Look at the paintings of the young artist Elena Volkova. Horse in a silver forest by Elena Volkova

) is a Russian artist of Ukrainian origin, working in the style of naive art. Elena Volkova was born in 1915 in Chuguev (the birthplace of Ilya Repin), into a simple family. Her mother was from the villages, and her father was a lifeguard on the Seversky Donets River. In 1934, she began working as an assistant projectionist on a mobile film installation. During the war, she was among the victims and was treated in the hospital. Her husband died during the war. Volkova began painting in the 60s at the age of 45, despite the fact that she had no art education. Sergei Tarabarov from the Moscow gallery of naive art "Dar" in 2000 recognized Volkova as one of the most interesting artists working in the style of naive art in Russia. Elena Volkova is the first artist working in the genre of naive art to have a personal exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery. Currently, Elena Andreevna Volkova lives in Moscow. The artist’s works represent natural, pleasant things, the contemplation of which can give a person pleasure - these are various animals, people, fruits, nudity (From Wikipedia) .

Watermelon, 1988

Spring, 1982-1984

Peace to all, 1984

“The work of Elena Andreevna Volkova belongs to an amazing world, which in all encyclopedias of modern art is defined by the word “naive”. In this tradition, the entire inner life of the artist, and not only the inner life, but also the way of life itself acquires the meaning of a special reality. This reality is the only and the true presence of a person in a world filled with living consciousness and love. It opens to a pure heart and in that visible persuasiveness that borders on the state of complete physical presence in the images of fairy tales and myths. In these magical spaces, the language of man, animal and plant acquires unity, the world is permeated life-giving breath and immerses in divine integrity, where absolute light and peace reign. "

On the chick's birthday, 1985

Horse in a silver forest

“Elena Andreevna’s childhood and youth were spent in the small Ukrainian town of Chuguev, next to the street and house where Ilya Efimovich Repin was born. Fantastic nature, the clear waters of the Siversky Donets River, the skill of the Chuguev icon painters, where immediate reality turned into divine contemplation, combined with With the freedom of the artist's soul, she created her fabulous vision. "

Where we lived, there was a river

“Having not undergone any academic training, Elena Andreevna Volkova simply did not perceive the world as an object to copy, retaining a great childish feeling of surprise and admiration for it. The world has always remained a continuous source of her joy and inspiration, and Elena Andreevna, driven by the instinct of a great artist, affirmed through art your unity with him."

Self-portrait with son

"Experiencing the natural world as a Garden of Eden, the artist naturally goes beyond the edge of the canvas, opening the “little green door in the wall,” penetrating into the space of universal agreement of a star, a mineral, a human gesture, an animal’s smile and the rustle of an angel’s wings. Her works reflect everything: the inner state, relationships with people, love for my son, sunset and a randomly heard melody "

“In the works of Elena Andreevna, hopes and desires come true, covenants are fulfilled and lost things are restored, forever living in the immutability of the heavenly beginning.
The artist’s canvases bloom and sound, they are covered with flowers and washed with water. Wolves and horses, foxes and lions, deer and cows walk peacefully in them. They either rustle like grass, or whistle like birds, they rustle in forests and gurgle in streams, where silvery fish splash, ready to fulfill all our desires. "

“The combination of pure colors, taken in all their strength, the calm magnetic movement of the brush, giving the shape of objects an absolutely living appearance, the shining surface of the canvas, uniting the entire composition into a single life-giving fabric - all this gives Elena Andreevna’s work the meaning of an outpouring painting, a confessional painting, paintings that stand before the eternal. Its vibrating light space exudes enormous spiritual energy. This is a look at the world of a soul burning with unquenchable love, a special state that Van Gogh defined as “being struck by immortality.”

