Ukrainian Artists

Ivan Rutkovych

1650–1708

Leading Ukrainian Baroque icon painter and founder of the Zhovkva school; master of luminous colour, famous for the 1697–99 Skvariava Nova iconostasis.

Yov Kondzelevych

1667–1740

Ukrainian Baroque icon painter and monastic elder; brought heightened realism and landscape to Eastern iconography. Masterwork: the Bohorodchany (Manyava) Iconostasis (1698–1705).

Dmytro Levytsky

1735–1822

A leading portraitist of the 18th century, born in Kyiv and trained by his father, the engraver-priest Hryhorii Levytsky. Famous for his Smolny Institute portrait series, he became one of the most celebrated portrait painters of his era.

Antin Losenko

1737–1773

Born in Hlukhiv in the Cossack Hetmanate and taken young to the St. Petersburg court choir, Losenko became a pioneer of neoclassical history painting, known for monumental canvases from antiquity and Kyivan Rus.

Volodymyr Borovikovsky

1757–1825

Born in Myrhorod into a Cossack family of icon painters, Borovikovsky worked in Ukraine into his thirties before moving to St. Petersburg, where he became the foremost portraitist of the Sentimentalist era.

Taras Shevchenko

1814–1861

Born a serf and freed in 1838, Shevchenko is regarded as the father of Ukrainian fine art: a Romantic-Realist painter and pioneering etcher (Academician of engraving, 1860), turning his art to Ukrainian life and social injustice.

Ivan Aivazovsky

1817–1900

Armenian marine painter of Crimea, among the greatest seascape masters of the 19th century.

Kostiantyn Trutovskyi

1826–1893

Early master of Ukrainian genre painting devoted to the Ukrainian peasantry; influenced Pymonenko, Vasylkivskyi and Slastion.

Kornylo Ustyianovych

1839–1903

A Galician Ukrainian painter, iconographer and writer, Vienna Academy-trained, who became a leading figure of 19th-century Western Ukrainian historical painting drawing on Cossack themes and Carpathian folk life.

Arkhip Kuindzhi

1842–1910

Greek-Ukrainian landscape painter famous for dramatic light effects (Moonlit Night on the Dnieper).

Volodymyr Orlovskyi

1842–1914

Volodymyr Orlovskyi was one of the most outstanding landscape painters of the second half of the 19th century. His contemporaries called him “a star of the first magnitude on a par with Aivazovskyi,” “a seeker of sunlight,” and “an incomparable celebrator of southern nature.”

Mykola Murashko

1844–1909

A Ukrainian painter, art teacher and critic who founded the influential Kyiv Drawing School in 1875 and directed it until 1901. A friend of Repin, his own painting focused on realist landscapes, especially views of the Dnieper.

Teofil Kopystynsky

1844–1916

A Galician Ukrainian painter, portraitist and church-art restorer trained in Cracow and Vienna, who spent his career in Lviv painting iconostases, portraits of Ukrainian historical figures and ethnographic scenes.

Kyriak Kostandi

1852–1921

Greek-Ukrainian leader of the Odesa school; president of the Society of South Russian Artists and director of the Odesa City Museum; admired for luminous handling of sunlight.

Serhii Vasylkivskyi

1854–1917

Prolific Kharkiv landscape, genre and history painter and authority on Ukrainian folk ornament; left ~3,000 works and donated ~1,500 to the Kharkiv Art Museum.

Opanas Slastion

1855–1933

Painter, graphic artist, ethnographer; first illustrator of Shevchenko's 'Haidamaky', documented Ukrainian kobzars, and a pioneer of Ukrainian Art Nouveau.

Petro Levchenko

1856–1917

Kharkiv landscape painter of intimate, lyrical Ukrainian villages and courtyards in increasingly impressionist colour; ~800 landscapes.

