Mykola Krychevsky

For all his passionate love of Paris and France, Krychevsky always remained a Ukrainian in his heart. French art critics used to write about his subtle Ukrainian sensing of the world, pointing out the mellow poetical mood of the artist’s water-colors.

Valentyna Ruban-Kravchenko, art-historian

Mykola Krychevsky was a French-Ukrainian watercolorist, master of lyrical landscape, and representative of the famous Ukrainian artistic dynasty of Krychevsky.

The artist was born in Kharkiv on November 24, 1898, to the family of the outstanding Ukrainian artist Vasyl Hryhorovych Krychevsky. He went to Kyiv Fourth Gymnasium (High School) during 1908-1917. He started his artistic education at his father’s studio at the Academy of Arts in Kyiv (1917). From 1926 to 1929, Krychevsky was a student of the Prague Artistic and Industrial School (Prof. A.Hoffbauer’s studio). In 1929 he moved to Paris for permanent residence. There, he joined the local Ukrainian artistic community, “The Ukrainian Group.” During World War II, the artist enlisted in the army as a volunteer. Upon the end of the war, he resumed his artistic endeavors, with his favorite subjects being the landscapes of the Pont Neuf (New Bridge) in Paris and the Seine embankment. From 1948, Krychevsky started going to Venice twice yearly for plain-air sketches. From 1954 on, he visited the families of his brother Vasyl Krychevsky (Junior) and his sister Maria Kobakhidze in the USA. He died in Paris on September 11, 1961. He is buried at the Bagno Cemetery. M. Krychevsky’s artistic heritage numbers about 7 thousand works, mainly landscapes painted in a post-impressionistic manner.