To the Question of the Artistic Value of Author’s Copies by Naive Artists: Nina Varfolomeeva

Nina Varfolomeeva is one of the most famous Russian amateur artists, her name was included in the World Encyclopedia of Naive Art, her works are in public and private collections. Her work is limited to 20 repetitive subjects, and her example allows us to talk about a fairly common phenomenon in artistic primitive. The concept of “originality of a work” is of value for author’s creativity, however, in naive art, author’s self-repetition is not uncommon — there may be three or four copies of one work, which does not affect their value in the art market. Naive art has such a feature due to its borderline state between “high” and folk art, in which there are no concepts of “original” and “copy”. The artist’s painting style differs in the early and late periods, which also speaks of another feature of some naive artists — the transition from an amateur painting style to a popular print. It should be assumed that this is a direct consequence of the success of the artist’s works in the art market and the increase in the number of works created. The article proves that the simplification of the artistic language of Varfolomeeva’s later works is a transition to decorativeness, characteristic of folk art.