Serhii Svitoslavskyi

1857–1931

Serhii Ivanovych Svitoslavskyi (October 6, 1857, Kyiv – September 19, 1931, Kyiv) was an outstanding Ukrainian landscape painter and a master of color. He was a member of the Peredvizhniki Society from 1891 to 1900. He was born into a noble family. In 1870, he enrolled in the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, where he studied until 1882 under Alexei Savrasov, Vasily Perov, Evgraf Sorokin, Ilarion Pryanishnikov, and Vasily Polenov. He began exhibiting in 1884 at exhibitions organized by the Society for Itinerant Art Exhibitions. In his later work, most of his paintings were dedicated to the nature of Ukraine, views of the Dnipro River, and Kyiv. He created landscapes featuring genre and animalistic scenes. In 1900, he was awarded a bronze medal at the World’s Fair in Paris for his painting “The Courtyard.”

Mykola Samokysh

1860–1944

A prolific Ukrainian battle and equine painter of Cossack descent who produced over 10,000 works. In the Soviet period he devoted much of his art to dramatic canvases of the Khmelnytsky era.

Mykhailo Berkos

1861–1919

A Ukrainian landscape painter trained in Odesa and at the Imperial Academy, who settled near Kharkiv painting impressionist-influenced Ukrainian landscapes and helped found the Kharkiv Art College.

Mykola Pymonenko

1862–1912

Leading figure of Ukrainian realist genre art; produced 700+ ethnographically precise scenes of Ukrainian rural life and taught at the Kyiv Art School (Malevich was a pupil). His 'Hopak' entered the Louvre.

Ivan Izhakevych

1864–1962

One of the most prolific Ukrainian painters and illustrators of his era, trained in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra icon workshop and the St. Petersburg Academy. A late master of Ukrainian icon painting, known for genre scenes and Shevchenko illustrations.

Mykola Ivasyuk

1865–1937

A Ukrainian history painter born in Bukovyna and Vienna Academy-trained, who worked in Chernivtsi and Kyiv on monumental Cossack history. He was arrested and executed during the Great Purge in 1937.

Ivan Trush

1869–1941

One of the foremost Ukrainian Impressionists; ~6,000 works; central to founding the Lviv National Museum; painted luminous landscapes and portraits of Ukrainian cultural figures.

Petro Nilus

1869–1943

An Impressionist painter and writer born in Podolia and raised in Odesa, where he trained under Kyriak Kostandi. A friend of Bunin, he emigrated to Paris in 1920, where he worked until his death.

Osyp Kurylas

1870–1951

A Ukrainian (Galician) painter and graphic artist, Kraków Academy-trained, best known for depictions of Hutsuls and patriotic imagery of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, with whom he served in WWI. He later directed Novakivskyi's Lviv art school.

Mykola Burachek

1871–1942

Virtuoso Impressionist landscape painter, theatre designer and writer; studied under Stanisławski and in Matisse's studio; taught in Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Hryhorii Svitlytsky

1872–1948

A Ukrainian painter and trained musician born and died in Kyiv, who studied under Murashko, Repin and Kuindzhi. Nicknamed the 'Poet of Moonlit Nights,' he was a lyrical landscapist and in 1946 became the first People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR.

Oleksa Novakivskyi

1872–1935

Evolved from Impressionism through Symbolism to personal Expressionism; under Sheptytsky's patronage founded an influential Lviv art school (1923).

Fotii Krasytsky

1873–1944

A Ukrainian painter and graphic artist, grand-nephew of Taras Shevchenko, who studied under Pymonenko, Kostandi and Repin. A realist with impressionist leanings, he taught at the Kyiv State Art Institute.

Vasyl Krychevsky

1873–1952

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.

Oleksandr Murashko

1875–1919

Often called the most important Ukrainian artist of the turn of the century; trained under Repin and Ažbe; 'Carousel' won gold at Munich 1909; co-founded the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts (1917); murdered in Kyiv 1919.