“The artist’s Christian philosophy revives the universal scale of the natural spontaneity of existence and reveals the fundamental principles of artistic thinking. The work of Elena Andreevna Volkova is undoubtedly not only the cultural memory of humanity about the unity of all life on Earth, it is all directed towards the future, obeying the laws of love, beauty and immortality. "

From a review by Vitaly Patsyukov http://www.museum.ru/primitiv/exh_view.asp?Id=37&Pic=2

Series of messages "artists of Russian naive art":
Part 1 - Naive artist Elena Andreevna Volkova - chief specialist on paradise

The art of artist Elena Volkova is the primal consciousness that comes into direct contact with the world, reality. What distinguishes him above all is love. Love for any blade of grass, any stone, star, animal, any creature. At the same time, love for inanimate nature. Elena Volkova is in a space where there are no barriers, hostility, complete merging with this world. Elena Volkova becomes a part, an organ of this world. She can move around there and touch. Such are her amazing phrases: “I want the apple to be round, I touch it, I see that the brush goes behind the apple.” This phrase cannot be understood by ordinary consciousness.

Elena Volkova takes paints from herbs and dandelion. The world that she felt in deep childhood... Elena Volkova lives directly in it. Literally an authentic paradise. She remembers what we lost long ago. Elena Volkova penetrates directly into this reality. A memory of a lost paradise that is not lost to her. Naive art, and this kind of consciousness allows us to change our point of view. True reality is obscured by the world of our worries, civilization, the artificial world. It really takes a special heart to get through this.

From an interview with artist Elena Volkova

"In this wide world everything is beautiful, everything is cheerful, above and below. Below - grass, flowers, trees. Above - beautiful clouds, the holy sun, a sky of extraordinary beauty. And I have enough paints. A canvas, a brush in my hand. No matter the stroke, "That I didn't put some color, but everything smiles at me. My God, what a joy. It's such a joy to sit by the canvas and depict what the soul asks for, and see how beautiful it turns out."

The reason for the exhibition project “Flowers and Fruits” could well have been the approaching spring holiday, which was especially welcome after the unprecedentedly long frosts at the end of winter. In fact, this is not a momentary project, the preparation of which took more than six months.

A holiday is always joy, optimism, love and hope, which means a sea of flowers, splashes of champagne and fruits. It is precisely these artists - friendly to the world and people, optimistic and positive even in their color scheme, and most importantly, very artistic - that the organizers invited under the hospitable roof of one of the best exhibition spaces in the Moscow region...

One exhibition space combines several personal exhibitions of four scientific (professional) artists from Moscow (Anna Birshtein, Lyusya Voronova) and Nizhny Novgorod (Galina Kakovkina, Natalya Pankova), as well as four “classical” naive artists, although deceased, but who preserved in their works the freshness and immediate purity of the pictorial perception of the world, joyful in its origins and colors (Muscovite Elena Volkova, Vasily Grigoriev from the Moscow region, Anastasia Derbeneva from the Tula region, Vera Brankovskaya from Belarus).

The architecture of the Art Gallery premises is very convenient for such exhibitions. The exhibitions seem to “flow” into each other without conflicting with each other, despite the huge range of stylistics, manners and methodologies in revealing such a seemingly simple topic as flowers. In the cultures of all nations, flowers have always occupied a place of honor and are filled with sacred meaning. They were revered by the ancient Persians and Jews, Egyptians and Arabs, Greeks and Romans; they were equally valued by pagans, Christians and representatives of all other faiths at all times since ancient times. We can say that love for flowers is an obligatory civilizational attribute of social development. If you believe the legends of centuries, the appearance of the most modest flower is always the result of God's will and the love of the gods for man.

