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1

Autoru meklejumos: Baltijas un Peterburgas vacu makslas kritiki 19.-20. gs. mija un vinu ieguldijums latviesu makslas popularizesana

100%
Abele K.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2012
|
vol. 8
98-124
EN
The reader is invited to follow the researcher on her way from the abbreviated signature marks to obvious or hidden clues for eventual attribution of their owners and further on to often extraordinary biographies. The venture results in bringing together a colourful society of personalities interested in art who were born between the late 1840s and mid 1880s and who represented partly incompatible aesthetic platforms and basically moved within the area between St. Petersburg and German cities, the most distant sites of activity being located in the USA. Among these people, architect and art historian Wilhelm Neumann (1849-1919) is one of the very few who already hold a place of prominence in our cultural history, but his regular reviews for ‘Rigaer Tageblatt’, signed with -n, N., N-n, -nn or W. N-n, still is an almost obscure fragment in the work of this versatile intellectual. Other dramatis personae elucidated in the narrative are: Woldemar Baron von Mengden (1867-1939, sign. W. B. M.) - secretary of the Riga Art Society (Riga(sch)er Kunstverein); Friedrich Moritz (1866-1947, sign. -tz) - painter and art critic of ‘Düna-Zeitung’ in Riga until his emigration to Berlin in 1906; Ernst von Blumenthal (1872-?, sign. -en-, -um-) - section editor of ‘Duna-Zeitung’ and afterwards ‘Rigasche Zeitung’; Alfred Blumenthal (1876-after 1939, sign. Alfred Bl., A. Bl., B-l (?)) - art-interested freelance contributor to ‘Düna-Zeitung’, Wilhelm Neumann’s godson but most likely no close relative of the editor; Dr. Alfred Ruetz (1876-1955, sign. A. R.) - co-publisher and editor of ‘Rigasche Rundschau’, next to his father Richard Ruetz; Gerhard von Rosen (1856-1927, sign. G. v. R.) - painter and contributor to ‘Rigasche Rundschau’; Wilhelm Sawitzky (1879-1947, sign. W. S., S-y) - culture journalist in Tallinn (‘Revalsche Zeitung’) and Riga (‘Rigasche Rundschau’, ‘Rigasche Neueste Nachrichten’, ‘Baltische Post’) until 1911 when he left the Baltics for the USA to become a prominent researcher of early American painting in his later life; and many others.
2

Makslinieka personibas traktejums latviesu makslas vestures monografijas: No pirmsakumiem lidz padomju eras norietam

100%
Pelse S.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2012
|
vol. 8
85-97
EN
The genre of monograph based on the paradigmatic link between the artist’s life and work, dating back to Giorgio Vasari’s ‘Lives of the Artists’, had already fossilised and experienced a decline in the 20th century. Nevertheless, the turn of the 21st century in Latvia marks a period of unprecedented flourishing of the genre which invited to examine also historical precedents over the 20th century. More thorough publications were only to emerge since the 1920s in Latvia. In 1925 the Independent Artists’ Association started to publish a series of monographs ‘Latvian Art’ (on Alfreds Plite-Pleita, Janis Rozentals, Rudolfs Perle); after a break, their initiative was taken up again in 1938 (on Jazeps Grosvalds, Karlis Miesnieks, Karlis Zale). A considerable shift emerges in the focusing largely on the stories of success - the fortunes of romantic victims of adverse conditions, society’s indifference or their own addictions are replaced with largely praising, optimistic narratives about the artists being rooted in their native land, overcoming numerous difficulties only to express the national spirit, more or less echoing the authoritarian mood of the 1930s. After the Soviet system was established, the first monographic publications appeared in the early 1950s. The most acceptable artists were the classics of the late 19th and early 20th century (Karlis Huns, Julijs Feders, Janis Rozentals) whose art was genetically linked to realist traditions and Russian art. In the following decades, more and more artists were included in ‘the progressive stream of Latvian art’ by detecting ‘humanity’ and a ‘realist approach’ in their heritage. From the 1970s some monographs stepped back from the double trap of belletrist and ideological superficiality towards the tradition of the catalogue raisonné. Fluctuations between individual aspirations and determined, collective worldviews and psychological priorities typify the artists’ monographs published in Latvia; a general democratisation and ‘collectivisation’ of the genre in the 20th century spearheaded popular editions with reduced scientific content that had two main tasks: firstly, the preservation of the most valuable in the national art heritage and secondly, picking out the ‘progressive’ elements from this heritage according to certain ideological requirements.
3

