ISSN 2411-0795
ISSN 2411-0795
Keywords: Lucy Voronova, naive art, Russian contemporary art, decorative and applied arts, Correspondence People's University of Arts (ZNUA), artist promotion, contemporary art auction, artist rating, women artists, investments in art, design, designer
Available in the on-line version with: 30.03.2025
Voronin A.Y. The Phenomenon of Lucy Voronova as an Artist. // Theory and History of Art. 2025. N 1, p.98–128 https://doi.org/10.24412/2411-0795-2025-1-98-128.
The article examines the work of Lucy Voronova, focusing on her graphic art, paintings, and autobiographical prose drawn from her diary entries. Based on an analysis of her works and insights from leading Russian art historians, the article concludes that from the early 1980s to the mid-2010s, Lucy Voronova was associated with naïve art, later transitioning to decorative and applied art. The article suggests that the artist's "joyful phase", which followed a "depressive artistic phase", began in 2006 and coincided with her shift from paper/ground/oil or paper/acrylic graphic techniques to painting.
The author recounts the creation of the Lucy Voronova brand and the wide-ranging efforts to promote the naïve artist's name both in Russia and internationally. These efforts included collaborations with art historians and collectors, the publication of art albums, the organization of museum exhibitions, and auction sales in Moscow, London, and Zurich.
A separate section of the article is devoted to the artist's current creative phase — the "mosaic" period, which began in 2018, as well as an analysis of the activities of the Lucy Voronova Art Support Fund.