Natalya Muradova
People’s Artist of the Russian Federation.
Member of the Association of Artists of Decorative Arts.
Member of the All-European Association of Textile Artists.
Member of the Friends of Fiber Art International.
Muradova was born in 1946 in Lodz, Poland.
She graduated from the Moscow State Textile Institute in 1971.
Currently lives and works in Moscow.
Art styles and techniques
Art historian Ada Safonova of «Decorative Arts» magazine described Natalya Muradova as an “artist of great individual aesthetics whose creative aspirations are far from mainstream but are extremely crucial for modern art. This places her amongst a few artists whose work defines artistic practices and anticipates growing demands of the society”
Connoisseurs of art would be pleased by subtle color gradations; patchwork enthusiasts will appreciate the complexity of textile inlays; and the graphics experts will be captured by the refinement of the drawing techniques.
The complexity of the mural painting’s surface is a dense multi-component structure. It resembles poetry in a way that poetry creates images out of common words. Art pieces, material objects, calligraphy, embroidery, tapestry, glass beads and lacework are so tightly intertwined that transitions are hardly noticeable yet can be interpreted as the verse’s initial rhythm.
Not only is the mural’s complex texture a piece of art, but it also is a mundane hard work, which requires the ability to transform and overcome the material’s very essence, unexpected improvisations and haptic nature of a hand.
The creative process itself grips Muradova even more than the search for the concept and composition of the artwork.
Manual hands-on work also plays a role of a semantic component of an artwork due to its highest artistic skill.
Natalya Muradova's artworks can be found:
Tapestry by artist’s designs and mural paintings:
The State Tretyakov Gallery, Russia
Halls of the Residence and Reception of the President of the Russian Federation in the Moscow Kremlin;
Halls of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
Front curtains:
Russian theatre in Beltsy;
The Great Hall of the Philharmonic in Bryansk;
Palace of Culture in Samara.
Museum collections:
Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow, Russia;
Russian Museum of Decorative Arts, Moscow, Russia;
Museum of the Beauvais Manufactory, Bouvsesson, France;
The “Arts & Design” museum, New York, USA.
Textile murals in unique technique of improvisation of the author belong to private collections in Russia, the USA, Japan, Norway, Australia, Italy.
Exhibitions:
Participant of nationwide and international exhibitions since 1978.
Major solo exhibitions:
1992 Gallery «K-16», Olesun, Norway.
1993 Miller’s Gallery, Cincinnati, USA.
1994 Museum of Decorative Arts, Moscow, Russia.
1999 Ryder Gallery, University of New Jersey, USA.
2006 Gallery «Romanov», Moscow, Russia.
2011 Atrium «School of Dramatic Art», Moscow, Russia.
2012 «Light and Color» at the Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow, Russia.
2014 The All-Russia Museum of Decorative Arts, Moscow, Russia.
2016 «Sights and sounds» in the Museum-Manor of Muraev-Apostoli, Moscow, Russia.
2018 «THREADS. Simple and eternal. Subtle and inseparable» at the Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow, Russia.
2021 Atrium «School of Dramatic Art», Moscow, Russia.
2023 «Matter. Terrestrial and celestial» at the Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow, Russia.
Books and articles:
2016 Monograph «Petals».
2021 Book «The patchwork of broken time and picturesque patches of sentiment» about the art of artistic textiles.
Articles in magazines «Collection. Art and culture», «Decorative arts».