Lucia Peka
Lucia Peka | |
---|---|
Carnegie Institute (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) | |
Known for | Painting |
Movement | Expressionism |
Lucia Peka (
Life and work
Born Lūcija Rudzītis, in Latvia, Peka was educated and worked in Sweden, France, Germany, and Canada. She ultimately moved to the United States with husband and fellow Latvian Andrew Peka (
Lucia's father was a
After living and working for several years in Germany, France and Sweden, Peka moved to Canada where she continued her art studies at the
Beginning July 24, 2010, four of Lucia Peka's oil paintings were included in a United States tour, a Latvian Diaspora exhibition entitled, "The Artist in Exile – Latvian Refugee Art, 1944–1950." In collaboration with the Klinklava Gallery of the Latvian Center Garezers, The Global Society for Latvian Art featured the work of 24 Latvian Diaspora artists of the 20th Century. The tour included stops across the United States Midwest with a final stop in the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont, IL.
"The Artist in Exile" is the second traveling exhibition organized by the Global Society, and made its first stop in Three Rivers, Michigan. The exhibit featured work by 24 artists created when these artists were living as displaced persons during the years 1944–1950. After the opening reception on July 24, the exhibit travelled to centers of Latvian diaspora culture throughout the United States. [citation needed]
Latvian diaspora
Peka is part of the
Latvian art historian Janis Siliņš described the movement to which Lucia Peka, Mārtiņš Krūmiņš and other Latvian-Americans belong as "those artists who amidst the changing trends of contemporary art, after thirty years in exile and emigration, are developing the traditions of their homeland art – of the Latvian or Riga School."[5]
Awards and criticism
R. Stevens of La Revue Moderne, commenting on a December 1968 installation of her work at the Galerie Roccia in Montreal, wrote, "Lucia's paintings are powerful and heavily textured. She suggests whole worlds, working with simple but ample strokes of brush and palette knife. Her painting, 'The Well' stands out against the light of a tormented sky, suggesting a feeling of pathetic solitude. Her choice of colors is strong yet harmonious. Her compositions seem almost musical. She may be one of the last great colorists."
Lucia Peka won the "Purchase Prize" at the Ford City, Pennsylvania Art Collection. She won the Lila Shelby Award at the
Associations and influences
Vilhelms Purvītis pioneered the Latvian landscape painting tradition. which Peka followed. His favored themes included spring floodwaters, melting snow, ice, sludge, reflections of trees. Whereas in his younger days his work indicated a worldview grounded in realism, his turn-of-the-century paintings display typical impressionist brushwork.
By the 1920s, modernism in Latvian art was in decline as artists turned to
Instead, during the 1930s, Peka and her contemporaries turned to tonal painting, and richly textured, almost scarified surfaces. Here an influence could be noted from the works of Belgian and French artists, especially Maurice de Vlaminck and Isidore Opsomer. These were the textural and stylistic influences which shaped Lucia Peka. Influenced by Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt, these artists paid particular attention to issues of light, coloring and texture. With naïve expression, painters preserved their closeness to nature, accenting mythological, historical, and traditional Latvian ethnic motifs and folk art.
After Kārlis Ulmanis' coup in 1934, a new official Latvian government policy encouraged traditional realism. Artists were required to have a moral stance and nationalistic content in art works, monumentality and positivism, and to turn away from the influence of European art.[7] Two effects of this policy were to discourage artistic freedom and encourage artists such as Peka to leave Latvia.
Once she had relocated to the US, Peka was an active member of several Latvian diaspora art associations and regional artist groups, including: Copley Society of Art (Copley, Mass.), Fairfax Virginia Art League, the American Latvian Artists Association, Artist's League of Central New Jersey, the National Association of Women Artists in New York, and the American Latvian Association of Rockville, Maryland.
Along with Mārtiņš Krūmiņš (1900–1992),
Gallery
Interest in Peka's lifetime of work is steadily increasing as more becomes known about the extent of the Latvian Diaspora, and the artists who comprise it. Since the reestablishment of an independent Latvia in 1991, Latvian nationals have begun to catalogue and exhibit art from this period, which has become more valuable as Latvians attempt to reclaim missing parts of their culture.
In a 1972 interview, Lucia Peka explained that her "outlook on life has always been bright, hopeful and positive with a relentless energy and movement." When asked about her preference for working with oils and the pallet knife, the artist compared her painting to "cooking with butter, both having a similar texture."
According to Dr. Ansis Karps of the Latvian National Museum of Art, Peka was, "always surrounded by music, and had a wonderfully sensitive and absorbing life as she sought to express feelings, desires and dreams through oil painting."
Notes
- "Ziedi" is both a City in Latvia (Alūksnes Rajons) and a formal usage Latvian word meaning "Flowers."
- "Puķes" is an informal Latvian word for "Blossoms."
- "Dom" is the commonly used name for the Protestant Riga Cathedral (Rīgas Doms) in Riga, Latvia.
References
- ^ "Latvian Art in Exile," The Latvian Institute http://www.li.lv (2008), Elizabetes iela 57, Rīga, LV 1050, LATVIA.
- ^ http://latvianart.org
- ^ "Latvian Americans - History, the first latvians in america, Significant immigration waves". Countries and Their Cultures. Retrieved 2024-01-07.
- ^ The Story of the Estonian Republic — 1918–1940 Estonica.org
- ^ Siliņš, Janis, "The Riga School," p. 89–117. Latvian Humanities and Social Science Association, 1980
- ^ Justice, Cornelia, Norfolk Ledger-Star, Arts & Leisure section, p.1. June 16, 1969, Norfolk, VA.
- ^ "Visual Arts in Latvia," The Latvian Institute http://www.li.lv (2008), Elizabetes iela 57, Rīga, LV 1050, LATVIA.
- ^ Kundziņš, Pauls, Latvju sēta (The Latvian Farmstead) (1974). Sundyberg, Sweden: Daugava, p. 230.
- ^ Sildegs, Arnolds, "In Memoriam," in American Latvian Artists Association, (2001). United States of America: American Latvian Artists Association, Inc. p. 15.
- ^ Siliņš, Jānis, "Jānis Kalmīte" in Latvijas māksla 1915–1940 (Art of Latvia 1915–1940) (1990). Stockholm, Sweden: Daugava.