Wyniki wyszukiwania - Biblioteka Nauki

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Latviešu mākslinieku gaitas karadienestā. 1914–1922

100%

Kāle S.

Makslas Vesture un Teorija

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2015

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tom 18

84-102

EN

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.

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THE FIRST LATVIAN ART SALONS AROUND 1910 AND THEIR CREATORS (Latviesu pirmie makslas saloni ap 1910. gadu un to veidotaji)

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Abele K.

Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei

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2007

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tom 6

108-124

EN

The article reconstructs the history of the first short-lived Latvian-owned art salons that were founded in Riga from 1909 till the mid-1910s. Their interpretation in publications on Latvian early-20th-century art so far has been limited to vague and inaccurate references. However, many of these inaccuracies can be eliminated by a number of recent discoveries. The story begins in December 1909 when painter, writer and critic Janis Jaunsudrabins first inquired who was to blame that 'Riga, which, in cultural matters, is one of the best cities in Russia' is like an orphan where the art of painting is concerned. He concluded that 'above all things, an art salon is needed, where painters could present their works', and announced that such a salon would in the coming days be opened by photographer Janis Rieksts at 17 Alexander (now 41 Brivibas) Street. In January 1910 Rieksts set up an exposition featuring Baltic artists of different generations, nationalities and level: Janis Rozentals and Vilhelms Purvitis, Theodor Kraus and Gerhard von Rosen, Bernhard Borchert and Eva Margarethe Borchert-Schweinfurth, etc. Unlike many of his fellow nationals, Rieksts promoted an international vision of art, and his consulting partner was the artists' club 'Kunstecke' ('Corner of Art'). The need of additional investments made Rieksts drop this business. Grieving over the failure of Rieksts' well-intended art-dealing initiative, one could turn hopefully to the National Romanticist building of Kenins Schools at 15/17 Terbatas Street where the art section of Peteris Saulitis' book and art shop in December 1910 was reorganised into a separate salon, later named the Saulitis-Melderis (Saulit-Melder) Latvian Art Salon. In April the salon news were dominated by the name of Peteris Krastins, who had recently returned from abroad, and soon his solo-exhibition was organised, provoking fears whether any colleagues would ever dare to fill the salon space after him. While Rieksts believed in the inherent internationalism of art, the Saulitis-Melderis enterprise laid stress on Latvianness and Latvian-produced art. The popularity of the visual arts was lagging considerably behind the growing prosperity of Riga in other areas, and the first art salons one after another suffered commercial fiasco. Nonetheless these economically precipitate business activities were very timely diversifiers of the local art scene.

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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.

72%

Abele K.

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tom 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.