CLASSICAL MODERNISM AND EUROPE, 1920 - 1925 (Klasiskais modernisms un Eiropa, 1920 - 1925)

100%
Lamberga D.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2000
|
vol. 1
120-128
EN
Latvian Classical Modernism is a movement which appeared around the time of World War I, and at the European level it may well seem to have been a delayed phenomenon. The fact is, however, that Latvian culture as such was very new at that time. There were few people who could promote the influences and international contacts of modem art in Latvia, and in any event these processes were hindered both by Latvia's economic situation and by its geographic remoteness from the cultural centers of Western Europe. It was the painter Jazeps Grosvalds, employed in 1919 at the Latvian embassy in Paris, who began to shape links between Latvian and French culture. After he died in 1920, the cooperation was continued by artist Romans Suta, who published articles about the new Latvian art in the French journal L'Esprit Nouveau in 1921 and 1924. Sculptor Karlis Zale in 1922 attended the congress of Union Inernationaler Fortschrittlicher Kunstler in Dusseldorf, and, in collaboration with Arnolds Dzirkalis and Iwan Puni, he published a proclamation in the journal De Stijl. Filippo Tomaso Marinetti, writing in the monthly Der Futurismus in 1922, published a manifesto of Futurism which was illustrated by a Cubist bust produced by Zale. In 1923, Niklavs Stnunke, Karlis Zale, Arnolds Dzirkalis and Sigismunds Vidbergs were invited by the German Novembergruppe to exhibit works at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition. In the same year, also in Berlin, Zale and Dzirkalis produced the first art journal in Latvian, Laikmets, which contained information about the theoretic and philosophical underpinnings of the avant-garde movement. In 1924 a group of artists from Riga exhibited in Tartu and Tallinn, which were the first Latvian art exhibitions abroad. Also in 1924, Latvian artists and members of the Polish group Blok staged a joint exhibition in Riga but in I925 Aleksandra Be!cova, Romans Suta and Erasts Sveics showed works at the Parisian exhibition L'Art d'Aujourd'hui.
4

STYLISTIC PARALLELS IN WESTERN AND LATVIAN CONTEMPORARY ART IN THE 2ND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY (Rietumu un Latvijas 20. gs. otras puses laikmetigas makslas stilistiskas paraleles)

88%
Demakova H.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2000
|
vol. 1
164-175
EN
The article deals with the parallels in Latvian and Western contemporary art. There is no specific reference point in time as the range of material is too broad. Therefore the conceptual origins in Latvia, observable from the late 1960s while Latvia was still under the Soviet system - Hyperrealism, Pop art, performances etc. - that can be considered as contemporary art, in this article are only mentioned in passing. The main accent is on the 1980s and 1990s and the chosen methodology is based on several related directions with clearly expressed stylistic characteristics in the world and Latvia. The article examines the parallels between Latvian new painting and graphics in the 1980s (Ieva IItnere, Franceska Kirke, Aija Zarina, Ojars Petersons and others) and the Italian Transavantgarde, German Neo-expressionism and American Post-modern painting. It looks at the similar tendencies in Russian Sots Art (Komar and Melamid, Bulatov) and the art of Leonards Laganovskis. Latvian object and installation art (Olegs Tillbergs and others) is compared both with older tendencies in Europe, for example Arte Povera, as well as to more recent expressions in the world. Latvian objects may be compared with New British Sculpture - Richard Deacon and Andris Breze - and with the 1990s witty art in public space. Here we can mention the Latvian artists Ojars Petersons, Janis Mitrevics and, for example, the German Martin Kippenberger. Latvia too has seen a flourishing of new media. Alongside photography, which is of a high artistic quality, recognized in the world and similar in style (for example the Latvian Inta Ruka and the Finn Esko Mannikko), the 1980s saw the appearance of video art (Juris Boiko) and the electronic media (the E-Lab group in Riga). Expressions of contemporary art should be evaluated not only in the stylistic but also in the thematic and therefore social context.
5

