Julijs Feders

Fishermen's Nest 1886 oil on canvas

- Latvian Artist Julijs Feders 1838-1909

- The warm, glowing quality of this piece is amazing. Perfectly highlighted by the golden picture frame, the autumnal shades in this painting are beautiful. The subtlety of the colouring and detail shown is highly skilled and has become one of my favourites. It is nice to see that local artists can produce some fantastic work and definitely can sit comfortably with the more famous artist's work next to it.

Ivans Siskins

- Russian painter associated with the Peredvizhniki Movement

- born 1832 in Republic of Tatarstan

- studied at Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and St Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts and later taught there after receiving honors and a gold medal

-Highly accomplished landscape painter, draftsman and printmaker, exhibiting around the World

-died 1898 in Russia

-had a minor planet 3558 Shishkin named after him in 1978 by astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravlyova

Painting shown entitled 'Forest 1883' viewed in Latvian Museum of Art

- What strikes you when you come across this painting in the gallery is how it demands your attention despite being fairly small in size and amongst a lot of other work. 

- The intricacy and detail is highly skilled, even when viewed at close range. As you move further away from the painting you appreciate the sense of depth more, and you eye really does follow into the darkness, wondering what would be hidden in amongst the trees. 

-The contrast of natural light and darkness is shown in this piece, giving a true representation of how everything would look if you were really there.

- I can't express how good it was to find this painting, it really does provide a little bit of excitement in amongst a lot of very dank, depressive artwork.

Sergejs Vinogradovs

 Peasant Woman, 1892 oil on canvas

- Not much information can be found about this artist, but I wanted to post this painting as it was one of my favourite paintings I have seen in a long time. It is very simple, and arguably even a boring subject matter, but there is a quality about this piece of work that captures you when you are looking at it. It is fairly hidden away, at the top of another three images, in a corner of the room with large glass cabinets in front filled with ceramics, that it wouldn't be suprising if many people walked past without noticing. 

- The expression on the woman's face is captivating, and although it is cliched for me to say, her face really does tell a story. When you look at this painting, you really can tell the difficult life this woman will have led, leaving her to spend her last days as a peasant. 

- It is a very small painting, being roughly 30cm high, but it leaves a big impact. I was thinking about it for the rest of the day. It is a very talented painter that makes a lasting impression on someone just walking past.

Latvian Museum of Art- artists' work

- Following artists were seen at the Latvian Museum of Art July 2008

The Latvian Museum of Art

- 'the Latvian Museum of Art is the richest depository of the national art in Latvia. Its collections have more than 52 000 works of art reflecting the development of professional art in the Baltic area and Latvia from the middle of the 18th century to the present day. They also present episodes of Russian art from the 16th century to the first half of the 20th century.'

- This art collection is kept in an old mansion house in central Riga. From the outside the size and vastness of the building is deceptive. When you first walk in, you are greeted by an enormous central flight of stairs trailing off to either side. The first stage of the exhibit is to the right and you are watched intensively by wardens as you make your way through all the rooms of artwork...almost a bit too much, as if they are waiting for you to do something wrong! Suprisingly, in amongst the slightly peeling paintwork and cracked windows, some of the work is laser sensitive and sets off a very loud buzzing if an annoying American teen gets too close...or anyone else trying to push their luck.

-Downstairs the work is very representative of traditional Latvian and Russian artwork...with dark, dank, often depressing palettes of colour and typical scenes of the condition of life at the time. Although, here and there, there are also some paintings that stand out as a breath of fresh air, as the artists have managed to find beauty in their surroundings.

-Upstairs the work is more modern, with a heavy focus on bright bold flowers and landscape scenes. There is no complex lighting in this art museum, just large windows and masses of natural light pouring through, highlighting the work with great rays of light. Overall this adds to a great sense of tone of the area as you walk around, and you leave feeling a little uplifted at the beauty and skill of the work you have just seen...which makes a change from being exposed to so much 'Modern Art' that you usually expect.

-I definitely recommend making a visit to see this small museum if you ever find yourself in Riga with an odd hour to spend.