In autumn 1911, Alice Dmitrijew (1876–1945) showed her decorative, stylised colour woodcuts for the first time to the public of her native Riga at the 2nd exhibition of the Baltic Artists’ Association in the Riga Art Society premises. Existing publications, mainly artists’ dictionaries, provide very little information on her biography, largely containing birth and death years, some facts and short descriptions of her graphic works but nothing about her education. Also early 20th century local periodicals give only descriptions of works shown in exhibitions and individual reproductions. Significant hints of a more comprehensive biography have been found in a letter by the Riga-born German Margot Mecketh (1889–1956) to Paul Campe (1885–1960) preserved in the legacy of this architect and historian of architecture at the Herder Institute in Marburg and so far unknown to Latvian researchers. Alice Dmitrijew was born in Riga to the family of Ivan Dmitrijew, a merchant from Yaroslavl and active member of the city’s Russian community, and his wife Alice, a Riga-born descendant of a Silesian weavers’ family. Dmitrijew most often exhibited colour woodcuts in local art shows, being one of the first Baltic artists to take up print techniques seriously; she largely earned positive reviews in both the German and Latvian press. However, today we know just twelve woodcuts from the print collection of the Latvian National Museum of Art, one painting that has recently surfaced in the art market, one cover design for a book and several reproductions in the Yearbook of Baltic Art. Dmitrijew’s preserved works, all dated about 1910–1915, feature typical Art Nouveau interplays of rhythmical areas and a refined, subdued colour range. In this period she had used simple compositions, laconic, generalised and unified colour fields and subtle tonal variations to create decorative, moderately elegant and sometimes playfully fresh interpretations of figural, landscape and still life motifs.
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In the second half of the 19th century the yet dominant influence of the archbishopric on the Kroměříž architecture abates. Nevertheless, the archbishopric architect Gustav Meretta, constructing in the Neo-Renaissance style, remains one of the most influential architects of the time. In late historism, two builders were of crucial importance for Kroměříž – Ladislav Mesenský St. and Felix Skibinský, who also spread the construction style in the spirit of Art Nouveau. The most remarkable art nouveau work of art is the extensive premises of the insane asylum by Hubert Gessner, a graduate of Otto Wagner.
The article deals with the diverse activities of the Baltic German artist Erich von Campenhausen (1872–1926) and analysis of his known works in the art-historical context. In his early period after returning to Riga from Karlsruhe where he studied engineering, the artist was more involved with applied arts while later he studied at the Karlsruhe Academy of Art (1909–1914) and took up painting and graphics to a greater extent. The so-called ‘play’ figures (Scherzfiguren) created around 1907 were ceramic sculptures of exotic animals, with their rounded forms reminding of Japanese netsuke. About the same time Campenhausen also made 18 ‘humorous art postcards’, coloured ink drawings, showing ‘joys and sufferings of a Negro boy’, according to the press of the time. Campehausen’s contribution to applied arts (design of plates and dishes, cutlery and furniture) is represented in the Baltic art yearbook ‘Bildende Kunst der Ostseeprovinzen’. In all, Campehausen’s approach was based on laconic aesthetics, envisioning beauty in simplicity that sharply differs from his younger brother Balthasar von Campenhausen’s output – rather Historicist interiors with Baroque forms and decorative weightiness of patterned, upholstered furniture and tapestries. Erich von Campenhausen also took part in the poster competition (1907–1908) organised by ‘Rigascher Kunstverein’ (Riga Art Society) to find the best solution to advertise society’s exhibitions in the recently opened Riga City Art Museum. Campenhausen’s poster features the image the sacred grove, the cradle of mystic spirituality important for National Romanticism. The poster can be perceived as a modernised interpretation of Arnold Böcklin’s work ‘Sacred Grove’ (1882) in the vein of Art Nouveau, comparable also to decorative solutions of Gustav Klimt. Fifteen years later, Campenhausen created another poster, announcing the lottery of the German Baltic Charitable Institution (1923) and depicting a fashionable young woman with a cornucopia.
In the 19th century European cities faced water supply problems caused by industrialisation and urbanisation; in most cities, including Riga, much attention was paid to the issue in the late 19th - early 20th century when the majority of water towers were constructed. Water towers represent a typical 19th century phenomenon; it was quite short-lived in the history of architecture but notable for the manifold architectonic and stylistic solutions. Riga’s municipality supplied the city inhabitants with pure drinking water before the First World War, constructing two ground-water lines from Bukulti and four water towers in total: two water towers in the Moscow Suburb in the late 19th century (1897-1899) and two early 20th century water towers - in Agenskalns (1909-1910) and in Ciekurkalns (1912-1913). Both of these functioned throughout the 20th century and are still standing today. The tanks of all four Riga’s late 19th - early 20th century water towers are built according to Intze type 2; in addition, Otto Intze himself designed the water tower for the Moscow Suburb. As the water tower was a relatively new type of building, there were no architectural standards and this lack of examples was compensated for by drawing parallels with the surrounding buildings or other historical types of constructions, according to Historicist practice. Also in the late 19th century water tower façades most often conformed to Historicist stylistics but the rational spatial structure - the highly raised water tank - did show more and more in the building’s outer appearance. During the period of Art Nouveau, water towers acquired new architectonic solutions and more abstract forms; new constructive and artistic means became widespread, such as simplifying, rounding and softening of forms, introduction of new materials and constructions, and demonstration of these on the façade. Forms reflected the building’s functional, constructive framework that was aestheticised as well.
