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Medvedeva Ekaterina Ivanovna. b. 1937. Moscow Born in the village Golubino, Belgorod region, in the peasants family. After her parents’ death of starvation in 1947 she was brought up at the orphanage. Having finished Musical secondary school and the College of Culture she worked as a weaver, costume designer, waitress, postman, tutor. Lived in Azerbaidzhan, Northern Caucasus, in Belgorod region, near Kaluga, since 1988 - in Moscow. Read a lot, enjoyed art books. In 1976 painted her first still-life picture, while watching the classes in the arts studio. Her works were at once recognised by professional artists and art critics. Until 1981 Katya Medvedeva (that’s how she signs her pictures) worked in watercolour, then she turned to oil painting. Having made hundreds of paintings and drawings, which after many personal and group exhibitions were acquired by museums and private collectors in Russia and abroad, Katya Medvedeva became the best known naive Russian painter. In improvisational paintings she combines natural colourist talent with peculiarity of children’s drawing. The main character of her works is Artist (a prophet, a poet, a musician), who is in conflict with society. In 1982, when Marc Chagall saw Katya’s drawings, he called her a great Russian primitive painter. Pushkin among the Gipsies. 1981 Oil on canvas. 86 õ 128 SRFHA Inv. ÊÏ-76