History of Latvian Art Theory: Definitions of Art in the Context of the Prevailing Ideas of the Time (1900–1940)
In English
Latvian original: Latviešu mākslas teorijas vēsture: Mākslas definīcijas valdošo laikmeta ideju kontekstā (1900–1940)
Stella Pelše
English translation by the author
Language editor: Andris Mellakauls
Designer: Ieva Vīriņa
Riga: Institute of Art History of the Latvian Academy of Art, 2007. 191 pp.
ISBN: 9789984569680
This work aims to provide an historical survey of ideas in Latvian art theory so far not examined in detail. The influx of radical changes in Latvian artistic practice since the late 1980s has also increased the role of theoretical statements, inviting elucidation of their historical precedents. Where should one draw the line between acceptable and even necessary “alien” elements and blind submission to foreign avant-garde examples? The conclusion that Latvian culture exists at the cross-roads of the most diverse influences reveals a persistent situation of choice that is not only a matter of the history of art theory but also of theoretical thinking on art in the present.
