Sofia
petrovna karaffa-korbut

Outstanding Ukrainian artist Sofia Karaffa-Korbut was born on August 23, 1924 in Lviv (Poland), a representative of the Lithuanian-Belarusian noble family Karaffa-Korbut. Her mother, childhood and first steps in artistic activity came from the picturesque village of Kutkir, Lviv region - there the artist drew inspiration. Sofia Petrovna created illustrations for sixty works by Ukrainian writers, which have a circulation of more than seven million copies (every fourth children's book published in Ukraine).

Sofia Petrovna studied at the Lviv Art-Industrial School and Lviv Institute of Decorative and Applied Arts. Lviv Ceramic Factory, the place where Karaffa-Korbut worked, gave an opportunity to express herself in artistic activities, and immediately after graduation Sofia tried her hand at graphics. And found her true purpose in developing illustrations for books, which gained fame both in Ukraine and high praise abroad.

Sofia Karaffa-Korbut designed books not only for children's literature, but also works by Maria Pidgiryanka, Pavel Grabovsky, Hotkevich, Dnieper Chaika, Stepan Vasylchenko, Volodymyr Luchuk, Vasyl Kolodiy, Andriy Voloshchak and other authors.

The most famous works of Karaffa-Korbut are graphic illustrations for Taras Shevchenko's "Kobzar", Ivan Franko's poem "Ivan Vishensky" and Lesya Ukrainka's drama-feature "Forest Song". According to the conclusion of experts, Sofia Karaffa-Korbut "was a caryatid of Ukrainian graphic art of the second half of the XX century" ((c) Lyudmila Semykina).

In 1967, more than thirty illustrations to "Kobzar" won an exhibition of international importance in Canada. Now the originals are kept in the Shevchenko National Reserve in Kanev. A large number of works by Sofia Karaffa-Korbut are kept in museums in Lviv, Kiev, Lutsk, Kanev, Ivano-Frankivsk and other cities, exhibited at exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad.