Rihards Zariņš

Rihards Zariņš (around 1902)

Rihards Kārlis Valdemārs Zariņš Germanized, Richard Sarrinsch , Russian Рихард Германович Зариньш (born on 27. June 1869 in Ķieģeļu , district Valmiera , Governorate of Livonia , Russian Empire , died on 21st April 1939 in Riga ) was a Latvian graphic artist , researcher of Latvian folk art and university professors. In addition to the Latvian coat of arms, he designed a large number of ex-libris and book illustrations . His commercial art includes postage stamps , banknotes and coins for the Russian Empire, the Belarusian People's Republic , Latvia and the Soviet Union .

Career

Self-Portrait (1936), Latvian National Museum

Rihard's Zariņš 'father was the head of the brick factory in Ķieģeļu ; his mother was German, so German was also spoken in the family. When Rihards was a toddler, his father became an executive at the Līgatne paper mill , where he took his family with him. In 1877 the family moved again to Griva, now part of Daugavpils . Through the school director, Rihard got to know the German-Baltic architect and art historian Wilhelm Neumann , who had been the city architect of Daugavpils since 1878 and who gave Rihard the first lessons in drawing and art theory . In 1886 Rihards completed his schooling with honors and moved the following year to his mother's brothers in Saint Petersburg , where he began studying at the Imperial Art Academy . In 1888, after passing the entrance examination, he went to the Petersburg drawing school founded by Baron Alexander von Stieglitz , the Central School for Technical Drawing .

During his studies, Zariņš initially devoted himself to woodcut . Like his teacher Wassili Wassiljewitsch Maté , however, he soon turned to etchings . Around 1890, along with some fellow students, Zariņš was one of the founders of the Rūķis group of artists .

In 1895 Zariņš graduated with honors and received a scholarship abroad that enabled him to study trips until 1899. He received lessons in engraving and lithography in the workshops of a number of artists, for example in Berlin with Alexander Zick , in Munich with Rudolf von Seitz at the Academy of Fine Arts and Maximilian Dasio , and in Vienna in the studio of William Unger at the Applied Arts School of the KK Austrian Museum for Art and Industry . In 1899 he visited Paris and Rome .

After his return to Saint Petersburg in 1899, Zariņš initially worked as an artist in the Imperial State Printing House for Securities in Petersburg. There he was promoted to artistic director in 1912, giving him responsibility for the design and quality of Russian postage stamps and banknotes. In 1919 he returned to Latvia, which had just become independent, and was appointed head of the state printing plant the following year. He held this office until his retirement in 1934. In 1921, Zariņš became head of the master class for graphics at the newly founded Art Academy of Latvia . Until 1932 he also taught Latvian ethnography , in 1934 he was appointed professor and taught until 1938.

Graphic work

Illustration for the magazine Austrums (1892)

Great coat of arms of Latvia (1921)

Zariņš 'first appeared publicly in the early 1890s. While he was still studying at the drawing school, some of his works were printed in the cultural magazine Austrums (German: The East ), which was just taken over by Jēkabs Dravnieks and brought to Latvia .

Zariņš 'artistic work was strongly influenced by his interest in German Romanticism and Latvian folk art . In addition to traditional Latvian ornaments, his works often show elements of Art Nouveau , especially in the elaborate design of the frames. Incidentally, compared to contemporary artist colleagues, Zariš was considered conservative and dispensed with abstract modern elements.

He made etchings, for example Dzejnieka kaps (German: The poet's grave ), lithographs, advertising posters, book illustrations, caricatures and watercolors. One of Zariņš's main artistic works is Ko Latvijas meži šalc (German: The Rush of the Latvian Forest ), a cycle of etchings made from 1908 to 1911 based on Latvian fairy tales and legends, the focus of which is the mythological hero Kurbads .

As an editor and cartoonist, Zariņš contributed with Jānis Roberts Tillbergs in the 1920s to the satirical weekly newspaper Svari (German: Waage ).

Zariņš designed the coat of arms of Latvia in 1918 based on a template by Vilhelms Krūmiņš , which was adopted in 1921 and was valid until the Soviet occupation in 1940. After the fall of the Soviet Union , this coat of arms was used again on February 27, 1990.

