Boychukists: The Red Renaissance of Great Ukrainian Style

In 1909, amidst the flourishing European Avant-Garde, Ukrainian painter Mykhailo Boychuk opened his studio in Paris to teach Byzantine iconography techniques. He was passionate about restoring the concept of the collective craft and making art accessible to everyone by bringing it from galleries into daily life. In 1910, Boychuk and his first group of students exhibited their works at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris, with a debut show named “Renovation Byzantine,” gaining instant attention from the local and international public.

“This group provides an example of how one can travel freely through the centuries. Until now, only poets were capable of this, and now artists have become erudite. They have been journeying through the centuries and feel like relatives of Giotto and Chimabue.” 

– Guillaume Appolinier, French poet.

In 1917, the Ukrainian Academy of Arts was established in Kyiv. It was a challenging time marked by revolution, followed by the Civil War, famine, turmoil, and the struggle for survival, with frequent changes in government. However, Ukrainian art teachers still strived to instill in the students a love for beauty and creativity. Boychuk opened his studio at the Academy, aiming to revolutionize Ukrainian modern art by reuniting it with its Byzantine legacy. “We will build cities, we will paint houses. We must create high art,” he stated to his students. The opening of his studio in Kyiv marked the inception of what is now known as Boychukism. 

“At that time, Kyiv was often on the front line. In January 1918, when Kyiv was subjected to intense artillery shelling, we were painting a portrait from life. One of the dedicated models regularly came to pose, and some of the boldest students worked every day. An artillery shell hit the lower floor under the studio, where a hospital was located at that time. Due to the strong explosion that shook the entire building, students and models, along with easels and palettes, fell to the floor…” 

– Oksana Pavlenko, a Boychuk’s student. 

Boychukism was unique and revolutionary for its time, both technically and philosophically. Unlike Avant-Garde movements of the era that aimed to completely deconstruct and disjoint reality, Boychukists focused on making art widely accessible, warm, and humane. This is why they preferred tempera over oil and collective creativity over individual creativity.

“We did everything together. We discussed the teacher’s assignments and the students’ works, went to museums to explore architectural monuments together, and worked together for a long time. After a bomb [of Russian Bolsheviks] hit the Academy [in 1918], we had no other studio than Boychuk’s apartment.” 

– Oksana Pavlenko, a Boychuk’s student. 

In the 1920s, the newly-inaugurated Stalin implemented the “Ukrainization” policies, aimed at gaining the trust of the Ukrainian people after the hardships of revolution and war. This provoked an instant, almost explosive flourishing of Ukrainian art, literature, music, cinema, and theater, creating what appeared to be a true Renaissance of Ukrainian culture. This time was the most potent era for Boychukism, as well as for renowned Ukrainian Avant-Garde.

However, this period of freedom was short-lived. By the end of the 1930s, the Stalinist government abandoned “Ukrainization” and reinforced “Russification” instead. This marked the beginning of Stalin’s Great Terror. Ukrainian cultural figures who resisted the new colonial policy were massively repressed and executed, with most of their legacy destroyed. They are now known as the Executed, or Red, Renaissance, with most Boychukists among them. 

While the easel works of the Boychukists can still be found in museums, none of their monumental works have survived to this day. We can only recognize them from black-and-white photographs, memoirs, and correspondence. Despite the absence of most of their physical legacy, Boychukists made a crucial impact on the development of Ukrainian modern art. If the Soviet repressive machine hadn’t killed them and destroyed their works, today they likely would be known all over the world on a similar level to Picasso or Modigliani. We are proud to be returning their names to their deserved place on the world art scene.

