Artists and architects
Oleksandr Murashko
September 7, 1875
- Painter
- Born in Kyiv
Kyiv painter, author of “Carousel” and “Girl in a Red Hat” and a co-founder of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts. He was murdered in Kyiv in June 1919.
Biography
Oleksandr Murashko was born in Kyiv in 1875 and grew up in the family of the icon painter Oleksandr Ivanovych Murashko, whose iconostasis workshop occupied an estate at 14 Mala Zhytomyrska Street. His uncle was Mykola Murashko, founder of the Kyiv Drawing School. Oleksandr studied in St Petersburg, including in Ilya Repin’s studio, and by the early 1900s had won recognition across Europe.
In 1909–1912 he taught at the Kyiv Art School, and in 1913 opened his own studio in the attic of the Ginzburg House at 16 Instytutska Street, then the tallest building in the city. After his father’s death in 1910 he bought a house with a garden in Lukianivka and set up a studio there. In 1917 Murashko was one of the most active founders of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts, where he ran a painting studio.
One night in June 1919, under Bolshevik rule, Murashko was shot dead near his house in Lukianivka. The press of the day blamed robbers, but historians consider the killing political. He is buried at Lukianivske Cemetery. Many of his works — “The Washerwoman”, “Girl in a Red Hat”, “Peasant Family”, a portrait of Mykola Murashko — are in the National Art Museum of Ukraine.
Kyiv in their life
- Murashko estate (14-a, 14-b Mala Zhytomyrska St) — family home and iconostasis workshop; a listed monument, now in a dangerous state. See Ten Kyiv landmarks lost in recent years.
- 16 Instytutska St — his attic studio in the Ginzburg House (1913; the building was blown up in 1941).
- Lukianivka — his own house and studio; he was killed nearby in 1919.
- Lukianivske Cemetery — his grave.
- National Art Museum of Ukraine (6 Hrushevskoho St) — the main collection of his paintings.
