Category: Serious Content / Ukrainian Avant-Garde / The Executed Renaissance
Reading Time: 4 Min
In the history of art, there are tragedies, and there are crimes. The story of Mykhailo Boichuk (1882–1937) is a crime that still resonates with pain today. He did not want to be the servant of an ideology, but the architect of a nation.
Byzantium Against the Red Terror
Boichuk created something the Empire feared: a distinct, independent identity. He looked back to Kyivan Rus and Byzantium. His style—“Boychukism”—was monumental, strict, and sublime.
He rejected academic oil painting, returning to tempera and fresco. His colour palette was deep and honest: ochre, burnt earth, the blue of the sky. His figures looked like saints of a new, Ukrainian liturgy.
The Crime of Identity
Russia has always offered talents from oppressed nations only two paths: assimilation or annihilation. Boichuk’s school illustrated the legendary “Kobzar” (1931)—an act of cultural resistance. This was his death sentence. In 1937, he was executed along with his students and wife in Sandarmokh. Moscow destroyed his frescoes with hammers.
The War on Memory Continues
The destruction did not end in 1937. On March 25, 2024, a Russian hypersonic “Zircon” missile struck the center of Kyiv. Its target was not a military facility, but the Mykhailo Boichuk State Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts.
The central wing of the Academy was reduced to rubble. Buried in the destroyed archives were student works, tapestries, and ethnographic research—the living heritage of a new generation.
The Academy commented on the tragedy: «History repeats itself — Mykhailo Boichuk was a prominent representative of the ‘Executed Renaissance.’ Together with his students, he dedicated himself to shaping a new visual culture and national identity. However, just like 100 years ago, Muscovy remains true to itself and continues to mercilessly destroy everything Ukrainian.»
It is a cruel irony: the Empire that killed the artist is now, almost a century later, trying to erase even his name and the work of his spiritual grandchildren.
🤝 How You Can Help the Boichuk Academy
The destruction of the central wing and the archives requires enormous resources for reconstruction and restoration. UNESCO has taken on the financing and organization of the restoration work.
You can continue to support the Academy and find out about current fundraising campaigns. Every contribution supports the restoration of Ukraine’s cultural heritage and sends a clear message against the terror.
Current information on support can be found on the Academy’s official website: https://kdidpmid.edu.ua/academy/en/
Key Works & Illustrations:
- The Dinner (Fresco, destroyed)
- Illustrations for “Kobzar” by Taras Shevchenko (1931)
- Girl by the Apple Tree (Tempera)
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