Modest Sosenko

1875–1920

Modest Danylovych Sosenko (April 28, 1875, Porohy, Austro-Hungarian Empire – February 4, 1920, Lviv, West Ukrainian People’s Republic) was a prominent Ukrainian monumentalist whose work is characterized by a synthesis of ancient traditions and modern European trends. His style is often described as a synthetic style or Ukrainian Art Nouveau in sacred art.

Kazimir Malevich

1879–1935

Founder of Suprematism and a pioneer of geometric abstraction; born in Kyiv and later taught at the Kyiv Art Institute (1928–30).

Fedir Krychevsky

1879–1947

Leading early-modernist painter; co-founder/rector of the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts; created the triptych 'Life' (Venice Biennale 1928); persecuted after WWII, died in poverty 1947.

Oleksandr Bohomazov

1880–1930

Central theorist and painter of the Ukrainian avant-garde ('the unknown genius of Ukrainian Cubo-Futurism'); his 1914 treatise 'Painting and Elements' set out its theory.

Mykhailo Boychuk

1882–1937

Founder of Boychukism, a monumental school synthesising Byzantine, Quattrocento and Ukrainian folk art; co-founder/rector of the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts. Executed by the NKVD on 13 July 1937; nearly all his monumental works were destroyed.

Oleksandra Ekster

1882–1949

Leading figure of Ukrainian Cubo-Futurism and Constructivism; her Kyiv studio was the hub of the local avant-garde; celebrated theatre and film designer.

Heorhiy Narbut

1886–1920

Founding genius of modern Ukrainian graphic art; designed UNR banknotes, stamps and the state emblem, and the celebrated Ukrainian Alphabet; professor and rector of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts.

Olena Kulchytska

1887–1967

A Ukrainian artist working in various fields[3] of graphic art, painting, and carpet weaving, as well as an educator. People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1956). Member of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR during its 3rd and 4th convocations. Author of over 4,000 works of art that have become part of the golden fund of Ukrainian book illustration (“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors,” “Lys Mykyta,” and the three-volume work by ethnographer Stefanyk). A pioneer of children’s book illustration in Ukraine.

Vasyl Yermylov

1894–1968

Central figure of Kharkiv Constructivism; developed a distinctive constructivist collage and typographic style; co-founded the Kharkiv Technical Art Institute (1922).

Vsevolod Maksymovych

1894–1914

Short-lived Poltava prodigy ('the Ukrainian Beardsley'); ornate Symbolist/Art Nouveau paintings; most surviving works in the National Art Museum of Ukraine.

Anatol Petrytskyi

1895–1964

Painter and leading Constructivist theatre designer of the Ukrainian avant-garde; painted 150+ portraits of Ukrainian cultural figures, most destroyed under Soviet repression.

Vasyl Sedliar

1899–1937

Close associate of Boychuk; painter, ceramicist and book artist best known for his complete cycle of illustrations to Shevchenko's 'Kobzar'; executed by the NKVD in 1937.

Havrylo Hliuk

1912–1983

Petro Sulymenko

1914–1996

Petro Stepanovych Sulymenko (1914–1996) was a Ukrainian painter, landscape artist, and creator of thematic paintings. He was named an Honored Artist of Ukraine in 1974. He studied at the Kyiv Art Institute (1939–1947) under O. Shovkunenko. He traveled extensively. His most significant works are dedicated to the heroic deeds of naval soldiers on the fronts of World War II and during the October Revolution. Husband of artist Z. Zatsepina. He lived and worked in Kyiv.

Marfa Tymchenko

1922–2009

Marfa Tymchenko (1922–2009) was a Ukrainian artist. She was born in the village of Petrykivka, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. She graduated from the two-year school of Petrykivka painting (1938). She studied at the Kyiv Art School of Masters of Folk Decorative Art (1938–1941). She worked at the Korosten Porcelain Factory (1940–1941); as a monumental artist in the folk art department of the Institute of Art Industry at the Academy of Architecture (1944–1947); as a textile artist at the Union of Artists of Ukraine (UAU) and in the Khudoprom artel (1947–1954). Member of the UAU (since 1950). In 1954, she was invited to the Kyiv Experimental Ceramics and Porcelain Factory as an artist, where she worked for 33 years. An active participant in exhibitions within the USSR and abroad (since 1947). Recipient of numerous orders, medals, and certificates.

