ukrainian national identity and numerous accomplishments, among which are: his creation of Ukraine's famous trident emblem designed for the young Ukrainian Republic on September 22, 1918, and still used today; his codification of a distinct "Ukrainian" architectural style, embodied in his award-winning "Poltava Zemstvo" design (1903); his elaborate decoration of the State Theater edifice; his design of tombstones for Ukrainian luminaries, such as Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky and Mykhailo Hrushevsky; and his design of the memorial museum near Taras Shevchenko's grave.

While much of the world knows the Vasyl Krychevsky's family through the writings of his stepson Vadym Pavlovsky (son of Krychevsky's second wife) and the artistic work of Krychevsky's descendants (two artist-sons, Mykola and Vasyl, and daughter, Kateryna Krychevska Rosandich) from his first marriage with Varvara Marchenko Krychevska, few are aware of Krychevsky's second family by Yevheniya M. Shcherbakivska and their migration from Kyiv, to Caracas.

Halyna V. Krychevska, Krychevsky's only daughter and child from his second marriage, remained with her father throughout his life, protected his legacy, and carried on his quest for a free Ukraine and richly established national Ukrainian identity.

Heather Fernuik is assistant editor of Action Ukraine Report (AUR), published in Washington.

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