Feminism, Watercolors, the Circus and the Purvītis Prize – Four New Exhibitions at the Art Museum / Article

From June 4, the main building of the Latvian National Museum of Art is open to visitors again. In total, four new exhibitions have been prepared, in which we will get acquainted with the works of Daina Dagnija, Gustav Šķilters, Ieva Epner, as well as the achievements of the candidates for the seventh Purvītis Prize in art. Daiga Rudzāte, the curator of the Purvītis Prize exhibition, reminds that we will also meet several large-format works in the exhibition halls.

On June 1, the government agreedthat the museum premises will also be available for individual visits. According to this decision, the main building of the Latvian National Museum of Art (LNMM) in Janis Rozentāls Square 1 opens its doors. It should be noted that the LNMM premises were already available to a limited number of visitors in the period from 21 April to 4 May 2021. At that time there was implemented by the Ministry of Culture pilot project safe resumption of public activities of cultural sites.

During the pilot project, visiting LNMM was possible only with prior application for a specific visit.

Museum director Māra Lāce explains that now visitors no longer need a prior appointment and the whole museum is open, not one exhibition, as it was in the period from April 21 to May 4.

The flow of visitors indoors is organized by the museum staff. Exhibition rooms can accommodate between 30 and 40 people, you may have to wait. Requirements to maintain a distance of 2 meters, disinfect hands and use a mouth and nose mask are still valid.

“Currently, the museum has an exhibition of works by artist Daina Dagnija with an intriguing name. “You paint as well as a man! Daina Dagnija’s Art in the Context of Feminism ”.

The curator of the exhibition, Elita Ansone, has focused on the early stage of Daina Dagnija’s work – the American period – when the feminism movement developed.

Although Daina Dagnija herself was not active [kustības] participant, in her works these topics appear in a very interesting turn, expansion.

There is an exhibition on the fourth floor “The world seemed too narrow to me…”. “So – the end of the 19th century / beginning of the 20th century, the Latvian artist Gustavs Šķilters, after graduating from the Stiglitz Central School of Technical Drawing in St. Petersburg, goes on a world tour. He has been to France (Rodin’s workshop), Spain and other countries.

In the exhibition, his impressions of watercolor paintings are exhibited at the same time as biographical material – his correspondence with one Spanish artist, which is extremely interesting and reveals new facets in Schilter’s work and his understanding of personality. ”

Māra Lāce tells in the Latvian Radio program “Kultūras rondo”.

Visitors to the museum’s “Dome Hall” are waiting Winners of “Purvītis Awards 2019” Ieva Epner’s latest exhibition “Circus under the dome”. “A very beautiful and emotionally sensitive exhibition,” adds the director of LNMM.

Seventh Purvītis Prize Exhibition

Among the exhibition news in the main building of LNMM, the Purvītis Prize exhibition should be highlighted, which is available to visitors from June 4 to August 8, 2021. The exhibition consists of a bright collection of paintings, installations, porcelain and video art, created for the seventh Purvītis Award for the best performance in visual art in 2019 and 2020. raised eight artists and authors – Skuja Braden, Valdis Celms, Krista and Reinis Dzudzilo, Kaspars Groševs, Ieva Kraule-Kūna and Elīna Vītola, Rasa and Raitis Šmiti, Aija Zariņa, Amanda Ziemele.

“The basic principle of the Purvītis Award is that exhibitions are nominated. We make every effort to show these exhibitions afterwards. [..]

It should always be taken into account that the exhibition at the Purvītis Prize will look different from the original version, if only because it is often just a fragment.

This is not the case with Kaspars Groševs or Valdis Celms, where the whole object is exhibited, but in such large projects as the solo exhibition of artists, it is almost never possible to display everything, ”curator Daiga Rudzāte introduces the basic principles of the Purvītis Prize exhibition.

The curator reminds that the Purvītis Prize exhibition has “catapulted” from winter to summer, and it is even better.

According to her, this award is a kind of report [mākslas] environment, but for viewers it is an overview of the brightest success stories of the last two years,

of course, bearing in mind other outstanding achievements in art, which, however, did not enter the final selection.

In total, 18 artists / groups of artists were nominated for the final selection of the “Purvītis Awards 2021”, whose creative performance was recognized as a significant event in the Latvian visual art scene in the period from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2020.

Bearing in mind the economic situation in Latvia and the budgets available for art, this exhibition of the Purvītis Prize is a big surprise for Rudzāte herself, as it consists of huge large-format objects. “This confirms both the interest of certain institutions – in the case of Valdis Celms, it is the Riga International Biennale of Contemporary Art, thanks to which these projects were finally implemented, as well as

it is a huge self-denial of artists that, in spite of everything, they realize their ambitions at that moment. All these ambitions are very, very important for the whole society, because they help to live in some way, ”

expresses the curator of the exhibition.

She invites everyone to return to the exhibition hall after a long crisis to enjoy art to the fullest.

Purvītis Award nominees:

It is important to mention that other LNMM structures are also gradually resuming their work. From June 4, it is possible to visit the Art Museum “Riga Stock Exchange”, Roman Suta and Aleksandra Beļcova Museum. The Museum of Decorative Arts and Design will also open its doors on June 5. From June 9, it is possible to visit the exposition “Sculpture Forest. Decisions of Ancient and Renaissance Sculpture ”at 8 Pulka Street, Riga.

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