Jēkaba Strazdiņa un viņa mākslas kolekcijas liktenis padomju Latvijā

88%
Kalnačs J.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2019
|
vol. 22
59-75
EN
Painter and art critic Jēkabs Strazdiņš’ (1905–1958) art collection that he gathered from the last pre-war years until his arrest in 1949, included more than 370 works by Latvian artists of the 19th–20th century. The oldest pieces were prints by Oto Bērtiņš and Augusts Daugulis, drawings by Kārlis Hūns, paintings by Arturs Baumanis and Jūlijs Feders along with more works by the former students’ group Rūķis members – Ādams Alksnis, Vilhelms Purvītis, Janis Rozentāls and Johann Walter. Also included were some paintings by the Riga Artists’ Group modernists alongside a large number of paintings, sketches and graphic works by the artist’s contemporaries and even quite a few sculptures complemented by Russian, German, Italian, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, English, Polish, Lithuanian and Estonian artists’ paintings, graphic works, applied art items and old books. Strazdiņš, a docent at the Latvian SSR Academy of Art and the University of Latvia, was arrested together with his wife in March 1949. Like many inhabitants of Latvia, he was charged with counterrevolutionary activity according to the then oft-used article 58 of the RSFSR criminal code. After Strazdiņš’ arrest, his belongings, including some 275 artworks, were confiscated and the Finance Department of the Riga City Stalin District handed them over to the State Latvian and Russian Art Museum (now Latvian National Museum of Art). About a quarter of these works were deemed to be of little value and sold. Strazdiņš’ own works ended up in the State Latvian and Russian Art Museum in a similar way. Part of his property – paintings, prints, crockery, furniture and several hundreds of books – were given to the then State Western European Art Museum (now the Art Museum Riga Bourse). After Joseph Stalin’s death, Strazdiņš’ sentence was reviewed and only in spring 1956 it was reduced to the time already served. Because of poor health, the artist returned to Riga already in 1954 and tried to rejoin artistic life but died in 1958. He managed to regain his works and the greater part of this art collection before death.
6

TRUTH AND TROMPE L'OEIL: MIERVALDIS POLIS' PAINTINGS IN THE CONTEXT OF LATE-SOVIET LATVIA

75%
Bryzgel A.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2008
|
vol. 11
34-45
EN
Miervaldis Polis is perhaps best known in Latvia for his Bronze Man performances of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Less discussed are the paintings he created in the 1970s, during his student days as well as those from the 1980s, all of which may be seen as a precursor to his performances in terms of the artist's approach and the effects of the images. By using the technique of trompe l'oeil and the genre of photorealism, Polis compelled his viewers to become actively involved in looking at the image, and in the creation of meaning, much in the same way that performance art does. In the context of Soviet Latvia, this empowerment of the viewer took on a certain significance, in that Polis' paintings provided an alternative space, outside of the official political one, for viewers to look critically, distrust and dispute the trompe l'oeil appearances, and seek the truth behind them. Throughout his career Polis has used his art to engage in a dialogue not only with his viewers, but also with artists and art history itself. From his early paintings, which are pastiches of travel diaries, to his later appropriations of photographs and prints of paintings from Western art history, the artist employs his images to compel viewers to carefully consider the forms that they are presented with, and fully engage with them. His paintings are a puzzle that the viewer must unravel himself, through active looking and careful consideration of the image.
7

Tela individualizacijas un formalas strukturas attiecibas portreta: Latvijas makslas vestures piemeri

