DOI Heft:
Nr. 235 (September, 1916)
DOI Artikel:Studio-Talk
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43462#0291
StiLdio-Talk
PORTRAIT OF A LITHUANIAN WOMAN
BY J. TILLBERG
MOSCOW.—Besides the many sudden
perturbations and new arrangements
which the great war has brought about
in political and national affairs, it has
also been responsible for many unforeseen effects
in the domain of art. Among these it has afforded
the Russian public an opportunity of becoming
acquainted with the art of the Letts, which, in
common with the cultural life of this sturdy peasant
race in general, is of recent growth. Their home
is in the Baltic provinces, and as practically the
whole of this region has been drawn within the
sphere of military operations, most of their artists
have sought refuge elsewhere. Those who have
settled in the Russian capitals have availed them-
selves of the opportunity to organise an exhibition
of Lettish art, with - results which have on the
whole been extremely favourable. About a score
in number, the oldest of them still in the prime
of life, nearly all of them have attained to a
respectable standard of technical proficiency. But
though there can be no question here of dilet-
tantism, the group appears to be lacking in any
strongly marked individuality, nor do their paint-
ings reveal any conspicuously national character.
As a nation the Letts have been suppressed by
the dominant German classes of the Baltic pro-
vinces, and naturally enough this newly developed
art of theirs has been unable to escape the in-
fluence of German art. And this influence fre-
quently shows itself even in the work of artists
who have studied at the Petrograd Academy.
To this group belongs one of the best known
Lettish artists, the landscape-painter W. Pourwit,
who in past years has often figured at Russian ex-
hibitions and was the subject of an article in this
magazine in 1905. His collection of some sixty
pictures revealed an artist of mature taste and with
a warm love for his homeland, though his work
here appeared a trifle monotonous. More versatile,
and at the same time more eclectic, is Jan Rosenthal
in his portraits and genre pictures, the somewhat
superficial elegance of which often recalls the
modern Viennese school. As a portrait-painter
J. Tillberg attracted attention. Unequal in their
pictorial qualities, his works nevertheless all evince
“STUDY” BY J. TILLBERG
181
PORTRAIT OF A LITHUANIAN WOMAN
BY J. TILLBERG
MOSCOW.—Besides the many sudden
perturbations and new arrangements
which the great war has brought about
in political and national affairs, it has
also been responsible for many unforeseen effects
in the domain of art. Among these it has afforded
the Russian public an opportunity of becoming
acquainted with the art of the Letts, which, in
common with the cultural life of this sturdy peasant
race in general, is of recent growth. Their home
is in the Baltic provinces, and as practically the
whole of this region has been drawn within the
sphere of military operations, most of their artists
have sought refuge elsewhere. Those who have
settled in the Russian capitals have availed them-
selves of the opportunity to organise an exhibition
of Lettish art, with - results which have on the
whole been extremely favourable. About a score
in number, the oldest of them still in the prime
of life, nearly all of them have attained to a
respectable standard of technical proficiency. But
though there can be no question here of dilet-
tantism, the group appears to be lacking in any
strongly marked individuality, nor do their paint-
ings reveal any conspicuously national character.
As a nation the Letts have been suppressed by
the dominant German classes of the Baltic pro-
vinces, and naturally enough this newly developed
art of theirs has been unable to escape the in-
fluence of German art. And this influence fre-
quently shows itself even in the work of artists
who have studied at the Petrograd Academy.
To this group belongs one of the best known
Lettish artists, the landscape-painter W. Pourwit,
who in past years has often figured at Russian ex-
hibitions and was the subject of an article in this
magazine in 1905. His collection of some sixty
pictures revealed an artist of mature taste and with
a warm love for his homeland, though his work
here appeared a trifle monotonous. More versatile,
and at the same time more eclectic, is Jan Rosenthal
in his portraits and genre pictures, the somewhat
superficial elegance of which often recalls the
modern Viennese school. As a portrait-painter
J. Tillberg attracted attention. Unequal in their
pictorial qualities, his works nevertheless all evince
“STUDY” BY J. TILLBERG
181