An artist from the Moscow region paints headscarves and stoles worn even by famous women of the world

Work artist Lyubov Toshcheva are not just decorative items for decorating interiors, but independently living and breathing works of art that give warmth and joy. Her amazing silk scarves and handcrafted stoles literally fly around the world and settle in the wardrobes of lovers of exclusive items, her paintings become an exquisite decoration for collections and interiors of batik lovers, and fabulous illustrations created using this technique adorn the pages of many book publications.

Lyubov Toshcheva's creative imagination was logically embodied in colorful silk canvases based on fairy tales in the “cold batik” technique, which primarily attracts with the uniqueness of the plots, the refined beauty of the motifs, the grace of the pattern and the exquisite color scheme. It also conveys the artist's energy, forcing her to reflect on such philosophical and eternal themes as the transience of time, universal love and the happiness of motherhood.

About the artist

Lyubov Toshcheva is a member of the Union of Artists of Russia, winner of many awards, laureate of the Malyutin Prize, a permanent participant in all-Russian and regional exhibitions. Especially popular among lovers of this decorative and applied art are fantasy multi-layer paintings made by a craftswoman on natural silk. Some of them are in Moscow, and many others are in galleries and private collections in Russia, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, France and Italy. Stoles, scarves and shawls created by the artist using the cold batik technique are part of the wardrobes of many famous women in the world, including Hillary Clinton.

By the way, a talented artist from the city of Ivanovo is the continuer of the family business. Her mother, Muza Toshcheva, is a master of drawing on fabric and a fellow student of Vyacheslav Zaitseva. The woman worked all her life as an artist at the Samoilov cotton mill. Developing all kinds of designs for fabrics, Muse dreamed of dressing every Soviet woman in beautiful clothes. And indeed, the whole country dressed in her chintz at that time.

The daughter followed in the footsteps of her mother. At one time, Lyubov Toshcheva graduated from the Ivanovo State Textile Academy. In 1976 she began her creative activity in the author group of the Ivanovo branch of the art fund of the RSFSR, where she and her colleagues in the workshop created standards of scarves, stoles and scarves, painting them using the batik technique.

And in the 90s, when the union disintegrated, the artist went on a free voyage, and she transferred all her skills and abilities to paintings. Love began to create sophisticated fantasy and multi-layered silk canvases, applying to this all her talent and jewelry elaboration of the drawing with the scrupulousness inherited from her mother.

And by the 2000s, the craftswoman managed to find her own signature signature style and created a whole gallery of delightful works that excite the imagination of lovers of this type of applied art. The hand technique of cold batik allowed the artist to achieve unique effects that preserve the warmth of her soul, her worldview and her skill.

- this is what Lyubov Toshcheva says now about her work.

In her work, Lyubov Toshcheva uses natural silk fabrics and German dyes, which undergo special fixing at the final stage. After this operation, the products become resistant to moisture and sun.

Choosing a fairy tale as a genre for her artistic creativity, Toshcheva, with the help of brushes and paints, glorifies both folk traditions and its original culture, the nature-mother of Russia and everything living on earth. Fairy-tale plots are closely intertwined with the artist's irrepressible imagination; at the wave of her brush, they are overgrown with the finest exquisite patterns characteristic of the Ivanovo school of textile design.

The artist chose a woman around whom the universe revolves as the main character for her creations. Be it fantasy, Russian folk life or theatrical performance … The main motive is the natural environment in all its manifestations. Stylized exquisite flowers and trees, patterns on colorful fairy meadows, fantastic animals, birds, fish - surprisingly similar to the interpretation of the traditional ornaments of Ivanovo fabrics.

And in conclusion, I would like to note that fantasy and fairy-tale plots opened the way for Lyubov Toshcheva to the world of illustration. Several years ago she made her debut: the book of children's poems by Konstantin Balmont "Fairy Tales" was published, illustrated by the works of the Ivanovo artist. Little readers and their parents were very happy about this. Indeed, in the artist's picturesque illustrations, the world is so colorful, bright and sunny, as if it is woven from the music of lines and color.

P.S

A bit of batik history

The history of hand-painted fabrics goes back several millennia. While studying the ancient civilizations of Sumer and Egypt, scientists discovered traces of this craft, which later received the name "batik". It came to us from Indonesia and literally means painting with wax. In the 19th century, it was on the islands of this country that batik became a highly developed art, and this time is considered its golden age. Therefore, Indonesia is considered the birthplace of batik, a technique for painting cotton fabrics using a reserving compound (wax).

In the 19th century, batik also became popular in Europe. Thus, in 1835, the first batik factory was opened in Holland, and at the beginning of the 20th century, highly artistic works in this style were demonstrated for the first time in Paris at the World Exhibition. The history of the development of batik in Russia begins from the time of the New Economic Policy. In those years, art artels began to paint fabrics in bright ornaments, however, without having any special knowledge in this technique. With the eradication of the NEP, colorful clothes were recognized as philistine and batik went into the shadows for decades.

In the post-war period, it was decided that a Soviet woman still has the right to beautiful, bright things. Workshops appeared, in which eminent artists began to teach future masters the basics of batik. In those years, in addition to wardrobe items, artists also created large panels for decorating concert halls and cinema foyers.

With the emergence of fashion for oriental culture, interest in batik gradually increased and does not fade away to this day. With the help of batik, exclusive fabrics are created; it is used in interior design and wherever it is required to embody the flight of the artist's imagination. And in 2009, UNESCO included it in the list of masterpieces of human heritage.

And, continuing this theme, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the original works of the Cuban artist Orestos Busone, who created a unique style of oil painting on fine silk, based on borrowing the techniques of the most ancient type of decorative art - batik.