Fashion exhibition: fabulous paintings by Katya Medvedeva in Petrovsky Passage. "The Art of a Pure Soul": exhibition by Katya Medvedeva Katya Medvedeva exhibition

In the Petrovsky Passage, a childlike exhibition of paintings by the 80-year-old artist Katya Medvedeva is visiting - women are very difficult fate with a talent for creating light, happy pictures.

The admired Marc Chagall called her "purely Russian talent", and sophisticated Parisian critics could not write a single negative review about Katya's work.

At the exhibition, which opened as part of the Chereshnevy Les Open Art Festival with the support of BOSCO DI CILIEGI, you can see paintings by Katya Medvedeva from ten private collections created over the past few decades.

Fairy-tale characters, poets and ballerinas, birds and village huts are written as if by the hand of a child. The artist always fantasizes with materials, creating her paintings using not only traditional watercolors, oils and acrylics, but also decorating canvases with black velvet, silk, cloth, imitation pearls, rhinestones and even colored feathers!

“People felt something real in my work. I want to give advice: do not give up - never. Have a purpose in life - you cannot live without a purpose. This exhibition at Petrovsky Passage is a lesson for you: look for yourself at any age. I have achieved my happiness through creativity. I still live because I write - for you! Katya admitted.

Among the first guests of the exhibition were Marina Loshak, Tatiana Metaksa, Andrey Kolesnikov, Margarita Koroleva, Mark Tishman, Igor Vernik and other celebrities who solemnly congratulated Katya on her anniversary and helped hold an auction for charitable foundation"Galchonok".

Katya Medvedeva's magical exhibition "The Art of a Pure Soul" is open at Petrovsky Passage until May 31st.

Text: Diana Mitskevich

They present a radio tour of the exhibition of Katya Medvedeva in the Petrovsky Passage.

One of the brightest representatives of "naive art" in Russia, she began to paint at the age of forty, when she worked as a cleaner at an art school. Twenty years later, her paintings hung in Parisian museums next to the works of Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse. Critics call her a "Russian nugget", collectors consider it a great success to get her work for their own collections. “The Art of a Pure Soul” is the name of the exhibition of works, which has been open since April 26 in Petrovsky Passage. Immediacy in joy and sadness, the pure look of a child - such is the "naive art" of Katya Medvedeva.

A radio tour for Silver Rain listeners was conducted by:

Listen to the whole tour

1. Dasha Ivanova. 2000. Silk, oil, mixed media. 129*92

2. Today I am dancing! 2004. Cardboard, acrylic. 68*48

3. Three graces. 2001. Silk, acrylic.

4. Spanish dance. 2004. Silk, oil. 67.5*48

5. Self-portrait. 2003. Oil on canvas.

6. Bride. 2013. Canvas, oil, mesh. 93*63.5

7. Mom, I don't want custody! 2017. Silk, mixed media. 87*75

8. A lonely sail turns white. 1994. Oil on canvas. 78*58

9. To be born in Russia is destiny 1989. Oil on canvas. 145*97

10. Happy Christmas! 1990. Oil on canvas. 70*50

11. Broken button accordion. 2016. Oil on canvas. 68.5*54.5

12. Russian landscape. 2001. Oil on canvas. 65*86

13. Moscow. 2009. Silk, oil, mixed media. 60*80

14. Sunflowers. 2009. Fabric, oil, sequins. 100*100

Project partner

As part of open festival art "Cherry Forest" in the aristocratic Petrovsky Passage opened an exhibition of one of the most famous representatives of naive art in Russia, the artist Katya Medvedeva (April 26 - May 31). Marina Loshak, Tatyana Metaksa, Andrey Kolesnikov, Margarita Koroleva, Mark Tishman, Igor Vernik and others were among the first to evaluate the exposition and talk to Katya.
The evening began with a charity auction, for which the artist provided several of her works. For many lots, the proceeds from the sale of which will be transferred to the young wards of the Galchonok Charitable Foundation, a real struggle unfolded. The first winner was Andrey Kolesnikov, who got the painting "Ballerinas", and the most expensive lot the auction was the painting "Giselle", which was bought by Dmitry Pushkar for 195 thousand rubles.
In his welcoming speech festival organizer Edith Kusnirovich emphasized that the retrospective “Katya Medvedeva. The Art of a Pure Soul” is dedicated to two anniversaries at once: the artist turned 80 years old, and she devoted 40 of them to painting. “Katya's work touches the soul of everyone, resonates in us. The idea of ​​the project was proposed by a friend of the festival, collector Vladimir Tsurko, and the exposition is completely formed from the works of private collectors - faithful accomplices of the Chereshnevoy Les, she said. – This project is a continuation of our tradition of organizing exhibitions in the elegant building of the Passage on Petrovka – architectural monument 19th century."
Western collectors often call the works of Katya Medvedeva “painting of a naked soul”: “People felt something real in my work. I want to give advice: do not give up - never. This exhibition at Petrovsky Passage is a lesson for you: look for yourself at any age. I still live because I write - for you! Katya confessed.
An orphan from an orphanage, self-taught, Katya Medvedeva began painting when she was almost 40 years old - working as a cleaner at an art school. But already three months later her first exhibition took place, and 20 years later, in the 90s, her paintings hung in Paris in the same room with the works of Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse. “Purely Russian talent,” wrote the admiring Chagall about her. "Russian nugget!" critics exclaimed as collectors lined up.
The significance of Katya Medvedeva's work was emphasized by the director of the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin Marina Loshak, which put her on a par with outstanding artists XX century: “All the exhibitions that take place within the framework of the Chereshnevoy Les, a longtime partner of the Pushkin Museum, are wonderful. But I have a special relationship with Katya: her paintings were exhibited in 2004 in our museum, which, as you know, is very strict in the selection of artists. I also have two works by Katya Medvedeva at home. How better artist, the finer he is arranged, the more he is internally free - the more he wants to be like the talent that Katya shows. Both Kandinsky, and Larionov, and Goncharova, and Malevich dreamed of getting closer to a wonderful, naive and sincere art to some extent. But only a few succeeded: Pirosmani, Henri Rousseau and Katya Medvedeva - in some ways close to children, with their absolute openness, generosity, with their free view of the world, joyful and happy. Therefore, the things that we see here with you cannot leave anyone indifferent: they change something in us, they make us smile, think, and sometimes even feel sad. But this - genuine art, which gives what we lack so much in life: sincerity and joy.
The exhibition in Petrovsky Passage, which is held with the support of BOSCO DI CILIEGI, presents works by Katya Medvedeva from ten private collections created over the past few decades. These are oil, acrylic and tempera paintings, watercolors, works on velvet and silk.
Her stories are always a response to positive and dramatic processes in the surrounding world, a concentration of personal impressions and inner experiences. Medvedeva's favorite themes - piercing landscapes, portraits, biblical stories and ballet - are just presented on the second floor of the Passage.
A catalog with reproductions of 150 works from private collections, performed from 1984 to the present, was published for the exhibition.
Now the works of Katya Medvedeva are stored in the Moscow Museum-Estate "Tsaritsyno", the House folk art in Moscow, Municipal Museum naive art in Moscow, the Charlotte Zander Museum in Germany and in other museum and private collections in Russia and abroad. Visitors to Petrovsky Passage can also purchase some of Medvedeva's recent work on display for their collection.
The immediate joy and sincere sadness of Katya Medvedeva is known all over the world today. To live up to 80 years old, continuing to look at the world with the open, pure eyes of a child, is the path of Katya Medvedeva, who will try to follow the exhibition “The Art of a Pure Soul” dedicated to her.

