KRICHEVSKY Vasily (Vasil) Grigoryevich

December 31, 1872 (Vorozhba, Kharkov province) — 1952 (Caracas, Venezuela)

Painter, graphic artist, scene-designer, architect, master of decorative and applied arts

Vasily Krichevsky was born to a family of a feldsher; he was a brother of the painter Fedor Krichevsky, and father of the artists Nilokay and Vasily Krichevskys. The artist studied in the district school in Lebedyn, in Kharkov Railway Technical School, where he acquired first drawing skills. Krichevsky took lessons of drawing and watercolour by the professor S. I. Zagoskin at Kharkov Technological Institute.

The artist lived in Kharkov, in Kiev (since 1906), in Caracas (since 1943). Since 1892 Krichevsky worked as an assistant of Kharkov architect Alfred Shpigel, later — as a designer at the Roads and Buildings Service under the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov Railroad and at the Design bureau of the architect A. N. Beketov. Krichevsky was one of the inventors of the so-called Ukrainian national style in architecture. A lot of buildings were built on the artist’s projects, in particular the house of widow of the engineer Gostinnopolsky (1890), the building of Shopping arcade (1890s), Krichevsky’s own house in Kharkov (mid-1900s), the House of Poltava Province Zemstvo in Poltava (1903), the Tenement house on Streletskaya street in Kiev (late 1900s — 1910s), T. G. Shevchenko Memorial Museum in Kanev (1930s) and others.

Krichevsky was engaged in painting, easel and applied graphic art. He painted Ukrainian views: outskirts of Kharkov, the village of Vorozhba, Lebedyn, Kiev; in late period — mountain landscapes of Venezuela and views of Caracas. Krichevsky performed the designs of bookplates; he also worked as a cinema artist, and as a book illustrator. In 1916–1917 he collaborated with Odessa and Kiev film studios; designed 12 films. In 1913–1915 he worked as an art director in the weaving workshop in the village of Olenevka near Kiev.

In 1917 Krichevsky was one of the founders of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts (since 1924 — Kiev Fine Art Institute), where he became a professor, and in 1917–1941 he delivered lectures on architecture and composition. Krichevsky created and designed the symbol of the Ukrainian People’s Republic — Trident — by the order of the Central Rada.

The artist took part in the exhibitions of the Society of Russian Watercolorists in St. Petersburg (1899–1902). During Soviet period Krichevsky showed his works at the exhibitions of the Ukrainian Association of plastic arts (1918), at the exhibition For help victims of flood in the Western Ukraine in Kiev (1927), at the All-Ukrainian exhibition dedicated to the 10th anniversary of October Revolution (1927), at the Exhibition of Ukrainian book graphic art in Kharkov (1929), at the Exhibition of modern Ukrainian graphic art in Lvov (1932) and others.

Aside from creative work, Krichevsky studied Ukrainian culture during all his life; he became Doctor of Arts in art history. Krichevsky saved up considerable collection of works of folk art. He also worked on the album of peasant’s houses of Ukraine. Krichevsky was one of the initiators of foundation of T. G. Shevchenko Museum in Kiev.

In 1943 the artist together with his family immigrated to Paris through Lvov, Bratislava and Augsburg; in 1948 he moved to Venezuela. Vasily Krichevsky was buried in the cemetery in Bound Brook in the USA.

In 2007 the retrospective exhibition of the artist was held in New York.

Works by Vasily Krichevsky are in many museum collections, including the Ukrainian Museum in New York City, the Museum of Cultural Heritage in Kiev and others.