INTERPRETATION OF ART IN THE CONTEXT OF AUTHORITARIANISM: FACTOR OF THE YEAR 1934 (Makslas interpretacija un autoritarisma konteksts: 1934. gada faktors)

• Authors: Pelse Stella
• Languages of publication: LV

Abstracts

EN

Political factors are surely important in regard to division into periods of Latvian thinking on art. So far the establishment of the authoritarian regime on 15 May 1934 has been either demonized as the onset of 'fascism' or explained away as a logical outcome of society's development supported by the people. This article, however, is not focused on processes and events in the art life and related institutions but on theoretically minded reflections on art. The most obvious influence of authoritarianism relates to certain elements of censorship - after 1934 leftist writers' opinions disappeared from books and periodicals, significantly reducing the spectrum of art-theoretical ideas. Another aspect is the emphasis on Latvian national art as a deliberate program. Still the suggested stylistic premises were very vague, ranging from ethnographic heritage to the ideals of classical European art. One of the current topics was derived from Oswald Spengler's opposition between civilization and culture, conceiving of Latvian art as a part of 'fresh' and powerful culture in contrast to the civilization of 'old' European countries, Still it is not easy to answer to what an extent the ideas on art's essence and functions had been modified by the political climate change, Political engagement seems to be inversely proportional to the author's specific competence in the field of visual arts. In many cases no certain change can be detected, especially if the author's position differed from the official ideology of Latvianness. One should note that negative attitudes towards avant-garde experiments as a means of leftist propaganda appeared already in the 1920s, as in the sculptor Gustavs Skilters' remarks on deformation and anarchy not being the only creative powers: 'It's time to dismiss these ghosts of revolution from our art and establish a healthy national trend based on serious work.' This trend of thinking on art can be broadly named traditionalist; art was mostly conceived along pragmatist-instrumentalist lines as a promoter of truth, religion, morality but first of all - Latvianness. This model was closely intertwined with various modifications of the ancient mimetic theory, interpreting art as a direct or variously 'perfected' or 'recreated' representation of nature.

Keywords

EN

ANTI-MODERNISM; AUTHORITARIANISM; LATVIAN ART CRITICISM; LATVIAN ART THEORY; TRADITIONALISM

Discipline

• ARTS_&_ARCHITECTURE: ARTS & ARCHITECTURE

• Publisher: Publishing House 'Neputns', Terbatas iela 49/51-8, Riga LV-1011, Latvia; www.neputns.lv
• Journal: Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
• Year: 2006
• Volume: 5
• Pages: 127-133
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Pelse Stella

• Stella Pelse, Institute of Art History of the Latvian Academy of Art, Akademijas laukums 1-160, Riga LV-1050, Latvia

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

11LVAAAA09328