• Graphics by Rihard Zariņš
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  The hero Kurbads sees a monster (around 1910)

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  The hero Kurbads and the nine-headed devil (around 1910)

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  Restless Night from the cycle The Rush of the Latvian Forests (around 1910)

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  The poet's grave , colored etching (1913)

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  Propaganda postcard: “The fatherland in need. Sons, sons, help! "(1916)

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  Sheet from the cycle Sirds temperamenti (around 1929)

bookplate

The design of bookplates has a long tradition in the Baltic States . After his first bookplate, which he made for his wife Eva in 1897, Rihards Zariņš created 75 more for himself, family members, for Zelma Brauere and for representatives of Latvian art and culture such as the painters Janis Rozentāls and Vilhelms Purvītis , the sculptor Gustavs Šķilters , the writer Andrievs Niedra , the composer Jāzeps Vītols , the archaeologist and numismatist Eugen Pridik and the encyclopaedist Jēkabs Dravnieks. Most of these works are zincographies . Three bookplates that Zariņš designed in 1905 and 1918 for internal use in the Russian state printing house are considered particularly rare.

• Bookplate by Rihard Zariņš
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  Eva Zariņš, wife (1898)

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  Maija Zariņš, daughter (1900)

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  Jāzeps Vītols (1904)

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  Eugene Pridik (1905)

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  Own bookplate (1922)

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  Zelma Brewery (1928)

Postage stamps

Latvia, special stamp for 25 kopeks on the occasion of the liberation of Courland (1919)

Since 1905, stamps designed by Zariņš have appeared in the Russian Empire, starting with the semi-official donation stamps of 5, 7 and 10 kopecks for the benefit of orphans of soldiers. In 1906, the Russian Post issued the first postage stamps designed by Zariņš in the narrower sense with the postage stamps of 5 rubles and 10 rubles, they showed the state coat of arms in a decorative frame. For the series of stamps published in 1913 for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov Tsar dynasty , he designed the values ​​of 2, 3, 10 and 20 kopecks and 5 rubles. His semi-official donation stamp for the orphans of soldiers killed in the Russo-Japanese War from 1914, with the image of St. George , was voted the best postage stamp of the 20th century by Russian philatelists in 2001 .

Zariņš's draft for the first postage stamps of the Soviet Union with the title Hand with the Sword, which Breaks the Chain or Liberated Russia is of contemporary historical importance . Zariņš was the winner of a design competition for postage stamps, which had been announced by the Provisional Government under Alexander Kerensky . His first draft already shows a hand holding a sword and an olive branch and wrapped in a ribbon with the inscription "Long live freedom". The circumstances of the time prevented the issue; Zariņš's design was only realized in a heavily revised form when the 35 and 70 kopeck stamps were officially put on sale on November 7, 1918 on the first anniversary of the October Revolution .

Contrary to the information in the older philatelic literature, Zariņš did not make the draft for the postage stamps issued in 1920 by the Belarusian troops under Stanislau Bulak-Balachowitsch .

Zariņš made 28 drafts of postage stamps for Latvia. Taking into account the different denominations with identical motifs, he was the designer of 82 Latvian stamp issues.

• Postage stamp designs by Rihards Zariņš
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  Russian Empire , postage stamp for 10 rubles (1906)

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  Russian Empire, 5 rubles Nicholas II from the series for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty (1913)

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  Russian Empire, donation stamp for 10 kopecks for orphaned soldiers' children with pattern imprint (1914)

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  Provisional Russian Government , 10 kopecks, unrealized draft (1917)

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  Soviet Union , 35 kopeks, first stamp issue (1918)

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  Latvia, 10 kopeks, special stamp for the first anniversary of independence (1919)

Banknotes

As artistic director of the banknote printing plants in Petersburg and Riga, Zariņš was involved in the design and manufacture of banknotes for several countries. These included banknotes of the Russian Empire, but also the issues of the Russian Provisional Government in 1917 and the Latvian banknotes since the issue of 10 Lati in November 1922. His designs for the Latvian banknotes in particular are full of national symbols, allusions to traditional agriculture and modernity Industry and borrowed from Latvian folk art.

