Leonīds Āriņš (1907-1991)
Leonīds Āriņš (1907-1991)

Summary/Abstract: Leonīds Āriņš was one of the leading followers of Fauvism in Latvian art. Already during his studies at the Decorative Painting Master Studio of the Latvian Academy of Art (1925-1942) he was interested in Latvian early modernists’ and the latest European achievements in art, purchasing the best publications available at the time – expensive books on art published in the West. Āriņš spent most of his life in the provincial town of Tukums, working at the local museum (1938-1953) and teaching drawing at the local secondary school (1953-1968). He took up painting enthusiastically after retirement. Āriņš’ painting is typified by attempts to achieve colour harmony on a flat surface, characteristic of the Fauves and especially of Henri Matisse; at the same time he searched for an individual style as well. From a thematic viewpoint, this shows in the choice of local environment and landscape but from the aspect of form and style – in the blending of bright colour fields and variations on the Northern light. Expression, asymmetry and the broken rhythm give Āriņš’ compositions a particular experimental tension.

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