No Liepājas līdz Leksingtonai. Janis Šternbergs
Jānis Kalnačs
In Latvian with English summary
Copy editor: Kristiāna Ābele
Translator: Iveta Boiko
Designer: Anta Pence
Riga: Neputns, 2025. 253 pp., 231 ill.
ISBN 9789934601996
Jānis Kalnačs' monograph From Liepāja to Lexington. Janis Šternbergs tells the story of Latvian graphic artist Janis Šternbergs (1900–1981), whose path included the school of Rihards Zariņš at the Art Academy of Latvia, additional training at the Art Academy in Vienna, work at the State Printing Office in Riga, supervising the Graphic Master Class at his alma mater during the Second World War and running a printmaking studio in the Fischbach DP camp in Germany, teaching at the University of Kentucky in Lexington (USA) and the fulfilment of creative freedom in the "images in sand" of the last years of his life. Art historian Jānis Siliņš described them as "a fusion of relief and print, a symbol of change and destruction", explaining: "Manipulating a handful of aluminium oxide sand on a plate, using a stylus, his fingers and various tools, Šternbergs conjures up drawings, twists of lines, relief forms in inexhaustible variety. It is a free play with a world of shapes, wondrous, created by imagination and a deft, masterful hand." In 2025, 125 years have passed since the birth of Janis Šternbergs in a bricklayer’s family in Liepāja, and the artist's life ended in Dallas (USA).
The research was carried out using materials from the Information Centre of the Art Academy of Latvia, the Latvian National Museum of Art and its Scientific Documents Centre, the Latvian National Museum of Literature and Music, the Latvian National History Museum, the National Archives of Latvia, the National Library of Latvia, the Liepāja Museum, the Academic Library of the University of Latvia, the Museum and Research Centre "Latvians in the World" and private collections. The writing and publication of the book was made possible thanks to the Šternbergs family, the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia and the State Research Programme project "Latvian Cultural Ecosystem as a Resource for National Resilience and Sustainability" / CERS (Nr. VPP-MM-LKRVA-2023/1-0001), as well as many informational supporters. The book was approved for publication by the Scientific Council of the Art Academy of Latvia on 2 December 2024 and printed at Jelgava Printing House.
Available from the publisher at “Neputna galerija” (Rīga, Tērbatas iela 49/51), in its online shop (https://www.neputns.lv/en/products/no-liepajas-lidz-leksingtonai-janis-sternbergs) as well as in other bookshops in Latvia.