• Banknote designs by Rihard Zariņš
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  500 rubles of the Russian Empire (1912)

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  250 rubles from the Russian Provisional Government (1917)

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  500 Latvian rubles (1919)

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  10 Latvian kopeks (1920)

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  10 Lati (1933) with Zelma Brauere as an allegory of Latvia

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  20 Lati (1935)

Coins

Zelma Brauere , portrait from November 1929

Zelma brewery, drawn by Rihard Zariņš

5 Lati, design by Rihards Zariņš (left) and shape by Percy Metcalfe , Medalist of the Royal Mint in London (right)

The first Latvian coins were designed by Rihard Zariņš , with the exception of the 1 lats and 2 lati pieces. His silver coin for 5 Lati, designed in 1929, was minted in the London Royal Mint , the design was slightly revised by the medalist Percy Metcalfe in order to give the Latvian woman's head in national costume a more sublime appearance. The coin with the large Latvian national coat of arms on the reverse is considered by numismatists to be one of the most successful editions in the history of coins. With this coin, Zariņš set an unusual monument for an employee of the Latvian state printing house. Zelma Brauere was Zariņš's subordinate as chief proofreader . She repeatedly appeared as a model in Latvian national costume on his graphic works, for example in his multi-volume work on Latvian folk art and on posters and banknotes. Received private letters and some of his dedications suggest a personal relationship between Zariņš and Brauere, which, however, must have been a platonic friendship.

The portrayal of Brauere as an allegory of Latvia quickly became a symbol of national identity. All the more so as its edition on December 23, 1929 fell at a time marked by the global economic crisis and political scandals. The popular silver coins hardly found their way into circulation, but were kept by the citizens, kept in jewelry boxes and given away to children and grandchildren. As early as the 1930s, they were often converted into pieces of jewelry such as brooches and pendants, and after the occupation of the country by Germany and the Soviet Union, as in the deportation to Siberia and in exile in the west, they were regarded as identifying marks of Latvian patriots. In the 1980s, at the end of the Soviet Union , such pieces of jewelry were increasingly produced and worn as a symbol of the reawakened national consciousness.

Zariņš's design has recently been taken up again in Latvia, for example with the face of the banknotes for 500 Lati from 1992, with a gold coin for 5 Lati from 2003 and with a silver coin for 5 Lati from 2012. In a form revised by Guntars Sietiņš , surrounded by the twelve stars of the European flag , the Latvian euro coins for 1 and 2 euros bear Zariņš's design on the face side. A large majority of the Latvian population voted for this motive in a survey. Zariņš's works are also depicted on the coins of 1 to 5 cents with the small and on the 10 to 50 cents with the large coat of arms of Latvia .

• Coins designed by Rihard Zariņš
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  Coin of 5 Santimi (1922)

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  Coin with 5 lati , face side (1929–1932)

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  Coin for 5 Lati, reverse (1929–1932)

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  Gold coin for 5 Lati (2003)

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  Silver coin for 5 Lati (2012)

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  Latvian Euro Coin at 1 Euro (since 2014)

Poster art

Poster for the own exhibition Blanc et Noir in the Art Museum of the City of Riga (1930)

The posters designed by Zariņš show a clear development over the decades from an expression based on Art Nouveau to a sober and laconic language that almost always shows the people in the foreground. Zariņš makes extensive use of attributes such as agricultural, craft or industrial tools. As a proven Latvian patriot, he clearly shows his aversion to the communism of his Soviet neighbor in his election posters around 1930.

• Posters by Rihard Zariņš
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  Poster for the first Latvian art exhibition (1910)

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  Russian World War I propaganda poster (1916)

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  Political poster (1920)

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  Election poster for "Work and Bread" instead of the lure of (red) paradise (1930)

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  Election poster with defamation as "red" vermin (1930)

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  Announcement poster for the Latvian Song Festival (1931)

Latvian folklorist

Title of the first volume of Latvju dainas (1894)

Already on behalf of the government of the Russian Empire, Zariņš collected evidence of Latvian folk art, intangible goods such as songs and fairy tales, but also representational evidence such as clothing and household items from all over Latvia. He designed the cover picture of the first volume of Latvju dainu , a collection of Latvian Dainas , published in 1894 . The collection Latvju raksti (German: Latvian ornaments ) edited by him with Ludolfs Liberts is a standard work of Latvian folk art and appeared in three volumes from 1924 to 1931, which have been reprinted repeatedly since then.

