The technique of glass painting has been faithful for several decades. A native of Kysuce’s Staškov, the sister of actor Jozef Kroner, enjoyed painting from childhood. Since the age of thirteen, she lived in Považská Bystrica, where her family moved for work in a factory. She has been active in the area of glass underpainting since 1976. She is also known for numerous exhibitions held in various parts of Slovakia.

“Zuzana Vaňousová’s pictures differ from the works of other authors in that they were created as illustrations of Slovak folk songs and remained so throughout. In adulthood, she became acquainted with a pleasant family in Kysuce, whose members she often visited and entertained by singing songs. Once when the spouses from this family celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary, she pondered what to dedicate to them for the occasion. It occurred to her to give them their favorite song in the form of an illustrated glass painting. The picture was a great success, and she adopted the idea of painting pictures with texts of folk songs. In her decor, the author drew inspiration from old Central Slovak glass paintings. From the beginning, her work was defined by a distinctive style and a simple painting technique, without the need for further formal development. Only the themes, that is, the song texts, evolved and changed. Through the content of the pictures, she returned to her native Kysuce, enjoying memories of her youth and hopes for the future. She drew on original texts of Kysuce folk songs both from her memory and from literature or by directly transcribing them in the field. She also processed some themes in cycles, for example, wedding songs, where the pictures were interconnected but could also be perceived individually. The texts of folk songs dictated the visual expression and presentation of the content. The story of some of her pictures unfolded during the day – then their background was white, while others took place in the evening – the background shifted from blue to striking turquoise, complemented by other tones of cold shades. Other compositions addressed the viewer with warm color schemes of browns, yellows, or oranges. She crafted the frames of the pictures based on inspirations from classic folk glass painting, with her husband being a great help in framing. Zuzana Vaňousová’s art is continued by her daughter living in the Czech Republic, who illustrates Czech folk songs.

Zuzana Vaňousová cannot be called a folk artist. She was a creative artistic personality who brought insights from the domestic tradition formulated in a folk manner but transformed into the form of contemporary glass painting.”

(Source: Pišútová, I.: Glass Paintings. Bratislava: ÚĽUV 2010, pp. 324-337.) A cross-section of Zuzana Vaňousová’s work is published in the mentioned publication.

In 2001, she was awarded the title of master of folk art production in the field of glass underpainting.