Kriukow, Boris

Kriukow, Boris [Крюков, Борис; Krjukov], b 19 January 1895 in Orgeev, Bessarabia gubernia, d 6 March 1967 in Buenos Aires. Painter. A student of Fedir Krychevsky at the Kyiv Art School (1913–17), he taught painting and drawing at that school. Concentrating on graphic art, in the interwar period he illustrated over 500 books and was recognized as one of the leading graphic artists in Ukraine. In 1943 he immigrated to Lviv, then to Cracow, and in 1944 to Austria, where he painted under the pseudonym Ivan Usatenko. In 1948 he settled in Buenos Aires and returned to book graphics. As the chief illustrator of the large Argentinian printing house Ateneo, he illustrated such world classics as Arabian Nights (1950), Dante's Divine Comedy (1952), and Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote (1952–4), and the selected works of Edgar Alan Poe, Anatole France, and Émile Zola. His work for Don Quixote won first prize in 1964 at an international art competition in Madrid. He also won an award from the Codex (Argentina) publishing house for his drawing Don Segundo Sombra. His caricatures appeared in the Ukrainian humor magazine Mitla and in a separate collection Smikholina (Laughter, 1966). Kriukow executed a mosaic in the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Protection in Buenos Aires. His canvases, depicting romantic heroes from many lands, including Ukrainian Cossacks, were done by various techniques, mostly in oil. From 1950 Kriukow held annual exhibitions of his works in Buenos Aires. His paintings and graphic art can be found in Argentina, the United States, and many European countries, where his exhibitions were held. A monograph about him in Ukrainian, Spanish, and English was published by his wife, Olga Gurski, in 1970.

Sviatoslav Hordynsky

[This article was updated in 2011.]