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1

TEODORS ZALKALNS' MOTHER IMAGES. SOME ASPECTS OF FORM AND ARCHETYPAL ORIGINS (Teodora Zalkalna 'maminas'. Dazi formrades un arhetipisko saknojumu aspekti)

100%
Caupova R.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
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2003
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vol. 3
86-95
EN
The 'Standing Mother' (1915), a small-scaled, carefully polished dark diorite sculpture, and the 'Seated Mother' (modeled in 1916, carved in grey granite in 1923) are classic works by the Latvian sculptor Teodors Zalkalns (1876-1972). These polyvalent images compound universal experience with realist features rooted in national environment and spirit of the age. Zalkalns said: 'While creating 'mothers' I intentionally looked for a clear, crystalline, synthesized, whole form. I created them like buildings with certain planes and lines, giving up all insignificant details.' Analysing the peculiar type of architectonic approach in these stone sculptures, we can discern an intuitive treatment of proportions close to peasant buildings as well as a direct constructive link with tectonic relations of the peasant women's clothes - kerchief, woolen shawl and long skirt. Art historian Boris Vipper also has noted this peculiar tectonic principle in relation to types of Latvian peasant buildings. The 'Standing Mother', the 'Seated Mother' and the small porcelain 'Mother' all feature pyramidal form in their compositional structure. It is a tectonic matrix with semantic links to archetypal ideas of form creation. Pyramidal consolidation of forms reminds of stability and permanence, creating a clear focusing of attention and energetic effect. Zalkalns has always stressed the legacy of Ancient Egypt in respect to stone as a sculptural material but achievements of other ancient civilizations had not been mentioned. Still the formal features of the 'Standing Mother', for example, expose certain similarity to some of Mesopotamian stone sculptures. The Louvre exposition of Mesopotamian art includes small (about 35-100 cm) standing figures, carved from diorite, that surprise with their well-balanced proportions and spiritual enlightenment. The energetic effect of these images is close to Zalkalns' skill to achieve monumentality in small-scale sculptures.
2

INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS IN LATVIAN SCULPTURE IN VARIOUS PHASES OF THE 20TH CENTURY (Starpnacionalie sakari latviesu telnieciba dazados 20. gadsimta celienos)

100%
Caupova R.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
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2000
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vol. 1
140-154
EN
In sculpture, as in other forms of art, there are radical differences between the type of cultural contacts that existed in the first half of the 20th century and the strictly regimented system of contacts that prevailed after the war. At the beginning of the century, when professional experience was being accumulated by Gustavs Skilters, Teodors Zalkalns and Burkards Dzenis, they could not find proper conditions for their work in their fatherland, so they lived and worked outside of Latvia. With the help of scholarships from the Stieglitz school, they first traveled to Paris, where they encountered the artistic principles of Rodin. Representatives of the next generation - Karlis Zale, Emils Melderis and Marta Skulme - obtained their professional training in Russia, and during a time of social transformations, they encountered radically avant-garde ideas, traveling to the cultural centers of Europe and seeking to expand their links to the various directions of modem art. In the late 1920s and in the 1930s, some sculptors who produced monuments and who received money from the Latvian Cultural Fund also went on extended trips, e.g., to Egypt. Sculptors were still enchanted with France, Italy and Greece, better contacts were developed with the Scandinavian countries. During this period there was expanded cooperation with foreign partners in the purchase of materials and in dealing with various technical issues. In the post-war period, there was no longer any freedom of choice in studying the cultural experience of other countries and in cooperating with foreigners. There were, however, certain ties to the closest neighboring republics of Lithuania and Estonia. A Baltic sculptural exhibition was staged in Riga in 1958. After the early 1970s, there were slightly broader opportunities for international contacts. Beginning in 1972, there were regular sculpture quadrennials in Riga, which became an important center for sculpture. After 1979 the expansion of international contacts was facilitated by annual sculpture symposia that were held in Dzintari.
3

SCULPTURE IN URBAN SPACE: SOME ASPECTS OF RELATIONSHIPS (Dazi telniecibas un pilsetvides attiecibu aspekti)

100%
Caupova R.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
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2004
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vol. 4
163-185
EN
Sculptural works of different kinds and sizes always have had their place and role in the context of wide-ranging functions and spatial structures of urban space. In comparison with buildings and other architectural objects monuments and various sculptural creations are more directly used to promote certain ideology or express the taste typical of the particular period. Political and socio-psychological factors influence their creation and assessment. Even popular sculptural works when placed in the open air are sometimes perceived as anonymous makings. They become legendary. Both organised and spontaneous ritual activities take place near monuments and different spatial objects. It is often hard to predict how sculptural works will look in the urban space and what semantic layers will be created around them. The increasing sculptural boom characteristic of many European cities around the turn of the 20th century and later was not so typical of Riga. The few monuments set up in Riga represented the ideology of the Russian Imperial power. No sculptural images expressing Latvian national self-consciousness could be created and exhibited at that time. Still one has to admit that Riga monuments and decorative sculptures from this period, mainly by German sculptors, show well-considered choices of scale and placement. One has to emphasise the German-born sculptor August Franz Leberecht Volz's (1851-1926) important role in securing the professional level of sculptural forms created in Riga urban space. This representative of the German school who settled in Riga and founded his own company has realised many commissions in both decorative sculpture and plastic decor. After an independent state was established, urban space development and especially erection of monuments became an officially supervised task. During the Soviet period monument construction was subjected to a strongly centralised administrative supervision. A little more liberal attitude towards sculptural works in public space emerged in the 1970s
4