75%
Klavins E.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2012
|
vol. 8
73-84
EN
The article deals solely with the representation of a personality in an artwork. In order to avoid excessively sophisticated concepts of personality, the discourse is focused on the notion of the image of an individual in the portrait in concord with its common definition. The so-called likeness could not be a useful criterion for identification because in almost all cases, it is impossible to compare the sitter and his/her image; the category of fictional portraits cancels the problem of likeness altogether. The perception of an individual, the process of identification in a portrait is rather subjective and depends on the amount of information about the depicted person and the artist. The level of abstraction in Niklavs Strunke’s ‘Self-Portrait with a Doll’ (1921) is so high that only those who know his photos and biography can identify this extravagant personality in the schematic image. Another example in this respect is the cubistic ‘Portrait of Karlis Straubergs’ (1920) by Oto Skulme. The subjective construction of an individual within the given image is also problematic because individual features are almost always dialectically combined with idealisation, social representation, the artist’s expression, and autonomous formal devices. Sometimes it is difficult to differentiate ‘organic’ self-idealisation of the sitter from idealised features implemented by the artist (the case of Janis Rozentals’ ‘Portrait of Charlotte von Lieven’, 1899). The same can be said about the representative portraits of provincial farmers produced by the ‘naïve’ 19th century painter Carl Seebode. A quite different example of idealisation is Valija Jansevska’s ‘Portrait of Milkmaid M. Lazdina’ (1950) where the optimistic poster-like image was in accord with the dogma of Socialist Realism. The influence of the pictorial space on the possible reading of a portrait can be discussed by analysing Jazeps Grosvalds’ ‘Portrait of the Artists Tone, Ubans and Drevins’ (1915). Half-figures are placed close together around a small table, and, therefore, the composition can be interpreted as a sign of mental intimacy between the young painters from the ‘Green Flower’ group.
8

ARTISTS FROM LATVIA ON THE MAP OF LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY EUROPE: A GLIMPSE INTO THE ROUTES, FORMS AND RESULTS OF THEIR MIGRATION (Latvijas makslinieki Eiropas karte 19. gs. beigas un 20. gs. sakuma: Ieskats migracijas marsrutos, izpausmes u

75%
Abele K.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2006
|
vol. 5
49-58
EN
Latvia still marked the border of the Russian Empire's Baltic provinces and a nation state had yet to spring from the Latvian-inhabited parts of the tsarist realm. Focusing on locally unknown information sources, the undertaken survey shows this aspect of art history as a promising field for future research and allows us to dispute some oversimplified assumptions about artistic migration. Furthermore, it helps to place the emigre life of painter Johann Walter-Kurau (1869-1932) in a context of related developments. The address register in the catalogue of the Latvian Art Exhibition 1910 lists Riga 12 times, St. Petersburg - 11 times, minor Latvian towns and country places - 4 times, Jelgava - twice and Paris - once, but works by three artists were exhibited after their death. If we include those who were just seasonal residents in their native country, the number of Parisians alone would exceed that of the Jelgava artists, provincial artists and posthumous exhibitors. It should be remembered though, that their sojourn in the French capital was usually financed by post-graduate travel grants from the Stieglitz Central School of Technical Drawing, a rich private college of decorative arts and design in St. Petersburg. One of the lucky grant winners was Karlis Brencens (1879-1951), who went to study stained glass with Felix Gaudin. He recorded his Paris period in stylised sketches and made friends with Hermengildo Anglada Camarasa. One of those who set off for Paris, was a painter from Talsi, Frederic (originally Friedrich) Fiebig (1885-1953) whose 'long road from Latvia to Alsace' comprised a Paris period of more than two decades (1907-1929).
9

Imants Tillers. Ceļojums uz nekurieni

75%
Ansone E.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2019
|
vol. 22
92-97
EN
The article presents the ambitious exhibition “Journey to Nowhere” of Australian-Latvian artist, appropriation master Imants Tillers' works organised at the Latvian National Museum of Art in 2018.
10

Socreālisma klasiskā modeļa adaptācijas Latvijā pirmajā padomju varas gadā (1940–1941)

