Jaunpienācējs latviešu mākslas vēsturē
A Newcomer in the History of Latvian Art

Summary/Abstract: The review examines the monograph "Kustība. Visvaldis Ziediņš" (Riga: Galerija 21, 2012, 400 p.) by art historian and curator Ieva Kulakova. An English translation of the book was also published. Visvaldis Ziediņš (1942-2007) belongs to the recently discovered phenomena in Latvian art; he deliberately avoided academic eduaction and participation in the official art scene of the Soviet period, thus he might be included in the trend of local non-conformism. Working as a decorator in the provincial town of Liepāja, he was known in the local cultural circles but his vast legacy of ready-mades, collages, assemblages, etc. sometimes inspired by black-and-white reproductions of western art in periodicals, has been studied only since 2009. A large exhibition of Ziediņš' works was on view at the Latvian National Museum of Art in autumn 2012; the book book was published in connection with this event but it is at the same time an independent monograph based on the not so often used method of separate interpretation of life and works. The strengths and weaknesses of the author's approach are analysed in the review.

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