Discords about the Need of an Art Academy in Latvia during the 1920s

What is it about?

The article analyses conflicting views about the art education in Latvia. When the independent Republic of Latvia was proclaimed in 1918, it became clear that the new state needed higher education in the arts, which it never had while being part of the Russian Empire. But should it be an academy or something like artists' studios with disciples, as in "the good old times of the Renaissance"? Most modernists criticized the idea of the art academy as a residue of conservative academism. More traditional artists and critics were mainly supportive - we as a newly established state should develop traditions, not demolish them. The Art Academy of Latvia began work in 1921, and its necessity was again doubted by the end of the decade due to financial problems; still, it managed to survive through two occupation regimes until Latvia's regained independence in 1991 and continues to operate today, although discords about the spending of public money surface time and again.

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Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The article demonstrates that discussions about the art academy were influenced by broader theoretical, stylistic and political commitments of the interwar period. Criticizing of academies was linked to a clear decolonizing desire to dissociate from imitative artistic traditions linked to oppressive German and Russian powers with their academies. But the re-surging value of artistic traditions by the end of the 1920s favored a more positive attitude towards academic education.

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