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Latviešu mākslinieku gaitas karadienestā. 1914–1922

100%

Kāle S.

Makslas Vesture un Teorija

2015

vol. 18

84-102

Military service coincided with the artists’ youth as the most important period of life; it affected the development of personality as well as the choice of the place of residence and creative paths. Artists who studied in St. Petersburg had a chance to avoid military operations, working for the Trophy Commission whose full name was Commission of Description of Russian War Trophies and Ancient Flags. Their tasks were to collect and capture past and present testimonies of Russian Army’s heroic deeds, design flags and honorary badges, portray officers and soldiers awarded with St. George’s Cross as well as reconstruct decisive moments of military action. Many Latvians were included in the battalion of Kexholm Reserve Regiment attached to the Trophy Commission. Most prolific Latvian draughtsmen in the regiment were Dāvids Draule (1889–1949), Alberts Kronenbergs (1887–1958), Kārlis Miesnieks (1887–1977) and Jānis Saukums (1890–1936). Regardless of favourable conditions, artists had difficulties to continue their artistic education; they could not complete their study years and receive diplomas. Artists who ended up in the regiments of Latvian riflemen were in a less stable situation; although Jāzeps Grosvalds (1891–1920) tried to create an official team of artists, the only result was protection based on personal contacts and oral agreements. Thanks to the cooperation with the Latvian War Museum Director Kārlis Straubergs (1890–1962), Kārlis Johansons (1890–1929) together with other allies cast death masks of riflemen fallen during the Christmas Battles, went to the front line and drew heroes in their action stations as well as worked on illustrations for the publication 'Jaunā Latvija'. Reservist Eduards Gruziņš (1887–1934) made decorations for the regiment gathering and illustrated the magazine 'Strēlnieks'; Kārlis Baltgailis (1893–1979) had a similar experience in the Imanta Regiment, decorating the stage and auditorium and making actors’ costumes for performances. Artists who lacked special protection had to rely on the benevolence of fortune. Some were quite lucky, for example, Uga Skulme (1895–1963) who supervised road building works for the Russian Army supply in the Caucasus front or Indriķis Zeberiņš (1882–1969), secretary of the train company stationed in Finland. Thanks to good education, they managed to settle in expedient posts, which allowed practicing art alongside direct duties.

Ceļā uz monogrāfiju par Kārli Baltgaili

86%

Pūtele A.

Makslas Vesture un Teorija

2019

vol. 22

40-58

Kārlis Baltgailis was born in Gatarta Manor on 15 (27) March 1893. At the Atis Ķeniņš Boys Realschule (1907–1911) in Riga, he received a good education with many prominent Latvian cultural figures who became outstanding examples for Baltgailis to follow in his own pedagogical career. After finishing the Realschule, Baltgailis moved to Russia where he attended Penza Secondary Art School (1911–1917) where Latvian students tried to realise progressive modernist ideas in the rather conservative Penza. Having received a secondary school teaching certificate in drawing and art history, Baltgailis returned to Riga in May 1917 and volunteered for the 5th Zemgale Latvian Riflemen’s Regiment. As a soldier he ended up in Russia again where he stayed in Omsk but returned to Riga from Vladivostok with the Imanta Regiment in 1920. Back in his native land, Baltgailis joined Latvia’s artistic life gradually but his teaching work began quite soon. Since 1920, he taught drawing in Cēsis but in 1922, he became the teacher of drawing, art history and drawing methodology at Jelgava Teachers’ Institute where he taught until its closing in 1944. In 1925, Baltgailis co-founded the artists’ and writers’ society Zaļā Vārna (Green Crow, 1925–1939). Almost all of his 30 years work – sketches, paintings, drawings as well as materials gathered on various artists – was lost in the fire that ravaged Jelgava in 1944. In 1945, Baltgailis was admitted to the Latvian SSR Artists’ Union but in 1946, he began working at the drawing studio of Cēsis House of Culture (1946–1956). In 1950, Baltgalis was dismissed from his teacher’s job at Cēsis Teachers’ Institute and expelled from the Artists’ Union as a result of Soviet repressions. In 1958, he was readmitted to the Artists’ Union. Kārlis Baltgailis died in Cēsis on 15 February 1979. Baltgailis belongs to the generation of Latvian artists born in the 1890s, witnessing a new turn in Latvian painting towards modernist creativity. As the most direct follower of the ideas of Jāzeps Grosvalds and Jēkabs Kazaks, he became the only artist who consistently pursued the iconographic and stylistic line of early modernism over his entire creative career.

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2 Makslas Vesture un Teorija

1 Kāle S.

1 Pūtele A.

1 2019

1 2015

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Latviešu mākslinieku gaitas karadienestā. 1914–1922

Ceļā uz monogrāfiju par Kārli Baltgaili