{"id":514,"date":"2019-12-17T14:24:40","date_gmt":"2019-12-17T12:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ginta.lv\/?p=514"},"modified":"2019-12-17T15:27:18","modified_gmt":"2019-12-17T13:27:18","slug":"the-latvian-jeweller-generation-during-ussr-occupation-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ginta.lv\/index.php\/2019\/12\/17\/the-latvian-jeweller-generation-during-ussr-occupation-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"The Latvian jeweller generation during USSR occupation, part II"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pauls Spridzans (b.1945); melchior pendant “Time I” (Laiks I); 1978; Artist Union of Latvia collection; photo: Ginta Grube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the previous article\u00a0<\/a>I wrote about jewellery artists\u00a0Inara Neilande<\/strong>\u00a0(b. 1936);\u00a0Livija Andrjukaitite<\/strong>\u00a0(1936-2000) ;\u00a0Mirdza Burve<\/strong>\u00a0(b. 1938);\u00a0Inara Jansone<\/strong>\u00a0(b. 1944)\u00a0 and\u00a0Juris Gagainis<\/strong>\u00a0(1944-2017).<\/p>\n

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Pauls Spridzans (b.1945); brass necklace; 1977; Artist Union of Latvia collection; photo: Ginta Grube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In this article I continue with Pauls Spridzans<\/strong> (Pauls Spridz\u0101ns b. 1945). His first education was\u00a0woodcarving in Liepaja Secondary School of Applied Arts (1960 \u2013 1965). Later he studied metal art in the Art Academy of Latvia (1966-1971) and received a master diploma in\u00a02003. His CV and biography<\/a> are published in the\u00a0web page of the Council of the Creative Unions of Latvia<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(<\/span>Latvijas Rado\u0161o savien\u012bbu padome).\u00a0P. Spridzans is said to come from Ventspils in the\u00a0web page of\u00a0Marta Krasta gallery , but other sources refere to Liepaja as his home town.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pauls Spridzans (b.1945); hairpin collection “Meteor Shower” (Zvaig\u017e\u0146u lietus); metal and wood; 1989; Artist Union of Latvia collection; photo: Ginta Grube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

P. Spridzans has worked in a wide range of professions. Begining as a\u00a0carpenter – veneer in the\u00a01st Furniture Factory in\u00a0Riga and artist in the\u00a0factory “Art” he returned to Liapaja becoming the head of the woodcarving department in\u00a0Liepaja Secondary School of Applied Arts (1971 \u2013 1975). He became the Deputy Director of the History Museum in\u00a0Ventspils (1992 \u2013 1993). And starting from 1994 to 2007 continued his work in the field of education.\u00a0<\/span>He is also a member of the Artist Union of Latvia (since 1973) and the Latvian Jewelers Society (since 1995).<\/p>\n

P. Spridzans has managed both\u00a0disciplines – woodcarving and jewelry art similar to artist Olgerts Keterlins (O\u013c\u0123erts Keterli\u0146\u0161 1925 \u2013 1987), who worked with\u00a0woodcarving as well as\u00a0designed amber jewellery. In some cases P. Spridzans even combined the two in one piece as in his hairpin collection “Meteor Shower”.<\/p>\n

There is a silver jewellery\u00a0set (necklace and ring) by P. Spridzans executed in 1971 present in the collection\u00a0of Latvian Museum of Decorative Arts and Design but not available on display nor photos are available in the museums catalogue. Around 20 items (not only jewelry but also decorative tableware)\u00a0<\/span>executed from 1975 to 1990 are in the\u00a0<\/span>Artist Union of Latvia collection.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pauls Spridzans (b.1945); necklace and ring; 1977; Artist Union of Latvia collection; photo: Ginta Grube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the 1977 year magazine Soviate Venta<\/em> (Padomju Venta (Ventspils)) article by A. Grava on the art events\u00a0in Ventspils and its region (M\u0101ksl\u0101s dienas\u00a0<\/span>Ventspil\u012b un rajon\u0101) there is also a paragraph about P. Spridzans.<\/span><\/p>\n

“In a way jewelley is my hobby. I do it in my workshop during\u00a0the spare time after work” explains P. Spridzans.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At this time he was\u00a0working on a wall painting called Land and Sea<\/em>. The paintig was ment for the\u00a0<\/span>Culture House Sea Gate<\/em> (kult\u016bras nams “J\u016bras v\u0101rti”) located in\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0state-organized and controlled agricultural farming community Red Lighthouse<\/em> (<\/span>zvejnieku kolhozs “Sarkan\u0101 b\u0101ka”). All these\u00a0poetic and at the same time banal titles were a\u00a0 part of the Soviet fiction. Agricultural farming communities were forms of socialist property and artists were\u00a0employed to execute commissions<\/span>\u00a0from the\u00a0<\/span>government. The<\/span>\u00a0need for such\u00a0commissions\u00a0<\/span>remains a controversial issue\u00a0not to justify that in such a way artists’ talent was wasted.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is just one of the examples that\u00a0illustrate the\u00a0social life of jewellery artists in Latvia\u00a0during USSR occupation.<\/p>\n

