|
|
| A Scaffolded Building Edvarda Šmite In 2005 the Latvian National Museum of Art is celebrating the 100th anniversary. | |
|
A scaffolded building. An unknown photographer has captured one moment in the creation of the museum. Probably in 1904. Maybe this was how it looked on the day when one of the bricklayers working here delighted his mates with some songs? We know the name of this bricklayer: the later famous opera singer Ādolfs Kaktiņš. It was in this building that he gave his first public performance.
On 14 September 1905 (old style) the museum was officially opened, known originally as the Riga City Art Museum, and the next day, 15 September, the museum was open to the public. Up to the end of its first year, the exhibitions had been seen by a total of 4542 visitors, including 3866 adults and 676 children. Likewise in the years 1906 to 1910, visitor numbers were quite low, fluctuating from 8 to 10 thousand per year. Judging from these figures, it might seem that Rigans were not particularly interested in seeing the works of art displayed in this monumental building... Why so? The museum, the gallery and the art exhibition... In 19th century Europe, these multifunctional elements of art life became more widespread and intensive than ever before, since the new age had opened the way to the world of art for wider social strata. Previously, fine art had been accessible mainly to professionals and dilettantes in this field, and to a very limited circle of private collectors, a circle that had in common not only an interest in art, but also the material means to indulge their interest. This is understandable, since art has always been an expensive commodity. The 19th century sought and discovered ways and means of changing the situation, making art accessible at lower cost and thus open to a larger section of society. Such opportunities included the reproduction of works, permitting people to purchase an article of adequate quality for an acceptable price, and likewise bringing them into contact with works of art at museums and similar establishments. The Baltic was no exception. In the 17th and 18th century, the most important events in fine art had taken place in the Duchy of Courland, but in the course of the 19th century, Riga presented itself ever more convincingly as a metropolis of art. Already in 1816, on the initiative of the clergyman Dr Liborius Bergmann, a small city art cabinet was created. 1842 saw the first exhibition by Baltic artists, the next such events following in 1845 and 1853. Founded in 1868 and opened to the public on 16 March 1869 was the City Picture Gallery (with 96 exhibits). The main collection of paintings - 47 exhibits - had been bought by the city in 1866 from the Rigan Domenico de Robiani, an art dealer and restorer. Local experts assessed the value of the collection at around 7-8 thousand roubles, and, in view of de Robiani's advanced years (he was 75), Riga Town Council was probably hoping that it would not have to pay the collector for very long the lifetime rent he demanded, but de Robiani was to live another 23 years and would receive a total of 12 thousand roubles. Another characteristic feature of the 19th century was the establishment and activity of various societies. The Riga Art Promotion Society (founded in 1870) became an important part of Riga's cultural life, collaborating for about half a century - right up to the time of the First World War - with the Riga City Picture Gallery, and later with the City Art Museum as well. First and foremost among the forms of collaboration was the joint exhibition of art collections and the publication of joint catalogues. It should be noted that the first, long-serving Chairman of the Board of the Riga Picture Gallery, town councillor August Heinrich Hollander, was also one of the founders of the Art Promotion Society and its first director. The last third of the 19th century was a time when Riga was enjoying growth and construction. Of course, a separate building to house an art gallery or museum is not one of a city's most pressing needs, and so they had to make do with rented premises. The decision to build a special art museum building on the present site, in the Esplanade, was taken only in 1901. Already at the end of the year, a building programme for the museum was considered, prepared by the later architect of the building, who also directed the building work and was to become the first museum director - the architect and art historian Wilhelm Neumann. The programme stated that the museum building would have separate rooms for the needs of the Art Promotion Society and space for the Brederlo Gallery; that there would be a separate room for sculpture; that, continuing the tradition established by the City Picture Gallery, temporary exhibitions would be held of works belonging to the city of Riga and the Art Promotion Society, and that the building would be intended for displaying about 1000 paintings. The construction programme, as well as the initial direction of the museum's activities, reflected the view of the museum's role shared by the Riga municipal authorities and Neumann: it was to be a provincial museum. A museum for the region. It should be remembered that Riga, although rich and growing, was in those days only the largest city in the Baltic, and no more. The three Baltic Provinces - Estonia, Livland and Courland - were united on several issues, but they stood apart within the rest of the great Russian Empire. The most important unifying factors were no doubt a common history, Lutheranism, a negative view of the Russification policy followed by the Tsarist authorities, and the administrative, economic, cultural and family contacts throughout the Baltic maintained by the Baltic German landowners. Since the Russian authorities did not support the establishment of social organisations encompassing the whole of the Baltic, they had to use their cunning. The Riga Art Promotion Society already included representatives from the whole of the Baltic, and