75%
Pelše S.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2021
|
vol. 25
55-69
EN
The article focuses on the short Soviet episode between the independence period and the subsequent German occupation, introducing Socialist Realism as a new paradigm for Latvian art theory and criticism. The doctrine had emerged in the USSR during the 1930s and was codified at the First Congress of Soviet Writers (1934) by Stalin’s propagandist Andrei Zhdanov in his famous speech. He proclaimed writers to be “engineers of human souls”. They were urged to represent reality in its “revolutionary development”, educate the working people in the spirit of socialism as well as to use the best achievements of all previous epochs for these purposes. Reflections of the regime’s officials as well as artists, art historians and critics on Socialist Realism appeared in Latvian periodicals by mid-1940. One of the most theoretical articles was published in the newly founded literature monthly Karogs by the renowned Russian-born art historian Boris Vipper (1888–1967) who came to Latvia in 1924 and returned to Moscow in 1941. He saw Socialist Realism in a quite Hegelian mode. Socialist Realism was popularised in articles praising Russian and Soviet art, for instance, on the Realist trend of the Peredvizhniki (Wanderers). More general surveys emerged too, mainly extolling the flourishing present in particular kinds of arts. Most of these surveys appeared soon after the occupation, likely aiming to quickly educate the public in the newly conquered territories. Some positive reviews on the USSR cultural scene even predated the occupation for example, in the magazine Atpūta whose editors had been involved with the Society for the Cultural Rapprochement with the USSR, functioning as a de facto recruiting agency for the future puppet government. A different tendency was to speculate on local precursors of Socialist Realism or at least some similar phenomena. Most of these pieces emerged in late 1940 and 1941, suggesting some time was needed in the attempt to inscribe the local heritage into the new paradigm. The first Soviet year reveals both continuities and interruptions in regard to the previous period. On the one hand, authors still promoted the traditional neo-realist approach and critique of avant-garde extremes; on the other, they sometimes radically shifted their opinions in favour of Russian art. Most seemingly attempted to somehow “tame” the new doctrine, associating it with established artistic values; these, however, could be exonerated only after Stalin’s death (1953) that started the modernisation and actual disintegration of Socialist Realism.
11

VISVALDIS ZIEDINS AND THE OBJET TROUVE TREND IN HIS ART (Visvaldis Ziedins un vina makslas Objet Trouve virziens)

75%
Kulakova I.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2009
|
vol. 12
44-51
EN
In January 2009, a surprising number of artworks or, as the artist called them, 'art-makings' - drawings, paintings and objects - were found in Visvaldis Ziedins' house. 1185 items were listed in Ziedins' art collection during work on this article. Information is still being gathered on the collection and the article is just the beginning of this research process. Visvaldis Ziedins was born on 4 April 1942 and died on 11 January 2007 in Liepaja. From 1959 to 1964 he studied at the Interior Design Department of the Liepaja Secondary School of Applied Arts. After graduation he enrolled as a painter at a motor transport depot but later started to work as artist-decorator at the 'Kurzeme' department store in Liepaja. In his spare time he created surprising 'art-makings'. Apart from participation in Liepaja artists' group exhibitions, Ziedins had three solo shows during his lifetime which were held in Liepaja in 1968, 1986 and 1992.Considering Ziedins' heritage from the historical viewpoint, his most active and interesting period coincides the gloomy Soviet time. However, the historical excursus should begin with the gains during the 'thaw' when the partial relaxation of the political regime also brought changes to culture. 'Legitimate' contacts with the rest of the world are resumed in this period. Up till now Zenta Logina, Lidija Auza and Ojars Abols were credited with being the first Latvian artists to complement their works with sand, metal slivers, glass shards and everyday objects or their fragments since the mid-1960s. Now Ziedins has to be added to this list as he had already started to form spatial compositions involving cement and lime mortar and everyday items in the early 1960s. Ziedins' diaries reveal that he studied the works of both the classical modernists and Latvian masters.
12

THE ART DECO STYLE AND LATVIAN ART (Art Deco stils un latviesu maksla)