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Pauls Spridzans (b.1945); silver “Wedding Necklace and Ring” (K\u0101zu kaklarota un gredzens); 1977; Artist Union of Latvia collection; photo: Ginta Grube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Pauls Spridzans (b.1945); silver necklace “Transformations” (P\u0101rv\u0113rt\u012bbas); 1979; Artist Union of Latvia collection; photo: Ginta Grube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Pauls Spridzans (b.1945); silver necklace “Silver Bird” (Sudraba Putns); 1979; Artist Union of Latvia collection; photo: Ginta Grube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Pauls Spridzans (b.1945); two brooches; 1990; Artist Union of Latvia collection; photo: Ginta Grube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jewellery artist Marta Krasta (b. 1953) opened the first art gallery after the restoration of Latvian independence (around 1991)\u00a0that among graphic artists and ceramicists gathered jewellery artists<\/span>. <\/span>The gallery was located in Riga Old Town and worked successfully for around 25 years.\u00a0It recently closed but still remains as a virtual platform and has its last updates in 2014.\u00a0 P. Spridzans was one of the\u00a0represented artists<\/a> among lithuanian artists Sigitas Kreivaitis and Svajunas Udrys;\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Anna Fanigina –\u00a0<\/span>creator of the brand VERBA and Marta Krasta herself.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pauls Spridzans (b.1945), exposition view from Marta Krasta gallery 2012; photo: martaskrastasgalerija.lv\u00a0<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Pauls Spridzans (b.1945), exposition view from Marta Krasta gallery 2012; photo: martaskrastasgalerija.lv\u00a0<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2015 a retrospective of P. Spridzhan’s work\u00a0was organized at the Liepaja Museum<\/span>\u00a0to celebrate the artists 70th anniversary. The title of the exposition “Dimensions” (Dimensijas) reveals the\u00a0works of various genres – jewellery, painting, design and scoulptural objects.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Exposition view from Pauls Spridzans (first from right) retrospective in 2015; photo: liepajniekiem.lv<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Exposition view from Pauls Spridzans retrospective in 2015; photo: liepajniekiem.lv<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maija Sniedzite<\/strong> (Maija Sniedz\u012bte 1945-1995) was a jewellery artist from Jelgava. After 3 days (20th of December) she would celebrate her 74th birthday. Graduated Liepaja Secondary School of Applied Arts<\/span>\u00a0gaining weavers speciality and later\u00a0Department<\/span>\u00a0of M<\/span>etal Art at\u00a0<\/span>the Art Institute of Estonia (now \u2013 Estonian Academy of Arts). As\u00a0art historian Iliana Veinberga writes in 2017\u00a0 “At this time (mid-20th century) many aspiring and existing designers went to the Art Institute of Estonia as it was an attractive destination for students of socialist countries. It was popular among artists because the presence of architectural discipline allowed working more freely in the field of art.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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Maija Sniedzite (1945-1995); ring from the exhibition in Jelgava; photo:\u00a0Raitis Supe\u00a0jelgavasvestnesis.lv<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

M. Sniedzite is also a member of the Artist Union of Latvia since 1975, when she organized her first solo show at the\u00a0<\/span>planetarium<\/span>\u00a0of the\u00a0<\/span>House<\/span>\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span>Science (Zin\u0101tnes nama planet\u0101rij\u0101). Similar to P. Spridzans only 6 years later she started her carear by working as an artist in the\u00a0factory “Art” in Riga but stayed there for 17 years (until 1993). Ever since she worked with costom\u00a0commissions.\u00a0She has created jewellery and sets casted in<\/span>\u00a0bronze<\/span>, small sculptures, decorative objects and candle holders.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Maija Sniedzite (1945-1995); necklace from the exhibition in Jelgava; photo:\u00a0Raitis Supe\u00a0jelgavasvestnesis.lv<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2015 there was a major jewellery exhibition<\/a>\u00a0collecting work by\u00a0M. Sniedzite<\/span>\u00a0at the\u00a0 M<\/span>emorial Museum of\u00a0Adolfs Alunans (\u0100dolfa Alun\u0101na memori\u0101lais muzejs) in Jelgava.<\/span><\/p>\n

Work by M. Sniedzite is\u00a0in the collection\u00a0of Latvian Museum of Decorative Arts and Design and\u00a0around 18 items (not only jewelry but also candle holders)\u00a0<\/span>executed from 1977 to 1983 are in the\u00a0<\/span>Artist Union of Latvia collection.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Maija Sniedzite (1945-1995); silver necklace and ring with amber; 1978; photo: \u201cLatvian Contemporary Applied Arts\u2019 album of reproductions, LIESMA Publishers, 1980<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the previous article\u00a0I wrote about jewellery artists\u00a0Inara Neilande\u00a0(b. 1936);\u00a0Livija Andrjukaitite\u00a0(1936-2000) ;\u00a0Mirdza Burve\u00a0(b. 1938);\u00a0Inara Jansone\u00a0(b. 1944)\u00a0 and\u00a0Juris Gagainis\u00a0(1944-2017). In this article I continue with Pauls Spridzans (Pauls Spridz\u0101ns b. 1945). His first education was\u00a0woodcarving in Liepaja Secondary School of Applied Arts (1960 \u2013 1965). Later he studied metal art in the Art Academy of Latvia … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Latvian jeweller generation during USSR occupation, part II”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginta.lv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginta.lv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginta.lv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginta.lv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginta.lv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/ginta.lv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":552,"href":"https:\/\/ginta.lv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions\/552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginta.lv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginta.lv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginta.lv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}