Sophia Nalepinska-Boychuk

Sophia Nalepinska-Boychuk (1884-1937) is a Ukrainian graphic artist of Polish-French origin. She crossed paths with Mykhailo Boychuk during her studies in Paris, where they fell in love and subsequently married. Beyond being his wife, she also was one of his most dedicated students. Having no Ukrainian blood, she became a passionate figure in Ukrainian culture and the Boychukism movement. 
Sophia’s sister, Hanna, wrote in one of her letters, “Sophia had already, so to speak, renounced her nationality, singing only Ukrainian songs, speaking Ukrainian, and being completely under Mykhailo’s influence and power. When she came to visit us, she loved her family, acting like a mother to me, but her heart was already fully with Mykhailo, and it was known that she would not leave him or his creative ideas.” 

Sophia was a remarkable graphic artist. She illustrated Taras Shevchenko’s Kateryna, The Olive Ring by Stepan Vasylchenko, and pieces by Guy de Maupassant and Alphonse Daudet. She also created a separate series of engravings addressing the Holodomor. Until 1929, she served as a professor at the Ukrainian Academy of Arts, where she established a school of engraving. 

In 1937, after the torture and execution of her husband Mykhailo Boychuk by the NKVD, Sophia was also arrested. Despite enduring months of torture, she remained steadfast in her commitment to her husband and their ideals of freedom. Ultimately, she too was shot, leaving their little son alone.

Mykola Kasperovych

Mykola Kasperovych (1885-1938) was one of the closest friends and students of Mykhailo Boychuk. He was a Ukrainian painter and art restorer, originally from Chernihiv. He studied in Krakow and later in Paris, where he participated in the first exhibition of Boychuk’s students at the Salon des Indépendants. 

Mykola Kasperovych was a leading art restorer in Ukraine during the 1920s-1930s. He acquired proficiency in the secrets of ancient iconography and mastered the techniques of tempera painting, al fresco, and al secco. The principles he adhered to were, in many ways, ahead of the ideas of his time regarding the purpose and means of restoration. 

Kasperovych skillfully introduced flatness and reverse perspective into his contemporary art, drawing on the principles of Byzantine iconography. His works, such as the “Portrait of a Girl” (1920) and

“Portrait” (1923), depicted ordinary subjects with a unique touch. In 1921, he became a professor at the Ukrainian Academy of Arts, where he taught the craft of iconography and frescoes. 

In 1938, Kasperovych was arrested, subjected to prolonged torture, and eventually executed by order of the NKVD, the punitive authority in the Soviet Union.

Tymofii Boychuk

Tymofii Boychuk (1896-1922), a Ukrainian painter, was the younger brother of Mykhailo Boychuk. He joined Boychuk’s monumental art studio at the Ukrainian Academy of Arts in Kyiv in 1917. Tymofii selflessly immersed himself in his brother’s ideas and, alongside Mykola Kasperovych, quickly became a recognized leader of the studio. 

“This gifted young man served as his elder brother’s right hand in all the group’s collective creative endeavors and gained an undisputed reputation among the younger students due to his experience and training,” recalled art historian Ivan Vrona.

Tymofii Boychuk developed his lyrical interpretation of Boychukism, fusing it with distinct folk traditions. One of his most renowned and significant works is the painting “By the Apple Tree,” where he

skillfully combined the techniques of iconography and Proto-Renaissance painting in an exceptionally sophisticated manner. The composition of this painting served as an exemplary model for all subsequent students of Mykhailo Boychuk.

At the age of 26, Tymofii succumbed to tuberculosis, leaving this world during the peak of the Ukrainian Renaissance and before the onset of the Great Terror that began in the 1930s.

Oksana Pavlenko

Oksana Pavlenko (1895-1991) is one of the few Boychukists who managed to survive Stalin’s Great Terror. In 1929, as repressions against Ukrainian intellectuals began, she accepted an offer to teach monumental art techniques in Moscow–a decision that ultimately saved her life. She managed to preserve some of the works of her executed Boychukist friends and transfer them to Ukrainian museums. 

As Oksana Pavlenko recalled later, Boychuk initially hesitated to accept her into his group, stating, “I will not teach girls! They will get married – that’s all their education…” However, he eventually accepted her. Mykhailo Boichuk was an authoritarian teacher who demanded full dedication; the art had to be collective, and students were not supposed to marry or have children.

