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

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Pelse S.

Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei

2006

vol. 5

127-133

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.

URBAN AND RURAL ISSUES IN LATVIAN THINKING ON ART OF THE INTER-WAR PERIOD (Pilsetas un lauku motivi latviesu makslas izvertejumos starpkaru perioda)

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Pelse S.

Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei

2007

vol. 6

189-194

Urban culture in Latvia has a comparatively short history and is most related to non-Latvian groups, so the connection between national and rural elements have often interested Latvian writers on art. The peasant nation's peculiar world outlook dominated often nationalist-type art history texts. In the Soviet period the peasant culture could be approved as democratic and pertaining to the simple folk; recourses to peasant mentality still resurface in recent studies as well. The origins of Latvian art in the latter half of the 19th century coincided with the dominance of Realism; also most of artists were of countryside origin. The article largely focuses on pieces of theory and criticism, discussing whether urban environment should or could provide motifs for artists and advance (national) creativity. The spectrum of answers is rather diverse and changing, but one can single out the rather leftist modernists'idea of the city as a topical subject allowing for art to reflect the contemporary life, and more traditional authors'interest in the countryside as the true cradle of national specificity. The artist Niklavs Strunke in his passionate manifestoes of the late 1910s promoted the new art and emphasised the architectonic simplicity of street noises and automobile movement, also the writer Andrejs Kurcijs in his theory of Activism spoke about urban themes as a sign of new, contemporary Romanticism. A peculiar and contradictory view of the problems of modernity was proposed by the folklorist Ernests Brastins who synthesised a passeist idealisation of ancient Latvian society and almost Futurist excitement about technological advances. If opinions voiced in the early 1920s contained at least partly optimistic views on the urban development, gradually the city became interpreted as a threat to a truly national creativity, especially after the local authoritarian regime replaced parliamentary democracy in 1934.

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2 Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei

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

URBAN AND RURAL ISSUES IN LATVIAN THINKING ON ART OF THE INTER-WAR PERIOD (Pilsetas un lauku motivi latviesu makslas izvertejumos starpkaru perioda)