75%
Martinsone I.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2000
|
vol. 1
129-139
EN
For a movement which was as enormously popular throughout the world as it was, Art Deco has been analyzed quite little in Latvian art theory so far. The orientation of inter-war art in Latvia toward national self-affirmation has often created the erroneous impression that Latvia was isolated from the fashions of the rest of the world. Quite the contrary: the trends of the times reached Latvia, too. The work of artists at the Baltars porcelain workshop, for example, represented some of the best work that was done in the applied art in inter-war Latvia. Romans Suta and Aleksandra Belcova produced decorative compositions in which Cubism was transformed toward ornamental decoration. The works are dynamic, rhythmical and simple in form. Sigismunds Vidbergs produced paintings on porcelain that are distinguished by the lightness and delicacy that were typical of Art Deco graphics. If we look at the work that was done by graduates of the Ceramics Department of the Latvian Academy of Art, we see clearly that the fashions of the world influenced much of their work. Art Deco stylistics never became popular in metal art in Latvia, but one of the most distinguished masters of Art Deco was the metals artist Stefans Bercs, who by himself created a whole gallery of Art Deco images. A highly developed graphic culture was evidenced in posters that were produced in Latvia at that time. Working alongside artists who are well-known even today, there were many graphic artists who have unjustifiably been forgotten. Specific Art Deco elements (a rapid linear perspective, exaggerated sizes, simplification of geometric forms, color contrasts) were used by Vidbergs, Raimonds Sisko, Alfreds Svedrevics and others. The brightest star in Art Deco theatrical design was the painter Ludolfs Liberts. He produced set decorations and costume designs that were ornamental and rich in color, and these works are among the best of the master's oeuvre. Graphic art in the Art Deco style is delicate, elegant and sweetly passionate. Vidbergs produced masterly erotic illustrations that in many cases are more elaborate in form than the work of recognized masters in this genre.
13

ENCOUNTERS OF LATVIAN MODERNISTS WITH SECONDO FUTURISMO IN THE 1920S (Latviesu modernistu saskare ar secondo futurismo 20.gs. 20. gados)

63%
Braslina A.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2008
|
vol. 10
32-45
EN
Research of this seemingly marginal topic in Latvian art history has revealed new information that significantly enriches the knowledge of local modernists' international contacts. Relations with Futurism have not been examined as a distinct theme before with only a few testimonies found during the fragmentary research on the late 1910s. But some moments of real contact emerge in the later period of the 1920s with the so-called episode of the Berlin Futurists and Niklavs Strunke's (1894-1966) activities in Italy. These are outstanding pages in the history of Latvian modernism characterised by the artists' direct contacts, participation in the art life of Germany and Italy, creative impulses, concrete artworks and publications. In the manifesto of 1924 Le futurisme mondial. Manifeste a Paris, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti also included the Latvian artists who belonged to the Berlin Futurists group (Ivan Puni, Ksenia Boguslavskaya, Rudolf Belling, etc.), such as Karlis Zale (1888-1942), Arnolds Dzirkals (1896-1944?), Romans Suta (1896-1944), Aleksandra Belcova (1892-1981) and Niklavs Strunke. In his Berlin period (1921-1923), sculptor Karlis Zale joined the international circle of the avant-garde, establishing contacts with the Der Sturm gallery, Novembergruppe, Russian émigré intellectuals and Ivan Puni as well as the Italian futurists Enrico Prampolini, leader of the futurist movement in Berlin, and Ruggiero Vasari, publisher of the journal Der Futurismus.
14

Pirmie Latvijas senatnes un mitoloģijas attēlojumi mākslinieku darbos un to saikne ar arheoloģisko materiālu

63%
Bērziņa A.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2017
|
vol. 20
16-35
EN
In the 19th and early 20th century many artists in the Baltic, influenced by archaeological and historical sources, addressed subjects from antiquity or mythology. A passion for studies of the ancient past was stimulated by the romantic world view and the interest in archaeology. The article examines the earliest works reflecting Latvia’s prehistory and mythology, and brings together the material that could have served the artists as examples and sources of inspiration. In the mid 19th century, archaeology as a science was only just beginning to develop in present-day Latvia, and empirical knowledge was still inadequate. The motif of the ‘wild man’, known in European iconography since the Middle Ages, was still popular at this time; in works by Baltic German and Latvian artists alike, ancient Latvians are frequently shown as savages. The first of the Latvian artists from the ‘Rūķis’ generation to depict the prehistory of his people was painter Arturs Baumanis (1867–1904), who maintained the academic style in which he had been trained at the academy. A second late 19th-century artist whose depictions of prehistory stand out among those of contemporaries is Ādams Alksnis (1864–1897). The theme of antiquity is also represented in the oeuvre of the painter Janis Rozentāls (1866–1916), who employed a diverse range of styles and techniques. Themes from ancient Latvian history also appear in the oeuvre of Rihards Zariņš (1869–1939) – especially in his prints, created in a markedly conservative, national romantic style. Motifs from prehistory appear in sets and costumes by stage designer Jānis Kuga (1878–1969). The artists’ strivings for historical truth can most probably be related to the feeling among educated people of the late 19th and early 20th century that they had a duty to acquaint their compatriots with the past, so that they might take pride in episodes from their history.
15