Each of the presented artists feels flowers very differently. The swift, free, flying brush and palette knife of Anna Birshtein, whose double works between the columns recreate the atmosphere of a medieval temple with precious stained glass windows, are replaced by a scrupulous analysis of the form and structure of happiness by Lucy Voronova, moving into the space of Galina Kakovkina, filled with pure, unclouded “streams” of picturesque colorful beauty, foamed by light and wind. There, outside the “window” of her paintings, there is amazing peace and tranquility, eternal spring, carrying autumn within itself. All this ends with the rather rigid graphics of Natalia Pankova’s painting, rhythmic and structured to the point of ornamentation. It ends, only to be immediately drowned again in a mighty explosion of Anna Birshtein's color. The exhibition has neither a beginning nor an end; it is pleasant to wander through it: in any part of it you can retire, but also not lose sight of other exhibitions.

After Birshtein, the mighty bouquets of Vasily Grigoriev are perceived as a tender fragrant memory of a childhood summer in the village. In his paintings, the festivity of the world is embodied in a “rich” table and a “chic” bouquet. Local color, the absence of air and a light source transforms the space of his still lifes into a kind of Woland space of peace and non-movement. In the next room there is another explosion, but this time soft, rather the iridescent radiance of Anastasia Derbeneva’s works, like Serafina from Senlis filling the entire space of the painting with flowers and leaves, but without whirlwinds to the point of dizziness, but on the contrary, welcoming the viewer like a warm fragrant pool filled with flower petals. And finally, Vera Brankovskaya with her delicate gouaches of flower children. The glass of the frames only emphasizes the strangeness of the flowing pattern, visible as if through the thickness of water: floating flowers - the souls of children...

Curator S.D. Tarabarov

The project involves artists from Moscow (Anna Birshtein, Lyusya Voronova), Nizhny Novgorod (Galina Kakovkina), the Public Foundation "Museum of Russian Folk Painting (collection of Vladimir Moroz and Anna Godik), the Public Foundation for Naive Art "Tarabarov Island", Elena Volkova Museum "World" everyone!” The Balashikha Art Gallery “opens” its holdings and presents Vera Ignatievna Brankovskaya for the first time.

Birshtein Anna Maksovna(born 1947) - was born in Moscow in the family of famous artists Max Birshtein and Nina Vatolina. Graduated from the Moscow Secondary Art School at the Institute named after V.I. Surikov and the Moscow State Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov, Faculty of Painting (workshop of D. Zhilinsky, A. Gritsai). Member of the Union of Artists of Russia (1975). Trained in Paris, at the Cite des Arts. Since 1975 he has been a regular participant in art exhibitions. Corresponding member and winner of the Silver Medal of the Russian Academy of Arts. Member of the Moscow branch of the Union of Artists of the USSR/Russia. Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts.

The works are in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Kiev Museum of Russian Art, museums in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo, Nikolaev, private collections in Russia, Germany, Great Britain, Austria, and the USA.

Voronova Lyudmila Vladimirovna (born 1953) - born in Moscow. 1969-1970 studied at ZNUI, workshop of Boris Otarov. In 1978 she graduated from the art department of MIT. She joined the Youth Association of Artists at the USSR Union of Artists. Participates in exhibitions since 1978. 1985 Paris Unesco, 1986 Hungary Sumbathely. 1987 Award “Best Work of the Year” Moscow Union of Artists, 1988 Award “Best Work of the Year” Moscow Union of Artists, accepted as a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. 1995 first prize at the international symposium Kvols Denmark. She painted in many countries of the world: Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Panama, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Greece, Norway, Holland, China, and in the republics of the former USSR: Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Abkhazia, Belarus.The Russian Academy of Arts, on the basis of its charter, by the decision of the Presidium dated September 17, 2013, elected Lyudmila Vladimirovna Voronova as an HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY. She was awarded a bronze medal of the Russian Academy of Arts - the Worthy Medal of the Imperial Order of St. Anne.

The works are located: Moscow - State Tretyakov Gallery, Museum of Modern Art, State Center for Contemporary Art, State Central Museum of the History of Russia, State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg), Perm Art Gallery, Pskov Art Museum, Novosibirsk Art Gallery, Mordovian Republican Museum of Fine Arts. S.D. Erzya, State Art Museum of the Altai Territory, Samara Art Museum, Kisten ke Frostrup Museum (Denmark), Kolodzei Art Foundation Highland Park New Jersey (USA), Russian Gallery (Harbin, China), Red Square Gallery (London), Balashikha Art Museum gallery (MBUK "Picture Gallery" (MO).