Volodymyr Sydoruk

1925–1997

Volodymyr Sydoruk (1925–1997) – Ukrainian painter. He graduated from the Kyiv Art School (1938), where he studied under I. Khvorostetskyi and Y. Kyianchenko. He participated in exhibitions (beginning in 1954). Member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (1957). Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1985). During his lifetime, the artist held 12 solo exhibitions. He worked primarily in the genres of landscape, still life, and thematic painting. The artist’s works are held in museums in Ukraine, as well as in private collections and galleries in Ukraine, Russia, Japan, and Europe.

Yurii Yehorov

1926–2008

An outstanding Ukrainian artist, painter, and monumentalist, and one of the leading figures and key representatives of the Odesa School of Painting in the second half of the 20th century.s well as graphic art, and created tapestries, ceramics, stained glass, and mosaics.

Vladyslav Mamsikov

1940–2020

A renowned Ukrainian artist and master of tonal painting. In 1956, he enrolled in art school. From 1958 to 1963, he studied at the Kyiv Art Institute (NAOMA) under K. Trokhimenko, V. Kostetsky, and I. Shtylman. Since 1971, he has been a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. Vladislav Mamsikov belongs to a group of artists who rejected academicism in painting; in the 1960s, he was one of the most consistent adherents of the “austere style”; in the 1970s, he was a romantic and metaphysician. His works are held in museum collections (the Museum of the History of Kyiv, the Museum of Modern Visual Arts of Ukraine, the Kharkiv Art Museum, the Dnipropetrovsk State Art Museum, and the Zaporizhzhia State Art Museum) and in private collections around the world.

Yevhen Hordiiets

b. 1952

Yevhen Hordiiets is a Ukrainian surrealist artist. He was born in Makiivka, Donetsk Oblast. He graduated from the Kyiv State Art Institute (1971–1977), where he studied under O. Lopukhov; and the Creative Workshop of the USSR Academy of Arts in Kyiv (1978–1982), where his supervisor was S. Grigoriev. He worked at the “Artist” Creative and Production Association (1977–1991). Lecturer at the Kyiv State Art Institute (1977–1978). Member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (1979). Graduate student at the Creative Workshops of the Academy of Arts of the USSR in Kyiv (1978–1982). Participant in republican, all-Union, and international exhibitions (since 1977), including in Paris (1989), New York (1995), Scottsdale, and Nantucket (2001). First prize for his diploma work at the All-Union Diploma Exhibition in Vilnius (1977), First prize at the Republican Exhibition (Kyiv, 1982). Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1986). His works are held in the National Museum “Kyiv Art Gallery,” the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Cologne Museum of Modern Art, and others. Yevhen Hordiiets’ works have been sold at international auctions, and in 1990, one of his works graced the cover of a Christie’s catalog. He has lived in the United States since 1991.

Yurii Klapoukh

b. 1963

Yuriy Klapoukh was born on March 12, 1963, in the city of Uman, Cherkasy Oblast. After graduating from high school, he enrolled in the Kharkiv Higher Military Aviation Engineering School, majoring in “Aircraft and Power Plants.” His archive contains many works in various genres, but his main focus is on classical realist landscapes and portraits, as well as genre scenes depicting rural life.

Yurii & Khrystyna Todoruk

b. 2000

Yurii and Khrystyna Todoruk, artists from the Carpathian region, create works inspired by Hutsul traditions. Yurii was born in 2000, and Khrystyna was born in 2001. Both artists graduated from the Kosiv Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts at the Lviv National Academy of Arts.