There is little information on the life and works of Riga architect Alfred Aschenkampff; however, his name features in almost all art history books dealing with Riga’s Art Nouveau buildings or the city’s history on the threshold of the 20th century. He designed one of the first Art Nouveau buildings in Riga – the apartment house at 7 Audēju Street – as well as pavilions for the 1901 Industry and Crafts Exhibition that was very significant in the history of Riga. When dealing with the Aschenkampff’s output in Riga, the wooden architecture of Āgenskalns in particular, new and important objects can be added to his few known works. In the late 19th – early 20th century, Riga saw economic growth and a booming number of inhabitants; as a result, the city spread out and the density of buildings increased too. In Āgenskalns at the time, several developmental trends are evident, both continuing the building tradition of previous centuries and reflecting the 19th century Western tendencies of urban planning. Buildings designed by Aschenkampff are situated along the old trade routes – Slokas and Kalnciema Streets – as well as in completely new quarters – on Kristapa, Sabiles, Melnsila and other streets. In the ten-year period from 1895 to 1905, nine buildings were constructed to Aschenkampff’s designs in Āgenskalns; eight of them have survived up to the present in various technical conditions. Comparing earlier designs with the buildings constructed after the turn of the century, transformations related to the advent of Art Nouveau in Riga are brightly evident. It has been assumed so far that Art Nouveau was very modest in Riga’s wooden architecture but Aschenkampff’s case proves that this statement cannot be applied to at least some architects. The wooden houses examined in the article show various possible scenarios for the buildings of this type – one had burned down, some are maintained in good condition and carefully repaired or restored while others are reconstructed beyond recognition. Therefore, Riga’s wooden architecture cannot be always assessed from the buildings’ present image, and original construction designs have to be consulted to grasp the architect’s ideas.
The aim of this article is to introduce the reader to the residential houses designed by Aleksandrs Vanags (1873–1919) in the style of Nordic National Romanticism, looking at not just the textbook examples but also at less well known buildings. Vanags has left a considerable legacy in the architecture of Latvia. Some one hundred buildings were constructed after his designs during the peak of his activity from 1906 to 1914. These were mainly multi-storey apartment houses in Riga and around forty private and public buildings outside Riga. The buildings examined in the article illustrate the flourishing and decline of Nordic National Romanticism that prevailed in Vanags’ work until this trend was progressively supplanted by Neo-Classicism. The layout of premises and organisation of amenities in Vanags’ projects were realised in line with the requirements of the time by providing maximum sunlight in the rooms and a window in every household premise in the large many-room apartments. As the layout of premises is conditioned by the commissioner’s means as well as the form and position of the building plot, Vanags’ apartment houses feature both typical and very original solutions for the period. Bays and risalits were used to diversify the building layout in the city centre, often creating a different layout for each storey of the house. During the period of Nordic National Romanticism, building façades show a laconic approach to ornamentation, largely applying a flat décor, often complemented with contrasting materials and types of finish. In some cases geometric ornament plastered on the façades is enriched with individual glazed tiles or mosaic. Looking at the building volumes of masonry apartment houses, some especially popular construction elements stand out, such as circular corner bays with dome-shaped roofing or open balcony, the use of chamfered and diverse triangular gables and massive closed balconies.
This article analyses wallpaper design from a rather narrow period - the turn of the centuries (from 1890s to 1914) and uses original materials found in the archives of Architectural Investigation Group (AIG). The AIG archives host one of the largest historical wallpaper collections in Latvia. It is predominantly comprised of wallpaper samples from the turn of the 20th century (360 units in total). This is a particularly prominent period in Latvian art history with its pluralism of stylistic schools, new tendencies in visual arts and quests for unified interior ensembles characteristic of Art Nouveau, all of which is well reflected in wallpaper design. The collection's samples can be classified according to their material as well as stylistic tendencies in ornament design. Depending on the characteristics of the material, two main groups can be distinguished: smooth wallpaper (339 samples in total) and relief wallpaper (21 sample). Smooth wallpaper is made of paper - the most popular material. Most of the collection consists of the so-called natural wallpaper, whereby one of the motif colours or background colour is supplied by the actual paper mass (approximately 210 samples). Usually this type of wallpaper is printed using glue-based paint with 2 to 6 tones. The second type of smooth wallpaper is manufactured by printing the ornament separately on an already coloured surface (121 samples). The third type of wallpaper imitates the texture of velvet fabric and is also classed as smooth wallpaper (8 samples). Relief wallpaper was manufactured from paper mass as well as other materials. Lincrust wallpaper was among one of the best and long-lasting types of such wallpaper.
As soon as Art Nouveau began to appear in the architectural decor of Riga at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, depictions of nature became increasingly popular. Of course, there was not just the main and specific Art Nouveau approach, which Robert Schmutzler cleverly described as 'Biological Romanticism', there were also other ways of approaching the natural world. Paul Greenhalg has described this as 'symbolic conventionalization', pantheism, metamorphosis and evolutionism. Pantheism became the main strategy for interior design at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in Riga, particularly insofar as vestibules are concerned. By contrast, façades manifested ideas of conventional Symbolism or of metamorphosis and evolutionism. Stylisation of natural motifs was one of the most popular techniques in designing wallpaper and stenciled decor on walls. Specialist publications had a major influence when it came to selecting the range of colours and ornamentation and since the mid 19th century their number had increased very rapidly. In Riga, as in several other provincial centres in the Russian Empire, Historicism played a particularly important role in architectural décor. When architects and designers began to move toward Art Nouveau it was often in the context of a reinterpretation of motifs that were popular in various neo-styles. New meaning was also attached to motifs and subjects that had been tested in the decorative arts and remained well known in the latter half of the 19th century and whose sources were to be found in various popular publications such as the ornamental handbook by Franz Sales Meyer, the edition 'Alegorien un Embleme' issued by Martin Gerlach, etc.
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