Kakovkina Galina Aleksandrovna- Nizhny Novgorod artist, painter, participant in numerous art exhibitions and projects, one of the founders of the creative association of artists “Black Pond”. The beginning of her creative biography was participation in a regional art exhibition in 1976. Over the next few years, he actively participates in apartment exhibitions of nonconformist artists. In 1987 At an exhibition in Moscow at the All-Union Exhibition Complex (VDNKh), one of Galina’s works was awarded a medal. Works in the genres of landscape and still life.

The works are in the collections of the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum, Chuvash State Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Mari El, State national museum and exhibition fund "Rosizo", the Museum of Landscape in Plyos, the State Vladimir-Suzdal Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve, the Novocheboksarsk Art Museum, the Ulyanovsk Regional Art Museum, the Mordovian Republican Museum of Fine Arts. S. D. Erzi.

Natalia Pankova Yuryevna - Nizhny Novgorod artist, art manager, master of art history.Born in Gorky on June 28, 1965. Graduated from the Gorky Art School, Moscow External Humanitarian University and the School of Public Policy. Since 1988, participant and organizer of exhibitions in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, foreign projects in Spain, Luxembourg, Great Britain, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Finland, China, Algeria. Personal exhibitions in Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Cheboksary, Saransk, Sarov, Moscow, Luxembourg, London, Rome, Vienna, Budapest, Helsinki, Tampere, Algeria, Annaba, Constantine. In 1995 - a creative trip to Paris at the invitation of the Prime Minister of France Alena Juppe. In the same year - a creative trip to Spain -work on the “Spanish Cycle” in Barcelona. Among the most significant is the “Conversion” project with the participation of Russian and British artists. Curator and participant of the project, which took place in 1998-2000. in Great Britain with the support of the Russian Embassy in Great Britain and the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom. In 2002 - a series of exhibitions in Algeria at the invitation of the Algerian Ministry of Culture. In 2003, he took part in an art conference in Caux (Switzerland). 2001-2004 - author and curator of the art project “High Voltage”, which brought together more than 50 authors and took place in the halls of the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum and the Nizhny Novgorod Central Exhibition Complex. 2004-2006 - personal exhibitions “Philosophy of Color” in Russian museums (Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum, Mordovian Republican Museum of Fine Arts named after S. D. Erzya, Chuvash State Art Museum). 2007 - participation in the Dorotheum auction, Vienna, Austria. 2007-2008 - personal exhibitions “Color and Rhythm” in Vienna and Budapest. 2008 - personal exhibitions “Rhythm of Summer” in Helsinki and Tampere at the invitation of the mayor of Tampere. 2009 - participation in an exhibition of contemporary artists from six countries. Beijing World Art Museum. China. 2011 - “Game of Colors”. Painting by Natalia Pankova. Gallery "Quadrepede". Rome. Italy. 2012-2013 - “Celebration of Color”. Exhibitions in Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava.

The works are in collections of Russian and foreign museums, in private collections.

Volkova Elena Andreeva(1915 - 2013) - a wonderful naive artist from the city of Chuguev began painting at the age of 65, and before that she worked as an assistant projectionist at a film moving house. She began painting in the 60s at the age of 45, despite the fact that she had no art education. S.D. Tarabarov called Elena Volkova one of the most interesting artists in Russia working in the style of naive art. The artist’s works represent natural, pleasant things, the contemplation of which can give a person pleasure - these are various animals, people, fruits, nudity. The defining moment for Elena Volkova was her acquaintance with the Kharkov artist Vasily Ermilov, one of the founders of the Ukrainian avant-garde. He was the first among authoritative professionals to appreciate the artist’s work and became the first buyer of her works. In the late 60s and early 70s, Volkova’s paintings gained fame in Moscow and attracted the attention of Moscow State University professor and art critic Mikhail Alpatov.The artist's first personal exhibition took place in 1973 in Omsk, where she lived for several years. Volkova later moved to Moscow. Since 1974, she has constantly participated in regional, republican, all-Union and foreign exhibitions. Elena Volkova is the first artist working in the genre of naive art to have a solo exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery. In international directories of naive artists, the name of Elena Volkova is on a par with Henri Rousseau and Niko Pirosmanishvili.