Oksana Pavlenko was in a civil marriage with Vasyl Sedliar and worked in collaboration with him on many projects. Sedliar’s expression had a significant impact on Oksana Pavlenko’s graphics.

Her balanced iconic flatness was gradually replaced by a sinuous dancing line. This is especially noticeable in her works such as “Delegates” (1920s), “Peasant Woman with Child” (1926-1927), and “Failure” (1926). 

Oksana Pavlenko lived in Moscow until her passing in 1991. Today, nearly 100 of her works are stored in Cherkasy Art Museum in Ukraine.

Vasyl Sedliar

Vasyl Sedliar (1899-1937), a Ukrainian monumental painter and graphic artist, was one of the most prominent disciples of Mykhailo Boychuk. He stood apart from most of his students, as he managed to move from Boychuk’s calm, balanced, iconic manner to expression. 

Vasyl Sedliar was passionate about Ukrainian nationalism and expressed it fearlessly in his art. One of his renowned works is the illustrations for Taras Shevchenko’s Kobzar, a poetry book that lies at the base of Ukrainian national identity and belongs to the Ukrainian literary canon. He painted these illustrations in a critical, rebellious, and brave manner, depicting the Russian Imperial troops and NKVD forces, with their pogroms and mass terror of innocent Ukrainians. 

Apart from his significant impact as an artist, Vasyl Sedliar was a great teacher. “We attended his lectures as if they were concerts. He read to us simply and intriguingly, often illustrating with examples from the Renaissance and old Ukrainian art. He held a high regard for the works of Western European impressionists.

He was passionately in love with Ukrainian icons, graphics, carpets, goldsmithing, and theater. Examples from literature, philosophy, and cultural history enriched our professional knowledge of art. We were captivated by his profound intellect and broad culture,” recalled one of his students. 

In 1937, Vasyl Sedliar, along with Mykhailo Boychuk and his other students, was imprisoned, tortured, and eventually shot by the NKVD. He has no grave; he didn’t have the chance to raise children. All his monumental works in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odesa have been destroyed. Only imperfect photo reproductions and a small collection of easel paintings and drawings remain, now preserved in the National Art Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv.

Ivan
Padalka

Ivan Padalka (1894-1937) is mostly known as a graphic artist, monumental painter, and art theorist. He joined Boyhuk’s group in 1917, being an extremely diligent and dedicated student. “He was a year ahead of me and greatly supported me. So gentle, polite, trusting, like a child, and naive. Ivan was also handsome: he had long golden hair cut like a poppy,” recalled the artist Oksana Pavlenko.

Padalka’s style developed from ornamental graphics to monumentalism. He gives simple subjects a grandiose meaning. Each of his compositions is so rhythmically calibrated that it will look great in any form, whether it is a small engraving or a huge mural. This was the essence of Mykhailo Boichuk’s artistic method.
Pavlo Kovzhun, a renowned Ukrainian avant-garde artist, aptly described Ivan Padalka, stating, “An artist of ironwork and special stubbornness in the tasks set; an idealistic artist, an ascetic artist, a fanatic of his craft, who, with his consistency and productivity, has achieved the seemingly impossible, finding what we so proudly call Ukrainian art in terms of form and style.” 

In 1937, Ivan Padalka, along with Mykhailo Boychuk, Vasyl Sedliar, and other group members, was imprisoned, tortured, and eventually shot by the NKVD. Most of their legacy was destroyed, and their bodies were disposed of in the forests of the Kyiv region.

Manuel Shechtman

Manuel Shechtman (1900-1941), a Jewish-Ukrainian artist, joined Boychuk’s studio in 1921. A strong and independent artist with a profound Jewish heritage, he stood apart from other members of the group. His art is infused with expressiveness, compassion, and anxiety. 

In his diary, Manuel Shechtman wrote, “I have to express myself. I want to be sincere. In the sense of contemporary humanism, an artist is national when he deeply feels and understands the people with whom he is biologically related, and thus expresses his closeness to all of humanity.”

