Vasyl Krychevskyi
Василь Кричевський
1873–1952 · Vorozhba, Kharkiv region
Pioneering painter, architect and graphic artist; a founder of Ukrainian Art Nouveau; designed the trident state emblem and banknotes of the UNR (1918); emigrated, died in Venezuela.
Art Movements
Modernism
Modernism was a radical, early-to-mid-20th-century cultural movement that broke with traditional artistic, literary, and social forms to align with a rapidly industrializing world. Characterized by experimentation, abstraction, and individualism, it sought new modes of expression to address themes of alienation and social change following World War I. Rejection of Tradition: Modernists rejected Victorian morality, academic art, and realistic depictions of subjects, seeking to "make it new". Experimentation: A shift towards abstraction in art (e.g., Cubism) and new techniques in literature, such as stream of consciousness (e.g., Virginia Woolf, James Joyce). Key Themes: Focused on subjectivity, alienation, the fragmentation of reality, and the quest for new meaning. Architecture & Design: Marked by minimalism, functionalism, and the use of industrial materials, famously summarized by Le Corbusier’s "a building is a machine for living in". Time Period: Roughly 1890s–1960s, emerging in Europe and America as a response to urbanization and technological advances.
Explore movement →1910s–1930sUkrainian Graphic Art & Book Design
An early-20th-century renaissance of Ukrainian graphic art, typography, book illustration and state symbolism. Its founding figure Heorhiy Narbut created the visual identity of the modern Ukrainian state.
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