Russian-born Elena Dobrovolskaya was drawn to art from her early years but the path to becoming an artist was not a straight one. Despite studying drawing in her school years she decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps and graduated with a degree in chemical engineering.
Her career soon turned to business – she founded her own travel company. 15 years in travel business gave Elena a unique opportunity to visit the best art museums in the world and to study art history from the original works of the great masters.
Elena radically changed her life in 2010 – she closed her business and returned to her passion for art. She took up private oil painting lessons with the renowed artist Oleg Leonov - an academician, bright member of the Russian Academy of Fine Arts, famous for his realistic portraits and landscapes.
From her teacher she captured a Russian school technique of Old Masters and added her own vision of classical portraiture with a bright, tasteful color palette. After only a year at Leonov’s art studio Elena Dobrovolskaya was accepted as a member of the Creative Union of Russia’s Artists.
In 2011-2012 years she worked as a curator of large-scale photo exhibitions in New York, Moscow, Paris and Strasbourg, garnering extensive press-coverage and appreciation by the audience.
In 2012 Elena moved to the US. She is a member of Greenwich Art Society, International Art Alliance New York and Circle Foundation for Arts (France). Her art works were exhibited at the galleries and private events in Greenwich CT, Philadelphia PA, and at the Tenri gallery in Manhattan NY. In May 2018 a series of her graphic portraits were presented at the Grand Central Library in New York. Elena is a finalist of a few Artavita contests. In April 2019 she was awarded the International Prize Velazquez (art critic’s award), the ceremony took place at the European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona. Elena Dobrovolskaya presented her collection of portraits in oil and pastel at the prestigious and biggest American exhibition ArtExpo New York in April 2019 . In June 2019 she participated at Mantova Art Expo in Italy where she was awarded of International Prize Artist of the Year 2019.
Fall season 2019 was marked for Elena by a series of successful European exhibitions – her art was presented at the luxury Monaco Yacht Show by Artifact gallery from New York in September (with attendance of His Highness Prince Albert III of Monaco), at Salon Art Shopping – Carrousel du Louvre in Paris by PAKS gallery from Vienna in October and at the “Art&Emotions” exhibition in Shapero Modern gallery in the heart of Mayfair in London by Gabriel Fine Arts in November. Elena was awarded of International Prize Giotto (for stylistic value) during exhibtion and presentation of “Segnalati Art Book” curated by art critic Salvatore Russo at the Meeting Art gallery in Lisbon in November 2019. In introduction of her art he wrote: “Elena Dobrovolskaya’s paintings are characterized by her high technical ability. A painting that does not go in seach of pictorial hyperrealism, seeks the emotion that her works want to express instead”.
Elena’s pastel portraits were also published in the “We Contemporary 2019” art volume in Italy by Musa Art Space, the book presentation took place in Prague in December 2019. In the same month Elena took part at the annual International Art Alliance NY group show at the Tenri gallery in Manhattan where she presented her five latest paintings.
Year 2020 successfully started for Elena with receiving the International Prize Leonardo da Vinci in Florence for her drawing “Girl’s head” and participating in the “Body Language” exhibition at the beautiful Palazzo Ca’Zanardi in Venice. Then all scheduled art fairs were postponed because of the global pandemic situation, so during the rest of that year Elena was showing her art to the public on the virtual exhibitions like “Dream Room” with the M.A.D.S. gallery from Milan, “Artisti del Futuro” with the Galleria Il Collezionista from Rome, “New Era” with Contemporary Art Station from Tokyo and her own Solo Virtual Portrait Exhibition “Look into my face” at her website. In October 2020 Elena’s painting “Modern Nephertiti” was presented to the New York citizens on the Big Screen Plaza in the center of Manhattan as part of the Arthouse NYC project.
Elena Dobrovolskaya’s art was published in French (Spotlight), Italian (International Contemporary Art) and British magazines (like Aesthetica, House&Garden, GQ ) as well as in “50 artists to invest in” art catalogue in Italy in 2020 and “Trends in Art: Insights for Collectors” art volume in Great Britain in 2021 with the artists selected by Contemporary Art Curator magazine.
Elena’s art works are presented for sale on such platforms as www.Artsy.net and www.RedwoodArtGroup.com
She has already found her own style – her oil portraits are vibrant, colorful and very feminine, delicate, romantic and sexy, modern and classical at the same time, with monochromatic yet dynamic background. Each of her heroines has a great personality, a strong character which you can feel looking at the pictures. Her choice of media in the graphic works underlines the most interesting features of the model each and every time. A combination of warm sanguine for the face and body and colorful soft pastel for the clothes and accessories creates a magical and unforgettable look and is a hallmark of her artistic style.
In March 2021 Elena Dobrovolskaya had her first Solo show at the Artifact gallery in Manhattan, NY, with great viewers appreciation and an article about the exhibition published in ArteryNYC. After that she took part in RAVE ArtExpo New York - virtual art show hold by Redwoodartgroup. In June 2021 Elena’s painting was exhibited in Vienna, Austria, during “We Contemporary 2021” art show organized by Musa Art Space, and published in the catalogue with the same name.
Fall season 2021 was marked by her participation in three big art fairs in Italy and US:
Florence Biennale XIIIth edition by personal invitation from the President and Founder of Florence Biennale Dt. Pasquale Celona, Aequilibrium exhibition in Crocetti museum in Rome with ArteBorgo gallery (during Rome Art Week) and ArtExpo New York with Agora gallery.
In spring 2022 Elena presented her triptych “Eternal femininity” (which she painted specially for the theme of Florence Biennale) during ArtExpo New York with Mecenavie, France.
The highlight of 2023 year was participation in Focus Art Fair in London at the famous Saatchi gallery. Elena’s four big paintings were presented by Gabriel Fine Arts gallery including the portrait of Kate, Princess of Wales, which was very popular between the visitors.
Now she is preparing for the exhibition “Personal Structures” by ECC in Palazzo Bembo in Venice, Italy, which will run 7 months in parallel with Venice Biennale 2024.
Elena lives and works at her art studio in Somers, Westchester, NY.