THE ROLE OF POLITICAL FACTORS AND ADMINISTRATIVE RESOLUTIONS IN SCULPTURE (Politisku faktoru un administrtivu lemumu loma telnieciba)

100%
Caupova R.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
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2006
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vol. 5
156-165
EN
Sculpture in public space has been subjected to influences of ideological and political contexts as well as commissions from dominant authorities and religious institutions in almost all periods of history. Monuments realized in permanent materials have served to declare the might of the dominant political system, its ambitions and pretensions of existence. As sculpture in public space became an instrument of propaganda, administered territories were marked not just with works created in valuable materials but pieces in more modest materials as well. For instance, during the first post-war years public space was mapped with numerous plaster or concrete busts and figural monuments of Lenin erected at central town squares, close to institutions and schools but highway sides, parks, sanatoriums and kindergartens were decorated with kitschy plaster sculptures of pioneers, sportsmen and other cliche figural motifs found throughout the USSR. These plaster figures were cast at the USSR Art Foundation workshops after several officially acclaimed etalons and sometimes local artists were involved in realizing commissions based on accepted patterns. According to the slogan that art should be socialist in content but some traces of national culture can show in its form, there were also figures in national costumes. This low-quality mass art production in Latvia was called 'highway ghosts' or 'plaster ghosts'. Artists protested against these superficial sculptures made of cheap materials, and such objects were gradually removed. The plaster and concrete images of Lenin started to deteriorate and ruin in open air but it was not allowed to dismantle them. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s they had to be replaced by monuments in permanent materials - granite and bronze - in almost every town of Latvia. During this period of occupation Lenin monuments and memorial ensembles dedicated to Soviet soldiers made up the most part of sculpture in the public space.
5

THE SCULPTOR ROBERTAS ANTINIS, SR, AND LATVIA: LINKS AND ANALOGIES (Telnieks Roberts Antinis, vecakais, un Latvija: Saiknes un analogijas)

100%
Caupova R.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
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2001
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vol. 2
80-94
EN
In various areas of cultural activity between Latvian and Lithuanian nations, and especially in the area of sculpture, an important role was played by the Latvian-born Lithuanian sculptor Robertas Antinis, Sr, and his son, Robertas Antinis, Jr. Robertas Antinis, Sr. was born on December 3, 1898, in the homestead of Kaldabruna, village of Bebrene in Ilukste District. Unlike the Latvian sculptors Karlis Zale, Emils Melderis and Marta Skulme, for whom the most important influences were Cubism and other aspects of the Constructive movement in 20th century art, Antinis' unique creativity was formed under the influence of different impulses. He got his first professional education at the Kaunas School of Art (1921-1927), where a number of lectors encouraged students to study national artistic traditions. Between 1928 and 1933 the Lithuanian state paid Antinis a scholarship, which allowed him to study at the National University of Decorative Art in Paris, as well as at the private Academie Julian. While in Paris, Antinis produced artworks which were clearly based on the primal mythology of Lithuanian culture, and in a very unusual way they also reflected the late echoes of Art Nouveau. Of great importance to Antinis were the plastic and tectonic means of construction of French sculptors Aristide Maillol and Antoine Bourdelle.. During his summer holidays, Antinis created his first monumental sculptures dedicated to his country's independence - Sirvintos (1927) and Rokiskis (1929-1931). The post-war years were difficult for Antinis, Sr., as for many of the Baltic region's most prominent sculptors. Antinis entered competitions for the design of the Salaspils Memorial and the Kaunas IX Fortress ensemble in the 1960s, and his proposals revealed a powerful sense of tragedy, of a life subject to destruction. In the fall of 1977, Antinis, Sr. and Antinis, Jr. had an exhibition of their works at the Vault Hall of the Museum of Foreign Art in Riga. After 1972, both father and son participated in several sculpture quadrennials in Riga. Robertas Antinis, Sr. died on November 19, 1981, and he is buried at the Petrosiunu Cemetery in Kaunas.
6

SCULPTURE IN SUBURBAN AREA (Telnieciba piepilsetas vide)

