Ruban studied at a parish school, a theological college, and a seminary. He received his artistic education at the Kyiv Art Institute of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts, where he studied in the painting faculty under Mykhailo Boichuk. Later, he joined the graphic workshop led by Sofia Nalepinska-Boychuk, mastering the technique of woodcut in the spirit of Boichukism.
In 1924, Ruban exhibited 16 graphic works, including Izvozchiki [Cabmen] (1921) and At the Trough (1923) at the Vserabis Exhibition of Soviet Artists’ Works in Kyiv.
In 1927, he completed his diploma project — a series of color prints for the children’s book Children’s Picture Book — which received praise from the rector for its “simplicity of expression”.
Ruban designed covers for Taras Shevchenko’s Haidamaky (1928) and Underground Galicia, and illustrated the almanac Western Ukraine. These works displayed a stylistic inclination toward folk primitivism, combined with decorative motifs characteristic of Boichukism and modern miniature graphics.
Between 1930 and 1934, he actively exhibited internationally in Vienna, Berlin, London, Stockholm, Tokyo, Philadelphia, and Helsinki. In 1933, his miniature woodcut was included in the Berlin exhibition catalog.
Under pressure from Soviet censorship, Ruban’s style evolved — Soviet symbols began to appear in his graphics, particularly in book and costume designs. During 1935–1937, amid large-scale political repression against Boichukists, whom Soviet authorities labeled as “formalists” and “bourgeois nationalists,” Ruban was persecuted. In 1942, while in evacuation in Saratov as an artist for Ukrvydav, he was arrested by the NKVD and, according to approximate data, died in custody in June 1943.
Ruban’s works are held in the National Art Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv, the A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, and private collections.
Oleksandr Yakovych Ruban remains a prominent figure in 20th-century Ukrainian graphic art, continuing the tradition of Boichukism in woodcut technique while maintaining his artistic integrity in the face of political persecution.