Pirmie soļi sociālistiskā reālisma apguvē: Kolektīvā darba metode 1945-1955
First Steps in Mastering Socialist Realism: The Collective Working Method 1945-1955

Summary/Abstract: On 13 October 1944 Riga once again became the capital of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR). The political re-education of artists who now had to comply with tenets of Socialist Realism was resumed with new vigour. In 1934 the classical definition of the term was voiced at the 1st All-Union Writers’ Congress – “a truthful reflection of life in its historical and revolutionary development, national in form and socialist in content”. A wide gap opened up between normative idealisation and reality, involving a xenophobic opposition to Western art and literature. The first exhibition of LSSR fine arts was organised in 1941 largely continuing the pre-war traditions of Latvian art. Exhibition reviews stressed that art should be transformed according to the new era and made appropriate to the new, socialist spectator; art should break the old shell of subject-less still lifes and landscapes that are unable to organise working people’s emotions, thoughts and will. Soviet ideology was first inculcated in the new generation; the LSSR Art Academy denounced apolitical, meaningless works which were to be replaced by “true events from the life of the socialist country”. “Passivity”, “formalism” and “subservience to capitalist Western art” were labels used to expel artists from the Artists’ Union which meant they were denied commissions, studios and materials. In 1950 the Artists’ Union attempted to introduce team-work which had been known in the USSR since the start of collectivisation and socialist production. There were already numerous examples in Soviet art. The first collective work by Latvian artists was the decoration of the LSSR pavilion at the All-Union Agriculture Exhibition. Competitions were announced in 1951 and many teams were created as there was much interest in artists’ circles with intrigues and fierce passions. However, when it came to the submission of sketches the number of approved artists declined significantly. In the end, the pavilion featured panels by Arvīds Egle and Pēteris Ozoliņš, Harijs Bobinskis and Arnolds Pankoks, and Džemma Skulme. The first easel-painting team involved Antons Megnis, Ādolfs Melnārs and Jūlijs Viļumainis. In 1950 they submitted a sketch for a large-scale figural composition “Firing on a Workers’ Demonstration in Riga, 13 January 1905”.The pathetic gestures were far removed from the dramatic effect they attempted to convey and the trio split up after the completion of the work as they were unable to merge their approaches.The same year another painters’ team – Džemma Skulme, Oļģerts Urbāns and Arturs Mucenieks – took up the subject “Discussing the Sowing Plan at Eleja District Collective Farm “Ausma””. They co-operated quite well but the outcome was far from satisfactory. Collectively created works sometimes emerged in later periods of Soviet art but they were no longer dictated by the state but by the artists’ desire for commissions and to solve some artistic problems more successfully.

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