Transcarpathian Gypsies

Sofiia Petrivna Karaffa-Korbut was a Ukrainian artist, graphic artist, and painter. She was the illustrator of about 60 works by Ukrainian writers, which were published in a circulation of over 6 million copies. Born on August 23, 1924 in Lviv, she entered the State Art and Industrial School in 1942. Later, she continued her studies at the Lviv Art and Industrial School. In 1953, she graduated from the Lviv Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts, where her teachers included Ivan Hutorov, Vitold Monastyrskyi, and Roman Selskyi. Karaffa-Korbut worked in the field of easel and book graphics (mainly in the linocut technique), as well as decorative arts. She was a participant in regional, all-Ukrainian (starting in 1954), and international (starting in 1963) art exhibitions. Her personal exhibitions were held in Lviv (1964, 1970) and posthumously in Kyiv (1998, 2001, 2004). One of Karaffa-Korbut's most important works is the illustrated "Kobzar", which was published in 1967 (it contains 34 illustrations by the artist). She also produced the linocuts "Ivan Vyshensky" (1963) and "Native Carpathians" (1970), the paintings "Spring Lviv Region" (1970s) and "Сuckoos are Calling to Them" (1976), and many other works. She died on November 29, 1996. Some of her works are kept in museums in Lviv, Kyiv, Kanev, Lutsk and other museums in Ukraine.