Grigoriev Vasily Vasilievich(1914 - 1994) was born in 1914 in the city of Kirzhach, Vladimir region, into a family of teachers. The first painting was bought from him in 1928 in Kirzhach. In the late 80s, he was noticed by artists and collectors on Arbat Street in Moscow. Vasily Grigoriev, a naive artist, in his life managed to be both a graphic designer, and the chairman of a collective farm, and the director of a pioneer camp, and a foundry worker... In fact, he was always an artist, although his first personal exhibition took place only in 1994 in Gallery "Dar" near S.D. Tarabarova. In the same year, his works were included by the gallery in the Russian national collection at the Triennial of Naive Art "Insita - 94" in Bratislava. Grigoriev’s free brush, not knowing the “scientific” rules, local color, “neglect” of halftones and shadows, endless variations of several dozen conventional elements that make up the composition create an amazing atmosphere of festive, bright beauty, harmony and integrity of the world. His always joyful, “resonant” paintings can be seen today in museums and publications on naive art.

Derbeneva Anastasia Nikolaevna(1929 - 2005) was born in the village of Filimonovo, Tula province, into a family of hereditary toy makers. She learned her first painting skills from her grandmother - she painted Easter eggs. Anastasia Derbeneva as an artist “began” from the day when the collector Vladimir Moroz saw “cardboards” painted in oil. The work of the talented naive artist was appreciated by the top officials of the Tretyakov Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin. Art critic Irina Antonova called her work “wonderful.”“Looking at Derbeneva’s work,” says Sergei Tarabarov, “I always remember the famous Serafina from Senlis. Derebeneva also started with small cardboards and not very good paints; she just as easily switched to large canvases (and then her talent sparkled in all its splendor and became obvious to the widest public); also filled the entire canvas with either sacred plant patterns, or the sacred dance of leaves and flowers in the name of Divine Nature."

Brankovskaya Vera Ignatievna(b. 1926). Born in Belarus, Grodno region. She worked as a format specialist. She studied at the Correspondence People's University of Arts (ZNUI, Moscow) with teacher A.P. Durasova, when she was already over 50 years old. The artist boldly takes on all genres - landscape, still life, portrait. He writes in watercolors and gouache. Flowers, herbs, women's and children's faces, delicate in color, structure and shape, intricately intertwined, harmoniously fit into large formats of graphic sheets, making up the compositional component. Like many naive artists, she signed her works in detail on the back of the sheet. Some works were accompanied by poetic texts: “Summer breathes with joy, daisies have bloomed. Collect them in bouquets, braid them. Do you want to rest, a guy under the birch trees, do you want to read, an old partisan. That the war has passed and everything has changed... Only beauty has been preserved.” . The artist’s works were transferred to the Balashikha Art Gallery from ZNUI in 2002.

The works are in the funds of the GRDNT, MBUK "Picture Gallery" (Balashikha).

The curator of the exhibition is Sergei Tarabarov.

8 April 2015, 12:28

Elena Volkova was born in 1915 in Chuguev, in the same place as Ilya Repin, into a simple family. Her mother was from a rural background, her father worked as a lifeguard on the Seversky Donets River.
Fate turned out in such a way that Volkova began painting only in the 60s at the age of 45 (*somewhere written at 65), without an art education; subsequently her work was noted by many critics and art critics.

