An impressive collection of artwork from the best artists of Liepaja city exhibited at the “Romas dārzs” gallery
On December 13, 17.30 at the “Romas dārzs” gallery on 3 Zivju Street, a permanent exhibition “Liepāja-Laiks-Mākslinieks” (Liepaja-Time-Artist) was opened, presenting the artwork of Liepaja’s artists, created in the 20th century.
Every local resident and visitor of Liepāja city will have the opportunity to visit exhibition halls of the gallery and enjoy an extensive collection of artwork, created by Liepāja’s artists in the 20th century – paintings, watercolour paintings and graphic art. This exhibition will be the only one in Liepāja, where visitors can permanently view the artwork of Liepāja’s artists – 150 art pieces, which is only a smart part of the whole collection.
“Romas dārzs” gallery has set the task to gather and collect the artwork of those Latvian artists, whose life and work is related to Liepaja city. This collection includes more than 30 artists, who have spent their childhood and early school years in Liepaja; artists, who spent their most creative years in this city; as well as artists, who have participated in exhibitions and art pedagogy, thus creating an environment of culture, leaving behind a valuable cultural heritage.
Most of the pieces represent art trends of the 60s, 70s and 80s, when such artists as Valters Uzticis, Matīss Zavickis, Staņislavs Dinģelis, Artūrs Baumanis, Otto Tiliņš and others had their active years. The later time period is represented by Egils Radziņš, Egīls Brūns, Valdis Mackars.
Throughout the years, “Romas dārzs” gallery stock has been supplemented with large collections of works by several artists from Liepāja – Valters Uzticis, Jānis Lauva, Staņislavs Dinģelis and Valdis Mackars. The collections of works by Egils Radziņš and Roberts Stārosts have been improved as well.
This exhibition also represents those artists of Liepaja, who spent most of their lives in exile. These are Jānis Gailis, Augusts Annuss, Ēvalds Dajevskis and Kārlis Frīdrihs Šaumanis.
An interesting accent of the collection are the drawings by Jānis Jaunsleinis, reflecting different circumstances in life and types of people at the beginning of the First Republic of Latvia.
The roots of the collection of fine arts are to be found in the Gallery “Māja” in early 2000s, created by entrepreneur Ivars Kesenfelds at 24 Vecā Ostmala. Later, the collection was actively supplemented, purchasing pieces in auctions, antique shops, from artists and collectors, as well as receiving them as gifts. Still, the process of supplementing the collection is on-going and continuous. The art pieces in the exhibition will be regularly changed, in order to allow visitors to view the rest of the collection.
The exhibition “Liepāja-Laiks-Mākslinieks” (Liepaja-Time-Artist) was arranged by Astra Dzērve, the director of the gallery, and the artist Vilnis Bulavs.
The gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday, 12am-18pm, Sundays 12am-15pm. Entrance fee for adults EUR 5,00, students and seniors EUR 2.00, Family ticket EUR 10,00
