At the Dobele County Museum on January 17, at the table of Hildas Vīkas and Viktors Eglīš, sitting (from left): Ingrīda Frickaus, donor of furniture and paintings, Elita Ansone, head of the Collections and Scientific Research Department of the Latvian National Museum of Art, Elita Ansone, author of the article. Standing: the initiator of the event, Iveta Gudiņa, custodian of the collection of the Dobele County Museum, Ilze Tauriņa-Roze, deputy head of the Museum of Writing and Music, artist Hilda Vīka and Ilze Kreišmane, the main custodian of the Turaida Museum Reserve, in absentia.
Image from the collections of the Information Center of the Latvian Academy of Arts
Ingrīda Burāne, “Kultūrzīmes”, JSC “Latvijas Mediji”
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Art historian Ingrīda Burāne has returned from a cultural trip in January, talking about the most vivid cultural events she experienced.
I had decided to stop writing “Scope of the Month”. It didn’t seem right to apply for any reviews, reviews in which I emphasized the most important, the most significant, the most surprising. It is wrong to mislead readers and cultural researchers in this way in the future. We live in war conditions, but even mathematically – without mentioning more than 50 art shows, as many theater performances, concerts, newly released books, amateur art, virtual environment offers, cultural media spaces and other diverse forms, it is clear: even a cursory capture of the context is impossible. And that’s only in Latvia. Where else is the joy of Elina Garančas Amneris singing together with Jonas Kaufman at the Vienna premiere, or trying to understand the criteria (naivety!) at the “Tenera Awards 2022” four nominees show at Liverpool’s Tate Gallery. Working 48 hours a day, you can’t get further than the curse of the 21st century – superficiality, fragmentation and roughness. However, I allowed myself to be encouraged and encouraged by the creators of “Cultural signs” not to stop what I had started and agreed to go on monthly trips – in reality, dreams, imaginations, meeting temptations, selection consequences, coincidences. In everything that educates, enriches the experience, inspires and gives foundations.
Three giants of spirit and blessed work
It is not even necessary to prove that the words have devalued. I hope that there is not a particularly large part of society that believes in the promises of politicians, the phrasing of officials, the forecasts of economists, the explanations of sociologists, the integrity of commentators, the myths of regulations, presentations, marketing, advertising. For all that intrusive everyday color that misleads the illusion.
Janis Rosenthal. “Portrait of writer Rudolph Blaumanis”. 1908, k., e. 72.5 x 66 cm.
Image from the collections of the Information Center of the Latvian Academy of Arts
And yet there are words of power that are still necessary for the existence of our Latvianness, identity, statehood. These are the words of our culture. I thought about it again on January 1, 2023, when we traditionally celebrated the birthday of Rudolph Blaumanis at the E. Smilģas Theater Museum. It is significant that, saying goodbye to the past year, which dazzled in the colors of Vilhelm Purvīš, we started the year of the 160th birthday of Rudolph Blaumanis and the 150th birthday of Jānis Endzelín. Three giants of the spirit, who were able to guess and each in their own way express, reveal the soul of the nation. A blessed work performed by the manager of the museum and event, Jānis Siliņš, who on the first day of the year had gathered the director Māra Ķimeli, the actresses Indra Burkovska and Inesi Ramuti, the composer Valdi Zilveri, the students of the Academy of Culture, the people of “Brak” and “Ergļi” people, supplies the people of “Zinātne” ( soon we will have the latest collection of Livia Volkova’s arranged, annotated works of the writer!) and a large group of interested parties. Dialogues, memories, songs and insights sounded apt, poignant, ironic, true and meaningful. The tribute to the writer continued, as all those present gathered around the Silmači table, on which there was no shortage of delicious thin pancakes.
For the cultural site “Hilda” in Dobele,
On January 17, words of a different nature and yet strength were heard in the Dobele County Museum, where director Baiba Golubeva and curator Iveta Gudiņa had gathered colleagues from all over Latvia. A lot of new revelations, unknowns and opportunities for the future sparked in a joint conversation about the preservation of the cultural and historical heritage of Hildas Vīkas. It is valuable that the chairman of Dobele council Ivars Gorskis and his deputy Guntis Safranovičs also listened to the theses and discussions of the professionals.
It is a well-known fact that the Dobele Museum has been located in unsuitable premises for a long time, where it is impossible to update the permanent exposition according to modern conditions, to create content-rich and emotionally saturated exhibitions. No matter how lively, full of initiative and the residents of the city, county, and guests need working museum specialists, many opportunities are not used and realized due to decisions not made in time. I have observed this for years, when I went to see the restoration works of the Livonian Order’s walled palace, the size of the monument to the liberation of Kārlis Zemdega and Inta Berga Dobele, and to assess the additions to the Hilda Vīkas collection in the museum. The Vīka family is closely woven into the history of Dobele and today. In modern terminology: everything related to the life and work of the artist is Dobele’s value, brand. The chosen address on Skolas Street 9, where the cultural center “Hilda” will be built, is logical. The adjacent Art School, the annual Art and Poetry Day celebrations are like support points in the continuous process of learning about the personality and history of Latvia. On the stages of the “Hilda” memorial exposition and changing exhibitions, the complex life and saturation of creative works of the important artist could be depicted in appropriate quality. It includes the entire tragedy of the 20th century, from the time of the first free state through the horrors of war and the crimes of occupation. House “Hilda” as a residence for domestic and foreign artists will fulfill not only the presence of creativity, not only the emotional, spiritual function, but also will add financial value. The hallmark of a good brand is trust. The name of Hildas Vīkas can become a sign of trust in the ability of Dobele MPs, all people of culture, and the prosperity of the county.
Hilda Vikas. “Woman at the window” (“Self-portrait”). 1945, a., e, 110 x 96 cm.
Image from the collections of the Information Center of the Latvian Academy of Arts
The exhibition “By the window” at the Dobele Museum (November 9 – February 25), which is a tribute to Hilda Vīkas’ 125th birthday, also made us think about trust. It displays 13 paintings from the museum’s collection, which clearly reveal the artist’s talent, expression, and most characteristic motifs: self-portraits, window washers, mother’s portraits. They are at the same time concrete works and also certain symbolic signs, which can be read in the three strands of the artist’s expression: in painting and graphics, in prose and poetry, in Latvian philosophy as in the way of life of Latvians – a set of moral values. In each of these spheres of her activity, Hilda Vīkas has created innovations and elements of identity without which it is impossible to understand and capture the art scene of the 20th century and which, with their contemporaneity, fit into several current cultural issues. Layers of layers, loops of loops, layers of layers can be read in the artist’s paintings both in the language of content and form. Strong words. Equivalent to what Hilda Víka once said to Alexander Čak (quoted from the magazine “Atpūta” No. 802, March 15, 1940): “In everyday life and everyday life, I am willing to compromise a lot, but not in art, then I would rather die.”
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