Mykola Krychevsky
A watercolourist whose life reads as an itinerary. Son of Vasyl Krychevsky — the man who drew the trident and the first banknotes of the Ukrainian People's Republic. The father drew a state; the son spent his life painting other people's embankments.
He worked in the Kyiv theatre, then in Uzhhorod. From July 1923 he lived in Prague, from 1929 in Paris. He commanded gouache, oil and tempera, but became famous as a virtuoso watercolourist, able to spend hours in any weather painting Paris — light, almost weightless, full of damp air.
His works assemble into a geography of exile: Uzhhorod 1923, Provence 1932, the Seine 1936, Brittany 1947, Venice 1949, New York and Ontario 1956.
Born 24 November 1898 in Kharkiv; died 11 September 1961 in Paris. Buried at Bagneux Cemetery.Collection11