the Riga City Art Museum likewise hoped to encompass the whole region. This was clearly demonstrated by the murals for the top floor vestibule, commissioned on the Neumann's recommendation in 1906: three townscapes and three rural landscapes, two from Estonia, two from Livland and two from Courland. True, the museum's permanent exhibition included virtually no works by Baltic artists. The creation of such a collection was the task of the immediate future. Although already in 1905 the city augmented its collections by purchasing Janis Rozentāls' painting "From Work", and although Neumann had a high regard for the work of certain Latvian artists (Vilhelms Purvītis, Janis Rozentāls and Jülijs Feders), which was reflected in the exhibitions held at the museum, it must be admitted that, like most of the German social and cultural figures of that time, he too was convinced of the cultural homogeneity of the Baltic, without marked national characteristics, and this conviction evidently made him even more reticent about offers to hold Latvian art exhibitions. In line with the programme, the permanent exhibition of paintings created in the building included works that the Rigans had already seen at the City Picture Gallery and the Brederlo Gallery. Thus, the permanent exhibition could not arouse particular interest. Visitors were more interested to see the new building and the temporary exhibitions. Most of these temporary exhibitions were organised by the other occupant of the building, the Art Promotion Society, which rented rooms on several floors at one end of the museum (with a separate entrance from the side facing the present Academy of Art), including exhibition rooms on the top floor of the museum. The presence of this organisation in the museum premises requires some explanation. At the turn of the 20th century, popular education was regarded as an important task of a museum, perhaps even the most important. This also applies to art museums. Such educational work was undertaken by acquainting visitors with already approved and generally accepted values in art, by presenting current developments, and by means of lectures and readings. In view of the fact that, right up to 1919, Neumann was the museum director and the only specialist there, it is understandable that the museum's educational programme could not be very extensive. School visits to the museum were guided mainly by their drawing teachers. Neumann's activities indicate that he strove to provide that part of the educational programme connected with tried and tested values in art. Together with artist Gerhard Rosen, he assessed the collections of the City Picture Gallery and the Art Promotion Society, so that only the best works would be included in the permanent exhibition. For the needs of the museum's sculpture room, in 1904 Neumann commissioned, from the Central Workshop for Original Castings and Classical Sculpture (the August Gerber company) in Cologne, plaster casts of Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman and Renaissance sculptures, maintaining collaboration with this company in later years as well. In its turn, the Art Promotion Society undertook educational work by promoting contemporary art through exhibitions and lectures. The sale of entrance tickets and catalogues was an important source of revenue for both occupants of the building, and it is very understandable that Neumann wished to create interesting exhibitions at the museum, and likewise that the Art Promotion Society took a negative attitude towards his activities. True, temporary exhibitions could be held only in the top floor vestibule and the Graphic Art Cabinet, and in case of special need, the rooms housing the permanent exhibition could also be given up for temporary exhibitions. Such a situation gave rise to disagreements between the two users of the building and misunderstandings in relations with artists and groups of artists. Latvian artists repeatedly asked the city authorities or the museum administration to allow them to hold a temporary exhibition in the museum, but were always turned down, since these institutions were not entitled to decide how the rooms for the temporary exhibitions would be used, these having been given up under a long-term lease agreement to the Art Promotion Society. Quite an amusing situation developed in 1911 in connection with the exhibition of work by Vilhelms Purvītis. Namely, the exhibition was to be held under the auspices of the Art Promotion Society (i.e. in the part of the museum with the present "Blue Rooms", facing the park), but Purvītis declined this idea on some formal pretext, and transferred to the museum side of the building, which meant that the paintings were exhibited in much less suitable conditions - in the top floor vestibule and in one of the rooms of the "Brown Side". Fate has played a joke, bringing together in the same year the events of the revolution and the beginnings of the museum's activities. No damage was done to the new building, only the interior decoration and printing of the catalogues was somewhat delayed on account of the strikes. But maybe it was no joke? After all, the past century has from time to time reminded us that a museum, art as such or some individual artist may wish and hope to remain independent of social and political processes and phenomena, but this is impossible in practice. Albeit indirectly, the two are connected. The printing of museum catalogues and posters from 1910 onwards not only in Russian and German, but in Latvian as well, meant acquiescence to one of the demands of the Revolution of 1905: for the Latvian language rights in their own country. In the following decades too, this connection was more brusquely or mildly recalled to mind by the character of the permanent exhibitions, the languages used in the documentation and issues connected with property rights to the building or works of art. But the building is still scaffolded. It is 1904. The new century has only just begun. | |
| go back | |
