In collaboration with the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA) and the Malmö Art Museum in Sweden, from 14 December 2024 to 23 February 2025, an exhibition titled The Latvian Collection takes place in the Cupola Hall and 4th Floor Exhibition Halls of the Latvian National Museum of Art. The exhibition features works by Latvian artists from the early 20th century, from the collection of the Malmö Art Museum, alongside new, complementary pieces by contemporary artists.
In 1939, the Malmö Art Museum received the Latvian Art Collection, offering a unique snapshot of Latvian art between the two world wars. This collection includes landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and scenography sketches, capturing the transition from the modernist experiments of the 1920s to the realism that defined European art in the 1930s. Thematically focusing on Latvian nature and glorifying ideas of national culture, the works reflect the cultural policy of Kārlis Ulmanis’s authoritarian regime.
After acquisition, the Latvian Art Collection was displayed at the Malmö Art Museum, but was then removed from permanent exhibition and remained unseen for decades. To further explore and contextualize the entire ensemble of 47 works, the collection was re-exhibited in its entirety at the Malmö Art Museum in 2022, in collaboration with the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art. Now, 85 years after the collection was first assembled, some of these artworks have returned to Latvia this winter.
The Latvian Collection in Riga is complemented by the vision of today’s artists through eight new contemporary artworks, which highlight overlooked narratives in the Latvian Art Collection and comment on broader issues related to nationalism and the birth of a nation state. These works by contemporary artists have been included in Malmö Art Museum’s collection, offering a contemporary interpretation and extension.
“The Latvian Art Collection in Malmö not only highlights the activities of the artists of that time and the political situation in Latvia, but also invites us to think about where, how, and whether works of Latvian art are available in foreign museum collections, and their stories – to international viewers,” Inga Lāce, one of the three curators of the exhibition, emphasizes.
By researching and adding works to the Latvian Art Collection, the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, the Malmö Art Museum, and the Latvian National Art Museum are building new bridges of communication. The participating artists – from Latvia, Sweden, Ukraine, Estonia, Denmark, Norway and Lithuania – are stimulating a wider discussion about freedom of speech and its fragility, as well as the role of art in politics and the social ecosystem, the creation of museum collections, and the participation of artists in formulating national narratives, cultural diplomacy, and national politics.
The exhibition is complemented by a broad and diverse public programme. The closing programme of “The Latvian Collection” exhibition on 23 February includes three thematically related events: a mask workshop, a performative talk show, which is the performative extension of a work by the artist Makda Embae featured in the exhibition, titled “If Joy Was the Door, What Would Be the Room?”, and a concert created by the Latvian composer Henrijs Poikāns, in which original music will be intertwined with contemporary arrangements of popular music of the 1920s and 1930s.
Participating artists:
Makda Embaie, Ieva Epnere, Ieva Kraule-Kūna, Santiago Mostyn and Susanna Jablonski, Lada Nakonechna, Jaanus Samma, Asbjørn Skou, and Anastasia Sosunova
Artists featured in the Latvian Art Collection at the Malmö Art Museum:
Jānis Aižēns, Augusts Annuss, Arturs Apinis, Jēkabs Apinis, Kārlis Baltgailis, Jānis Cielavs, Jānis Cīrulis, Elza Druja, Erna Dzelme-Bērziņa, Eduards Dzenis, Otomija Freiberga, Jāzeps Grosvalds, Arvīds Gusārs, Marija Induse-Muceniece, Eduards Kalniņš, Valdemārs Krastiņš, Kārlis Krauze, Jānis Kuga, Ludolfs Liberts, Milda Liepiņa, Jānis Liepiņš, Jūlijs Madernieks, Oskars Norītis, Jānis Plēpis, Vilhelms Purvītis, Janis Rozentāls, Pēteris Rožlapa, Arijs Skride, Oto Skulme, Uga Skulme, Janis Šternbergs, Arvīds Štrauss, Niklāvs Strunke, Erasts Šveics, Leo Svemps, Zelma Tālberga, Jānis Tīdemanis, Valdemārs Tone, Konrāds Ubāns, Vilis Vasariņš, Ernests Veilands, Sigismunds Vidbergs, Johann Walter, Kārlis Zāle, Teodors Zaļkalns, Rihards Zariņš
Curators: Inga Lāce, Lotte Løvholm, Solvita Krese
Organisers:
The exhibition is organised by the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art in collaboration with the Latvian National Museum of Art, Malmö Art Museum.
Supporters:
The exhibition is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation, Riga City Council, Novum Riga Charitable Foundation, Embassy of Sweden, Danish Arts Foundation, Vivacolor.
Photography: Kristīne Madjāre
Jaanus Samma , ‘Brooch’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Jaanus Samma , ‘Brooch’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Ieva Kraule-Kūna, ‘A snake is a way: unraveled eternity is still forever’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Ieva Kraule-Kūna, ‘A snake is a way: unraveled eternity is still forever’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Ieva Kraule-Kūna, ‘A snake is a way: unraveled eternity is still forever’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Asbjørn Skou, ‘OTHERTONGUE (sketch for an anarchist cabaret) II’, 2024. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Asbjørn Skou, ‘OTHERTONGUE (sketch for an anarchist cabaret) II’, 2024. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Ieva Epnere, ‘Collection’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Ieva Epnere, ‘Collection’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Lada Nakonechna, ‘Personal Relevant Collection’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Lada Nakonechna, ‘Personal Relevant Collection’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Anastasija Sosunova, ‘Meta Angel’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Anastasija Sosunova, ‘Meta Angel’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Ieva Kraule-Kūna, ‘A heterogeneous perspective’, 2024. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Santiago Mostyn and Susanna Marcus Jablonski ‘UMDREHEN (The Turn)’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Makda Embaie , ‘IF JOY WAS THE DOOR, WHAT WOULD BE THE ROOM?’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Makda Embaie , ‘IF JOY WAS THE DOOR, WHAT WOULD BE THE ROOM?’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Makda Embaie , ‘IF JOY WAS THE DOOR, WHAT WOULD BE THE ROOM?’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Makda Embaie , ‘IF JOY WAS THE DOOR, WHAT WOULD BE THE ROOM?’, 2022. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Exhibition ‘The Latvian Collection’ at the Latvian National Museum of Art , 2024. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Exhibition ‘The Latvian Collection’; Ieva Kraule-Kūna, A heterogeneous perspective, 2024. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Exhibition ‘The Latvian Collection’ at the Latvian National Museum of Art , 2024. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Exhibition ‘The Latvian Collection’ at the Latvian National Museum of Art , 2024. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Exhibition ‘The Latvian Collection’ at the Latvian National Museum of Art , 2024. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Exhibition ‘The Latvian Collection’ at the Latvian National Museum of Art; Asbjørn Skou, ‘OTHERTONGUE (sketch for an anarchist cabaret) II’, 2024. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Exhibition ‘The Latvian Collection’ at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Exhibition ‘The Latvian Collection’ at the Latvian National Museum of Art; Asbjørn Skou, ‘OTHERTONGUE (sketch for an anarchist cabaret) II’, 2024. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
Exhibition ‘The Latvian Collection’ at the Latvian National Museum of Art , 2024. Photo: Kristīne Madjāre
