Workshop: Chinese graphics and paintings in the Latvian National Museum of Art

Date of event:   13/12/2022 − 13/12/2022

Title: Chinese graphics and paintings in the Latvian National Museum of Art
Format: Online
Date: 13 December 2022
Time: 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm CET
Institution: Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia

We are pleased to announce the first online workshop organised by ACN-Europe. It will take place on Tuesday, 13 December 2022 from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm CET. The presentation and roundtable discussion will focus on the collection of Chinese graphics and paintings in the Latvian National Museum of Art.

The Chinese graphics and painting collection of the Latvian National Museum of Art started to form during the 19th century with the works from Baltic-German collections and continued to develop throughout the years. Now it consists of around 350 items of various provenance, such as the collections of Latvians living in China and of Soviet Union institutions. The objects include traditional paintings and woodblock prints, as well as pith paper paintings and some other images heavily influenced by the European visual culture of the times and presumably intended for a European audience. The collection has previously never been studied in its whole, except for some of the nianhua 年画 folk woodblock prints and a few paintings. A four-month research was carried out by Kristine Milere and Marta Logvyn. They will talk about the results and main issues emerging from a recent four-month research project.

Marta Logvyn, a leading research fellow of The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Art (Kyiv, Ukraine).

Kristine Milere, the exhibition curator and main Asian art collection researcher and research project manager at the Art Museum RIGA BOURSE (the Foreign Art Department of the Latvian National Museum of Art).

The speakers will start with an overview of the collection history and proceed to illustrate the quality of the collection and its comparison to the Chinese collection at The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Art in Ukraine. Cultural and historical phenomena reflected in the Latvian National Museum of Art collection are intricate and fascinating; they raise new questions to researchers. The presentation will be followed by a roundtable discussion on how this research can move forward and on the main issues that emerge while pursuing such research in the context of this specific region.

The event is free, but registration is necessary. Please book a place through Eventbrite HERE.

The research was funded by the ICOM support grant for Ukrainian museum professionals.

 

Image: Unknown artist. Wei Tuo. Based on the fresco from the Fahai Temple dated to the Ming Dynasty. C. 1912 (?). Silk, watercolour. 176,3 x 94,4 cm. Donation from Ernests Strēlnieks in 1920. Photography taken in 1921.