GEDERTS ELIASS JELGAVA HISTORY AND ART MUSEUM (Gederta Eliasa Jelgavas vestures un makslas muzejs)

63%
Grase G.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2007
|
vol. 9
64-71
EN
The article introduces the Jelgava History and Art Museum, characterising its beginnings in the Kurzeme Province Museum situated in the building of the first university on the territory of Latvia Academia Petrina. Museum's collection includes archeological and numismatic items, ethnographical artifacts and collection of fine arts
16

HENRI MATISSE AND LATVIAN ART (Anri Matiss un latviesu maksla)

63%
Klavins E.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2006
|
vol. 6-7
33-43
EN
In autumn 2005 the Foreign Art Museum in Riga exhibited an excellent collection of works by Matisse from the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. Apart from the purely aesthetic pleasure it raised the question of his place in the history of Latvian art. Despite the fact that in Latvia there was no stable circle of followers, Latvian artists proved to have a surprisingly enduring interest in the ouevre of the French master. Some of his works were exhibited already in 1910 in Riga and the first promoter of Modernism in Latvia, Voldemars Matvejs, presented Matisse as one of its paradigms. The first Latvian painter whose early style was unmistakably dependent on Matisse's paintings seen in Moscow in 1916-1917 was Gederts Eliass. He not only constructed bright, colourful compositions with the same iconography (lazy figures of models, ornamental dresses, fragments of interior settings) but also used the bright colour ranges representing more random and ordinary motifs derived from his surroundings. In the course of the 1930s some young artists from the so-called Tukums Group tried to revive the concept of early Modernism related to the Fauves and Matisse. As a result, Karlis Neilis developed his individual intimate style uniting brilliant colour areas with some effects of plein-air light. Later, as an emigre in Austria, he took up more abstract style but preserved his commitment to the use of decorative colourfields. During the first decade of the Soviet occupation Matisse, as well as other French modernist artists, were seen by the guardians of the official ideology as formalists and products of bourgeois decadence. In the years of the so-called thaw and later, a second 'discovery' of Matisse was possible. A devotee of the Fauves was Leonids Arins, more ambitious, monumental and full of pathos was another Latvian 'Frenchman' - Rudolfs Pinnis who lived in Paris in the 1930s.
17

THE ODYSSEY OF JAKOB BELSEN 1879-1937 (Jekaba Belzena odiseja 1879-1937)

63%
Abele K.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2007
|
vol. 9
5-28
EN
Jakob Belsen's art in the country of his forefathers remained associated almost exclusively with the ten oil paintings and water-colours shown in the Latvian Art Exhibition of 1910. Now the number of his paintings at the Latvian National Museum of Art (LNMA) in Riga can be counted on one hand. With four works of undisputed authorship and one of doubtful attribution, this is the largest public collection of Belsen's paintings in the world. Although three of these paintings are familiar to the public from Latvian art albums, exhibitions and catalogues, knowledge of the artist's life has been very poor even among experts, partly because of distances separating Riga from his basic places of residence - St. Petersburg, Berlin and New York. An avalanche of recent discoveries sheds new light on previously obscure periods and episodes in Belsen's life and career. Several of his paintings from the 1920s have newly appeared in Latvian private collections. Numerous supplements to his non-Latvian historiography have been found in publications of both his and our contemporaries. The St. Petersburg Regional Section of the Public Russian German Academy of Sciences held a memorial Belsen exhibition in 2001 and supplied the LNMA with a CD of its materials documenting the artist's productive work as illustrator and cartoonist as well as containing reproductions of private photographs. Some of these images have been used in this article by courtesy of Antonie Tosca Grill in Baden-Baden, whose father was a nephew of Jakob Belsen's first wife. My inquiries into the provenance of this picture archive resulted in a correspondence with Wenedikt Bohm (St. Petersburg) to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for copies of extremely important sources of biographical evidence.
18

