She was born on the 10th of January in the backwoods of the Kursk region, the small village Golubino. In the family, there were also 2 girls from the first marriage of the peasant woman Kovalyova (nee Popova) Euphrosyne Ivanovna. Katya’s childhood passed in the difficult war years.
1937
Katya Medvedeva
description
A Russian self-taught artist, painter and graphic artist. One of the most famous representatives of the naive art working in Moscow. Medvedeva’s paintings have been valued for 40 years; they are actively presented at exhibitions; they are the subject of collecting, and are successfully sold all over the world. The works of the amateur author are in the Tsaritsyno State Museum-Preserve and in the State House of Folk Art (Moscow), in the Kolodzei Art Foundation (Highland Park, USA), dozens of modern art galleries and dozens of private collections in Russia and Germany, France and the USA, Japan, etc. According to the version of the Union of Artists of Russia, the artistic rating of E.I. Medvedeva allows her to be nominated for the Internet project “10,000 of the best artists in the world of 18-21 centuries”.
Key ideas:
– Art critics describe the works of Katya Medvedeva as “painting of a pure and open soul”. She herself is confident that painting skills came to her from God. Maybe that is why she so often draws angels, saints and Jesus. She paints only when she feels a blessing from above and takes themes from her own mind. This happens often, as the artist, besides the biblical themes, is also interested in the reality. The plots for the pictures are news – the theft of the Lermontov monument in Ossetia, the events in Egypt, the impressions of the new country, which America has become for her. The range of topics can be designated by their names: from “U-262. Solzhenitsyn is a prophet and writer” to “I love watermelons so much.”
– She chooses the painting technique and the material, which she will use to paint on not asking the opinion of professionals. But it is exactly according to the mood: she uses oil for philosophical painting, watercolor for lyric painting and bright tempera for festive themes. The brushstrokes of the artist are bold and expressive, as she feels the palette perfectly (in the words of Chagall, “she loves color, like me”).
– In the 2010s, she had a “blue period” – she preferred this color as the background and as the basic one for large objects. She could use a book that impressed her as a painting theme for several years, as happened with the memoirs of Maya Plisetskaya. The book impressed Medvedeva so much that the theme of ballet became the main one for decades (from 1995). She used sandpaper for the base of the first painting of this huge cycle already spread throughout the world, drawing ballerinas on it with crayons.
– Experimentation is in the artist’s blood. She explains the amazing effect of the “old fresco” by placing the finished picture in the bathroom under the stream of water and washing off more fresh paint until it remains on the canvas in a small amount, like if most of it was taken by the time.
– Medvedeva works in the technique of graphics, on velvet and on silk, creates unusual collages from everything in the world. Combining painting with plush and tulle, lace and sparkles in a risky way, she feels the texture of each fabric – after all, she worked as a weaver for 10 years. In 2017, the eighty-year-old naive artist feels joyful and successful, declaring, “I am happy thanks to my work”.
1937
1946
1950 - 1960
1970
1980 - 1981
1982 - 1984
1990 - 1999
2000
2010
The birth of the artist
The 9-year-old future artist was sent to an orphanage
Escaping from the mass famine that began in the region, the whole family left the house and got to Rostov-on-Don in a freight car; from there, they went to the Azerbaijani town of Göyçay, where one of her sisters and mother died, and her father left and got lost forever. Thus, the 9-year-old future artist was sent to an orphanage.
She graduated from a seven-year school with honor and studied 5 years at the music school
Living in Susa orphanage No. 2 (Nagorno-Karabakh), she graduated from a seven-year school with honor and studied 5 years at the music school (violin). She was sent to the Plant and Factory school in Baku. In the capital of Azerbaijan, she received a profession of a sewer and worked by profession for more than 10 years. In 1957, she got married and gave birth to her daughter Irina in 1961. In 1967, she started working as a prop at the people’s theater.
She graduated from the distance cultural and educational school in the city of Ulyanovsk
She graduated from the distance cultural and educational school in the city of Ulyanovsk in 1972 (conductor), started attending a painting studio, where she worked as a cleaner. After 4 years, she began to work as an independent artist, lived in the city of Novy Oskol, visited her blind grandmother in her native village. She held her first solo exhibition in Golubino.
Settled down in Moscow
Settled down in Moscow, where she lived and worked as a nurse in a nursing home. Press wrote notes about the bright national talent and horrible conditions, in which the talented naïve artist lived. The State Russian House of Folk Art arranged her solo exhibition in its halls, the planned period of which (20 days) was extended to two and a half months due to the incredible success among professionals and naive fans. The artist was given a ticket to Old Ladoga. The ancient city on the calmly flowing Volkhov, its cathedrals, ancient burial mounds and friendly inhabitants inspired her, and Katya created almost two hundred paintings. Many of them were sent to Europe.
“White Nights of Old Ladoga”
Collector, journalist and diplomat, non-professional actor Norbert Kuchinke (Germany) became one of the first collectors of paintings by the artist and showed Marc Chagall eleven works by Katya. The prominent master, having highly appreciated the works, signed her album and noted, “she also loves color, like me”. The exhibition in Nice, organized by French art collector Rene Guerra, where he exhibited works of Chagall, Matisse, Konysheva, Medvedeva’s “White Nights of Old Ladoga” made a real sensation.
The collective exhibition “Naive Magic” was held
The collective exhibition “Naive Magic” was held – after Moscow, it was seen in France, as was the personal exhibition of Medvedeva (1993, Paris, Champs Elysees). Despite her popularity, the artist did not have her own corner; she stayed then in her workshops, with her fellow artists and acquaintances. She had to leave the capital and live in Ryazan region (Anemnyasevo village, the village of Pervo in Kasimov district).
Held dozens of exhibitions at home and abroad
Held dozens of exhibitions at home and abroad, including the most significant solo exhibition at Klepikovsky department of the Yesenin State Museum-Reserve and at the Ryazan State Regional Art Museum. I.P. Pozhalostina (2003); her personal exhibition named “My Soul is Painting” of several collections at the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve (2004); at the Moscow Center for Contemporary Art M’Ars and the Kaliningrad German-Russian House, at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (2005); in the St. Petersburg State Russian Museum (2006, to the 30th anniversary of work); at the Central House of Artists of Moscow and in Berlin (2008); a solo exhibition with the poster “Christmas in the Picture” (2009, Art Center of the Central House of Artists, Moscow). The artist played herself in the movie “Inzeen-Malina” (2006, director V. Sivkov, art house genre, Kazan studio).
One of the last ones was held in 2017 to the 80th anniversary
Expositions of her paintings were held in 2010: Berlin (“Between heaven and earth – angel and ballet”, gallery “Nikolai”), Samara (art museum, gallery “Solaris”); in 2011: a solo exhibition to the 35th anniversary of her works at the Central House of Artists and the Art’Area Club (Moscow); in Arkhangelsk in 2012 (“Unexpected Joy” for her 75th anniversary); annual exhibitions are held at the Museum of Organic Culture, the galleries of naive art, etc. One of the last ones was held in 2017 to the 80th anniversary