MYKOLA VASYL KRYCHEVSKY (1898-1961). - Lot 107

MYKOLA VASYL KRYCHEVSKY (1898-1961). Market scene (Ukraine?). Etching and aquatint. Signed in pencil in the margin. 21.2 x 26.8 cm (bowl). Unframed. Mykola Krychevsky was born in Kharkiv in 1898. A Ukrainian painter, he is best known for his watercolors of Paris and Venice. His father, Vasyl Hryhorovych Krychevsky (1873-1952), a renowned architect, painter and graphic artist, was also a passionate student and collector of Ukrainian folk art. He was also one of the founders and first presidents of the Ukrainian National Academy of Arts in Kiev. As a young man, Mykola Krychevsky showed a keen interest in theater and became an actor at the Sadovsky Theater, the first resident Ukrainian theater in Kiev. In 1919, Mykola Krychevsky moved to Prague, where he lived for several years. It was here that he completed his studies at the School of Industrial Design. In 1929, he moved to Paris, where he lived until the end of his life. Mykola Krychevsky worked as a theater designer and painter (Théâtre Prosvita, 1921-1923, in Oujhorod; Théâtre Hébertot, 1924; and Théâtre des Arts, 1939, in Paris). He also worked as a wood engraver and book illustrator. Mykola Krychevsky painted in the neo-impressionist style. His watercolors are the most prolific, expressing the grace and charm of Paris and Venice, the countryside and, later, during his travels across the Atlantic, the American landscape. Critics have described his paintings as "fresh, clear and luminous". One French critic wrote: "With a brushstroke that is always narrative but sensitive, this artist's small paintings are works of quiet, amiable charm" (Denis Chevalier, France Illustration, 1948). Another wrote: "Krychevsky - a poetic painter. His watercolors possess a clarity, a finesse, a limpidity uncommon in today's artists" (Maurice Rostand, 1951). One of the unique characteristics of Krychevsky's work is that even his oils on canvas have the lightness of watercolor. Mykola Krychevsky left a legacy of over 7,000 paintings, held in museums and private collections in Europe, the USA and Canada. The artist died in Paris in 1961 (This biography is based on an article by Marta Baczynsky, published in The Ukrainian Weekly, February 7, 1999, no. 6, vol. LXVII).