Elena Volkova is the first artist working in the genre of naive art to have a personal exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery.

Volkova's works are in many art galleries around the world.

Naive artists are people whom God gave to see and feel beauty, but did not give them the opportunity to learn to be an artist.

The oldest naive artist Elena Andreevna Volkova said very accurately about the creative process: “Before starting work, I must gain impressions, a desire to work. If this need, necessity, has not accumulated in my soul, sit down - don’t sit at the easel, nothing will work out anyway! But suddenly at some point I felt that my soul was filled with creativity and it was calling to itself. It was the Lord who blessed me with new creations. Blessing is inspiration. It is when joy and delight come to the soul. This is a special feeling, not with anything comparable, holy, magical. You open your eyes and see what you have to do, and then everything is written as if by itself."

The beginning of the work from the words of Elena Andreevna is also interesting: “As soon as I sit in front of a blank canvas, I immediately see what I have to write. It’s as if I went into the picture and painted everything from the inside... In a picture, the main thing for me is to find the shape, outline, silhouette Although I immediately see the object, it takes a lot of effort and attention to find and give it the correct shape...

Everything in the picture must be connected to each other. Everything depends on each other. Everything should live peacefully and be friends. Just as people on Earth were created for goodness and happiness, so the objects in the picture must correspond to each other. Everyone plays their role, everyone has their own place, their own color and character, their own mood. I don't need nature. I remember everything and everyone. When I draw, I imagine in my mind what this or that object should be like..."

There is happiness inside her paintings: the apples and pears are happy, all the creatures of the earth are happy, and the old woman herself is happy. What do you believe in her, she is of sound mind and has lived a hard life.

And for her, this state of total complacency is so simple that she does not understand how it is inaccessible to everyone else.

"Peace to all!" – this wish is conveyed by the work of Elena Andreevna. Not just an artist, but the national pride of Russia.

Her name is included in the English and American encyclopedias of naive art, books are published about her in different countries, she became the first naive artist to have a lifetime exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery.

Elena Andreevna is 94 years old (* died on October 8, 2013, at the age of 98), but age does not matter: her work brings warmth and joy, spiritual purity and life itself in all its versatility.

When they tell me that I am God’s chosen one, then I think that this is so,” he explains. “And when they don’t tell me, I don’t even think.” I'm illiterate. My legs have been sick since childhood, so I didn’t go to school. My dad taught me letters at home. But I have a good memory, I remember so many poems.

What is the amazing power of naive art? All works are “naive” and deeply personal. This is a kind of autobiography in a deeply figurative form. Moreover, the artist also represented herself in many of her works. Elena Volkova's paintings are a unique phenomenon. Her painting does not pose any pressing problems; it only calls for tenderness, kindness and sympathy.

By the way, it has long been noted that “naive” people live long. Almost all such artists are elderly people who began to engage in creativity at retirement or pre-retirement age. And, apparently, the opportunity to express themselves with colors somehow has a particularly beneficial effect on them. Or maybe the whole point is that naive art is the lot of optimists, to whom illnesses bother less anyway.
“The more good you do,” explains Elena Andreevna, “the longer you will live in the world. That's what my dad taught me. But I only show good things to people, so that both you and I will have joy.”

When asked what is the magic and power of her paintings, the artist answers:
- In life, you don’t have to fuss, rush, try to overtake someone, get ahead of someone, or climb some next official or other mountain. Stop, look around you - and see how beautiful and wondrous life is, how much joy, pleasure, good mood it can bring to people. This is probably the meaning and essence of my work...

The magical feature of the paintings are the eyes of the animals. So kind, so compassionate, pleading, asking for attention and participation. I feel somehow uncomfortable from this look, from this plea. As if you are guilty of something in front of the animals. And indeed, we are guilty before them, before the whole world. After all, evil comes only from man, all misfortunes and losses come from him.

source - culturology.rf