FELLOW NATIONALS AND COMPATRIOTS: THE NATIONAL QUESTION AND TERRITORIAL IDENTITY IN THE ART LIFE OF LATVIA IN THE LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY (Tautiesi un novadnieki: Nacionalais jautajums un teritoriala identitate Latvijas makslas dzive 19. gs.

63%
Abele K.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2006
|
vol. 5
39-63
EN
'If we accept that painting has nothing to do with language and that it can be no less international than music, then there still remains something disputable. It is generally known that every nation tries to develop its particularity as much as an individual tries to develop his one', Latvian writer, art critic and painter Janis Jaunsudrabins wrote in the newspaper 'Latvija' in January 1910, where he commented on the rise of the multi-national Baltic Artists' Association (Baltischer Kunstlerbund) and came to a strictly nationalist conclusion: 'To foster this national particularity, our artists must develop more intimate contacts among themselves and with their nation. An organization that unites four or even five nations under German banner will never have such aims that our painters would like to set for themselves.' Jaunsudrabins was neither absolutely wrong nor right but like most of his contemporaries he was deeply concerned with the national question - constantly present in the art life of the future Latvia since the late 19th century until the rise of the independent national state. In this emancipation period of Latvian national professional art the local art scene was dominated by German and Latvian cultural forces whose co-existence ranged from mutual interest and inspiring rivalry to politicised conflicts. Focusing on contact areas in the artistic interests of those ethnic groups which inhabited the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire, the article explores this scene as a field of interplay between local patriotism, nationalism and the art's general universalism in a changing society that was disturbed by historical collisions. The story covers roughly two decades from the Latvian Ethnographic Exhibition 1896 over the storms in and around the revolution year 1905 until the eve of World War I.
19

Zaudejumi un ieguvumi cela no autsaidera lidz kanonam

51%
Kalnacs J.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2012
|
vol. 8
165-177
EN
The notion of “outsider”, being more a sociological and psychological category, has an overtone of stoic self-sufficiency and suggests noble rather than deplorable characteristics - at least in the sense that it encompasses a measure of independence and courage. In a totalitarian society, ideologically unsuitable and rejected persons also join the ranks of outsiders. The notion of outsider acquires different meanings in capitalist society governed by corporate connections and leaders, marketing, mass media and project management. It may well be that many see themselves as outsiders in the contemporary globalised, mobile and frustrating world. What I mean by outsider is an artist who dares to stand apart from society or is driven out/not accepted by it for some reason. An ideal but practically impossible case would be the artist who creates out of his/her artistic and often ideological conviction, regardless of daily income. Here one might find a link between outsiders in art and conceptual art. The conflict between the outsider and society has something of the typical romanticist idea of the artist’s predestination, still current in the shifting value system of the post-modern situation. An empathic art historian’s attitude is often decisive in the ‘discovery’ of outsiders. It is important to recognise that outsider art is not exactly the same as an outsider in Latvian art. During the period of Soviet occupation (1950s-1980s) many of the most independent artists, now belonging to the so-called artistic canon, were outsiders in their time. However, the output of the self-taught wood sculptor Mikelis Pankoks who spent part of his life in Waldhaus Psychiatric Clinic in Switzerland after World War II, conforms to the notion of outsider art if this comprises both the art of the mentally ill and the work of naïve artists. This close relation in which distinctions are difficult to make was stressed by the short-lived Museum of Naïve and Outsider Art in Zwolle, the Netherlands. The most famous outsider artist in Latvia is Karlis Padegs; the article also deals with the creative output of Arvids Strauja, Leonids Arins, Peteris Smagins, Valters Hirte and other artists coinciding with the notion of outsiders in art.
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