The group of Riga artists was founded in the winter of 1920, the first exhibition was held in March at the Riga City Art Museum led by Vilhelms Purvītis, but ceased to exist in 1940. The exhibition of paintings, drawings and sculptures dedicated to the centenary of the group, which can be seen in the Great Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art (LNMM) from September 11 to January 2, 2022, covers the period from the First World War to the middle of the 20th century.
Complementing the exposition, the edition gives an insight into eighteen members of the group – Jāzeps Grosvalds, Jēkabs Kazaks, Aleksandras Beļcova, Jāņa Cielava, Ģederts Elias, Jānis Liepiņš, Eduards Lindbergs, Emīls Melders, Marta Skulme, Otto Skulme, Uga Skulme, Niklā Swempa, Erasta Switzerland, Valdemāra Tone, Konrad Uban and Sigismund Vidberg – in their works. The catalog consists of an introduction, a list of works with short biographies of the authors and more than 150 images, divided into three chapters.
Chapter From “Green Flowers” to the first exhibition. 1915–1920 reveals the first experiments of modernism by young artists, The twists and turns of innovative search. 1920–1930 A passion for cubism, Fauvism and new business, in turn The brightest phenomenon in Latvian art. 1930–1940 reflects the creative maturity, when, according to art historian Boris Viper, “without exaggeration we can say that the last word of modern Latvian art sounds most convincing and complete in the exhibitions of the Riga group”.
The compiler and author of the catalog is Dace Lamberga, the layout designer is Anta Pence, the texts have been translated into English by Valdis Bērziņš, the editors are Laima Slava, Antra Bula and Iveta Boiko. The book is published in Latvian and English, its volume is 288 pages, printed Jelgava printing house.
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