100%
Caupova R.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
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2007
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vol. 6
211-222
EN
Unfortunately, sculptural works in suburban areas are often mismanaged by monument supervision services and subjected to neglectful circumstances. This fate has befallen the sculptor Janis Karlovs' monument 'Archer' (1981, copper forging) set up in the surroundings of the Riga Thermal Power Station TEC-2, in two kilometres from the Riga city borderline. About the late 1960s and early 1970s when Riga grew rapidly there were calls in both the press and experts' circles to place sculptures in the new districts, including industrial zones. This tendency was fostered by Riga sculpture quadrennials taking place since 1972, and debates at these conferences. Sculptor Janis Karlovs' composition 'Archer' was commissioned by the Riga Thermal Power Station TEC-2 that was part of the All-Union Energy and Electrification Department and was completed in the 1970s. The sculpture was included in the organisation project of services and facilities of the surroundings. The planning of the area envisaged by this project (architect Aivars Berzins) was not realised. The figural image was set up in front of the industrial complex in an open space. Now the monument is severely damaged with several copper sheets torn off. It turns out that this important, artistically compelling work has no owner. It is neither included in the balance of the company TEC-2 nor listed as a monument by the Salaspils Regional Council. So it is impossible to seek financial support for its restoration. One should note that the monumental composition 'Archer' was created in the stagnant period of Soviet occupation when part of society already started to offer resistance. The style of the archer expressed irreconcilability and spiritual tension. It manifested a wide scope of associations and semantic layers. We can recall that the image of the archer, known as the symbol of fire in the zodiac, becomes the indication of vitality and power in modern sculpture. The motif of archer is found in French sculptor Antoine Bourdelle's (1861-1929) and Latvian monument sculptor Karlis Zale's (1888-1942) heritage.
7

PERCEPTION OF MONUMENTS AND THE CITY ENVIRONMENT: CHANGEABILITY OF TRENDS AND SEMANTIC ASPECTS (Pilsetvides un piemineklu uztvere: iespeju un semantikas planu mainigums)

100%
Caupova R.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
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2009
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vol. 12
27-37
EN
We know that while creating powerful images, the builders of ancient temples and sanctuaries also believed in their beneficial effect and potential to secure a channel of interaction between people and the divine energies of nature and the universe. Unfortunately, over the centuries monumental sculpture, in turning to the much more pragmatic tasks of serving various ideologies, lost both this transcendental orientation and the belief in the immortality of skillfully executed sculptures. More sensitive viewers took a dislike to the didactic, obtrusive, official tone of such monuments. However, it cannot be denied that at least the partial democratisation of public relations and commission practice enabled the erection of monuments not just to statesmen but also to creators of cultural values and contributors to some humane undertaking. Although these might feature repeated the standard busts and figures, attitudes towards the commemoration of popular cultural figures could be responsive and even warm-hearted. The true reputation of the cultural representatives, their output being rooted in the collective consciousness of the nation, adds to the perception in these cases. A typical example is the granite monument to the Latvian writer Rudofs Blaumanis by Teodors Zalkalns set up in the Riga canal parkland in 1929. From foreign examples one could name, for instance, the bronze monument to the world-famous Irish writer James Joyce, represented as a seemingly simple image in a distracted posture standing by the street in Dublin; there is also the Swedish poet Carl Michael Bellman's monument in Stockholm and several other intimately treated representatives of the creative professions in various cities all over the world.
8

SOME ASPECTS OF ARTIST PERSONALITY IN CONTEMPORARY SCULPTURE (Dazi makslinieka personibas izpausmju veidi musdienu telnieciba)

100%
Caupova R.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
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2007
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vol. 8
34-45
EN
Ideas on the role of the artist's personality and potential in the processes of emerging artistic paradigms involve complex, often hard to define qualities of perception, choice and stimulation on various psychic levels. In the 20th century sculpture, especially in the second half of the century, there have been especially radical changes of practice, psychological involvement and perceptual concepts. A typical example is the personality of Serbian artist Marina Abramovic (1946). Realising often dangerous performances with snakes, insects, and stones, and undergoing physical pain, suffering or meditation, the artist has shown both courage and the ability to coordinate the streams of pulsating energy, subjecting herself to deeply open, intuitive perception. In Latvia the mid-1980s saw a wider use of installations and various actions and performances. Taking up the connection between psychophysical and mental spheres is revealed in the multimedia projects of Latvian artist Solveiga Vasiljeva. Using drawings of material structures, photographs and digital prints (including her own medical examination results), the artist invites the viewer to inspect unusual conditions of her body and psyche. In Latvia several sculptors, such as Ojars Feldbergs (1947), Ojars Bregis (1942), Andris Varpa (1950), Vilnis Titans (1944-2006), Pauls Jaunzems (1951) and Igors Dobicins (1958), have maintained the traditional national attitude towards stone as an ancient cultural symbol, perfecting the means of working stone and searching for a new context for their ideas.
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