Private

Rihards Zariņš had been married to Eva Sundblad since 1897, a Swedish singing student whom he had met while studying abroad in Vienna. The couple had four children.

Due to a stroke, Zariņš could no longer speak during the last years of his life, but continued to draw for the rest of his life. He died on April 21, 1939 and was buried in the Riga Forest Cemetery (Rīgas Meža kapi) .

Originals by Zariņš are in Riga in the Latvian National Art Museum and in the Museum of the Riga Artists Association, in Saint Petersburg in the Russian Museum and in the collection of the Russian Art Academy and in private collections.

Exhibitions (selection)

• Blanc et Noir exhibition at the Riga City Art Museum (1930)
• A commemorative exhibition was organized in Riga for Zariņš's 100th birthday, for which a catalog was published (1969).
• In his school in Daugavpils , a room has been set up as a school museum with a permanent exhibition dedicated to Zariņš.

Awards

• Commander's Cross of the Three Star Order (1926);
• Commander's Cross of the Wasa Order (1926).

literature

• Kristīne Ducmane, Ēvalds Vēcinš: Nauda Latvija (German: The Money of Latvia ). Latvijas Banka, Riga 1995, ISBN 9984-9092-9-8 .
• Kristīne Ducmane: Rihards Zariņš. Richard's Zarriņš . Neputns, Riga 2016, ISBN 978-9934-565-05-2 (Latvian and English).
• Ineta Lipša et al .: Lats. Nauda ar Latvijas dvēseli (German: Lats. Money with the soul of Latvia ). DD Stils, Riga 2013, ISBN 978-9934-140-27-3

Web links

Commons : Rihards Zariņš  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• The Artist and his Muse , video from Latvijas Banka on YouTube.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rihards Zariņš. Biographical details. The British Museum, accessed February 25, 2019 . 
2. ^ Latvian Money. LATVIAN CULTURAL CANON, accessed February 25, 2019 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Ilja Dimenstein: И банкноты Российской империи: латыш, способный на все - от герба Латвии до почто from the German Empire to: Einmarken from the Russian letter . Website Press. Novosti Latvii , April 6, 2017, accessed December 9, 2018.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Eduards Kļaviņš: Rihards Zariņš , website Latvijas mākslas vēsture (German: Latvian art history ), accessed on December 9, 2018 (Latvian).
5. ↑ ^{a b c} V. Belenowski (Беленовский В.): Автор первой революционной советской марки (German: The author of the first revolutionary Soviet brand ). In: Филателия СССР (Filateliya SSSR) 1969, No. 12, pp. 42-43, accessed December 9, 2018.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Rihards Zariņš , website of Daugavpils Tourism Promotion, accessed on December 9, 2018 (English).
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Jānis Stradiņš : The Third Rebirth of the Silver 5-Lats Coin (address from November 1, 2012, on the 90th anniversary of the introduction of the Latvian currency), website of Latvijas Banka , accessed on December 9, 2018.
8. ↑ Alexander Igorowitsch Kornjuchin (Александр Егорович Корнюхин): Под парусами филателии (German: Philatelic Cruise ). Svyaz Verlag, Moscow 1975, accessed December 9, 2018.
9. ↑ IF Myaskovsky (И.Ф. Мясковский): Особый Отряд Белорусская Народная Республика (Выпуск Булак-Балахович) (German: special order for the Belarusian People's Republic (issue of Bulak-Balachowitch) ), insert the magazine Филателия (German: Philately ), 2009 , No. 7, pp. 11-40, accessed December 9, 2018.
10. ↑ ^{a b c} Kristīne Budže: Latvijas nauda - Lats , website of the Latvian National Library on the cultural canon of Latvia, accessed on December 9, 2018.
11. ↑ Latvian lats five , the website Royal Mint Museum , accessed on 9 December 2018th
12. ↑ George S. Cuhaj (ed.): 2016 Standard Catalog of World Coins. 2001 date. 10th edition . Krause Publications, Iola, WI, ISBN 978-1-4402-4410-0 , pp. 780-781.