In his paintings depicting the Russian pogroms of Jews, Shechtman managed to convey a sense of boundless human tragedy and the unique national spirit of the Jews. The static, petrified characters of the paintings “Pogrom” (1926) and “Eviction of Jews after the Pogrom” (1927) seem to have been frozen in time. The

sharp triangular shapes together with the soft color of tempera painting create a special rhythm. On the other hand, in his work “The Migrants” (1929), Shechtman used the rainbow motif to express hope for a brighter future. 

During World War II, Manuel Shechtman volunteered to serve in the civil resistance forces against German occupation. He died in 1941 in the Battle near Moscow.

Antonina
Ivanova

Antonina Ivanova (1893-1972) was a Ukrainian multi-disciplinary artist, originally from Kyiv. In 1908, she received her initial art education in St. Petersburg, and later, in 1919, returned to Kyiv, where she joined Boychuk’s studio at the Ukrainian Academy of Arts. During her studies there, she created numerous easel works in the tempera technique. After graduating, she moved back to Moscow. 

Antonina Ivanova was an exceptionally passionate artist who dedicated her life to her craft despite facing a challenging illness that had affected her since the age of 2 and eventually confined her to a wheelchair. Her style was deeply influenced by Ukrainian folk art, which she masterfully combined with classical art techniques and decorative elements. 

Ivanova embarked on diverse creative endeavors, actively exploring various art mediums and techniques. She copied national folk art pieces, painted wooden toys and porcelain tableware, created murals in fresco technique, and made drawings for decorative rugs. In 1943, she participated in a group exhibition of decorative fabrics, where her unique ornamentation pieces gained especially high praise from the visitors. 

Ivanova’s first solo exhibition took place in Moscow in 1970. Two years later, at the age of 78, she died in her apartment due to gas suffocation because of the ignition of silk cloth on an overheated lamp.

Kostiantyn
Yeleva

Kostiantyn Yeleva (1897-1950) was the only student of Boychuk who continued teaching at the Kyiv State Art Institute during the Great Terror and World War II. He was the sole teacher at the Department of Drawing who survived the evacuation of the Institute and continued teaching after the war. Thanks to Yeleva, Boychuk’s tradition and knowledge did not die with him in 1937 and were passed on to future generations of Ukrainian artists, linking Boychuk’s studio with the modern National Academy of Visual Arts and Architecture. 

Yeleva worked in painting, graphics, and theater stage design. His most famous work, “The Head of a Man” (late 1920s), is believed to be a self-portrait. The unexpected angle, with the monumental head covering the sky, evokes a sense of discomfort, as if it hovers over the viewer, almost restricting his breath.

Despite this, an airplane flying in the sky symbolizes hope for a brighter future, while a weather vane on the ground adds an intriguing juxtaposition. The painting’s majesty and sublimity can be seen as a harbinger of a totalitarian regime. 

“I studied in the painting department. Our drawing teacher back then was the young Kostiantyn Yeleva, a disciple of Mykhailo Boychuk. He was a typical ‘Boychukist.’ He taught us how to draw any object constructively, looking for the simplest module of form. He taught us to first construct a general plastic scheme of the object, which is easy to specify later. He also taught us how to build a shape with straight lines outlining its main planes. These were the first lessons of ‘Boychukism’ in my life,” recalled Ohrim Kravchenko, one of Yeleva’s students.

Onufriy
Biziukov

Onufriy Biziukov (1897-1986) belongs to the “second,” and ultimately the final, generation of Boychukists. He joined Boychuk’s studio in 1923, where he studied alongside Manuel Shekhtman, Serhiy Kolos, Mykola Rokytsky, and others. During his studies, he participated in collective monumental projects, including the decoration of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra and the sanatorium in Odesa. 

What sets Biziukov apart from other Boychukists is his notable emphasis on Cubism and Futurism, particularly evident in his paintings “Sawyers” (1930), “On a Raft”(1931), and “Sawdust” (1929).