XVII Open Arts Festival has prepared many other interesting events: full program can be seen.

The exposition will be shown as part of the festival " cherry forest»

Photo: DR

More than 50 of her works were hung at the exhibition of Katya Medvedeva

Dozens of ballerinas in fluffy tutus, much more than the hostesses themselves, look with playful eyes from the paintings hung on the walls of pink ribbons. The girls are like a match, airy, lilac, vaguely tender, as happens in naive art. They are looked after by angels in colorful robes, written in a childishly sincere way. Armfuls of lilies, orchids, marigolds of pastel shades fly to the feet of the dancers. This whole fairy tale is at the exhibition of Katya Medvedeva in the Petrovsky Passage. The artist turned 80, of which 40 years she lives in creativity.

“For the anniversary of the special and beloved by many Katya, we are showing her touching, childishly naive and surprisingly subtle works created in recent decades,” says Edith Kusnirovich, organizer of the Chereshnevy Les art festival. – The idea of ​​the exhibition was proposed by our friend Vladimir Tsurko, and the exposition is fully formed from the works of private collectors.

Edith Kusnirovich, Igor Vernik, Katya Medvedeva, Tatiana Metaksa. Photo: Danil Kolodin.

For her, Medvedeva was allocated two floors in an elegant building of the XIX century, they hired one of the most talented theater artists Alexey Tregubov, released a weighty catalog iconic works, some of which were put up for auction, the money from which went to the Galchonok fund. And the heroine herself was dressed up, surrounded by loyal fans and flowers. Here Katya is sitting in a smart caftan and a hat, under which pink hairs are hidden, in one hand she holds a bouquet of sunflowers, in the other a glass of champagne and is perplexed:

“God, why did I deserve such a luxury?” She was always simple, she never put her teeth in, she didn’t reach for wealth at all. And why is it for an orphan from an orphanage? She learned the beauty of painting only at the age of 40, when she came to work in art school. Cleaning lady. There I began to draw, the first exhibition was immediately arranged for me. I always drew easily - from the heart, from the people. I lie in bed and write...

Marina Loshak. Photo: Danil Kolodin.

Soviet viewers immediately felt the kindness, the originality of Katya’s things, which, at first glance, are easy, in which, if you look closely, the theme of the theater is intertwined with biblical stories. After 20 years, the painting of the Bears was accepted by the Europeans with a bang. Her paintings hung in Paris next to the canvases of Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse. “Purely Russian talent,” Chagall admired. "Russian nugget!" critics responded, and collectors lined up.

To this day, many are buying Medvedeva's work. They radiate light, freedom, beauty. Katya's angels are fluttering, ballerinas are dancing, flowers are spinning. And all her characters, painted with light strokes of watercolor, oil or tempera on velvet and silk, live in their own world. They get involved in it instantly, because there is no litter, conjuncture, officialism here ...

“I can also boast that I have works by Katya Medvedeva at home,” admits the director of the Pushkin Museum. Pushkin Marina Loshak. – Every time I wake up, I see beautiful ballerinas who set a unique atmosphere that defines my day. Katya Medvedeva - rare artist. It seems to us that only professionals whose work we understand as high professional art can be geniuses. But I want to be close subtle artists, which are internally free, regardless of the presence or absence of vocational education. Kandinsky, Goncharov and Larionov dreamed of getting closer to the miraculous naive art. Its representatives are Pirosmani, Russo, Medvedev. And this is not an exaggeration or a compliment, it's true. Katya is close to children with their absolute openness, generosity, free look, joyful and happy, which pervades the entire exhibition. Everyone who comes to it will receive their share of happiness!