His works of that period were painted in a deliberately constructive manner, exhibiting a deep sense of form, rhythm, integrity, and balance, with the artist aiming for a maximum sense of spatial, almost sculptural form. 
Despite the brutality of the 1930s-1950s in the Soviet Union, Onufriy Biziukov was incredibly fortunate to survive. In 1935, he was arrested and sentenced to three years in a labor camp due to his association with Boychuk’s group. After his release in 1939, he was mobilized into the Soviet military forces and fought in World War II. Following the demobilization, he returned to Kyiv, where he resumed painting and lived until he passed away in 1986 at the age of 88. His later works embraced a more realistic tone, mostly featuring landscape and still-life paintings.

Serhiy
Kolos

Serhiy Kolos (1888-1969) was a Ukrainian artist, art historian, political activist, and folk art researcher. Originally from St. Petersburg, he moved to Lviv in 1910. During his studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of Lviv University, he became friends with Ukrainian prominent cultural figures, including Ivan Franko. It was under his influence that Kolos became fascinated by the Hutsul region culture and went on a trip to the Carpathians to collect folklore and sketch the unique clothes of the locals. 

Inspired by Ukrainian culture and folklore, Kolos decided to move to Europe and study art. He studied in Naples and later in Munich at the studio of Anton Ashbe, where Vasyl Kandynsky and Mykhailo Boychuk had previously studied.

During the revolution in 1917, he became a member of the Presidium of the Ukrainian National Congress and later of the Ukrainian Central Rada. 

At the age of 30, in 1918, he enrolled at the Ukrainian Academy of Arts, initially studying under Fedir Krychevskyi and later under Mykhailo Boychuk. During his studies at Boychuk’s studio, Kolos participated in collective monumental projects, illustrated books, and created his most prominent paintings. Somewhat similar to naive art, his works are different from other Boychukists. 
In 1962, amid the Khrushchev Thaw and the relaxation of censorship and repressions, Kolos joined the “Prolisok” Club of Creative Youth in Kyiv. There, he dedicated his efforts to restoring the legacy of repressed Ukrainian artists from the 1920s-1930s, including the executed Boychukists. However, during the Brezhnevian Stagnation, the repressions came back, and Kolos was restrained from his teaching, lecturing, and publishing work, leaving him only with his art and a small circle of friends. In 1969, he passed away at the age of 82 and was buried in Kyiv at the Baikove Cemetery.

Mykola
Rokytskyi

Mykola Rokytskyi (1901-1944) was born in Volyn in 1901. With the beginning of World War I, the Rokytsky family was evacuated to Kyiv. Later, the artist fondly recalled his school drawing teacher, who noticed his talent and encouraged the boy to develop his abilities. Mykola worked in workshops, creating propaganda posters that were popular at that time. His willingness to depict industrial workers, united by a collective impulse to selfless work, later saved him from being executed along with other Boychukists. 

In 1920, he joined Boychuk’s studio at the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and became the youngest of Boychukists. Oksana Pavlenko, one of Boychuk’s students, recalled, “Mykhailo Lvovych [Boychuk] took care of [Rokytskyi], tried to feed him during the famine years, sometimes depriving himself. He felt sorry for him. ‘He needs more than others, he is growing up,’ he said.” 

Rokytskyi was a prominent master of portraits created in fresco technique. Each face in his works is unique, demonstrating his profound understanding of human psychology. He always maintained a connection with the monumental system of Boychuk’s school, primarily manifested in the rhythmic organization and compositional structure of the work. In 1928, Rokytskyi participated in the collective monumental project for the sanatorium in the Odesa region, directed by Mykhailo Boychuk.

At the beginning of World War II, Rokytskyi volunteered for the front but ended up captured and placed in a Nazi concentration camp. He was fortunate enough to escape from the camp and return to Kyiv, but his health was severely undermined. In 1944, at the age of 43, he passed away.