{"id":3955,"date":"2019-01-09T11:19:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T08:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/?p=3955"},"modified":"2019-05-24T14:05:33","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T11:05:33","slug":"mstislavas-dobuzinskis-and-latvia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/2019\/01\/09\/mstislavas-dobuzinskis-and-latvia\/","title":{"rendered":"Mstislavas Dobu\u017einskis and Latvia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Jurgita Kristina Pa\u010dkauskien\u0117<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do we know about painter Mstislavas Dobu\u017einskis\u2019s links with Latvia? According to philosopher Antanas Andrijauskas, before leaving for Western Europe Dobu\u017einskis visited Riga with exhibitions [1]. What he did not mention was that the artist not only visited Riga, he lived there! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 6 March 1924, opera \u201cEugene Onegin\u201d featuring\nDobu\u017einskis\u2019s scenography and costumes was performed in Dresden Opera. After\nthe performance, the artist instead of Kaunas travels to Riga. While in Riga,\nhe visits K. Bauls Photo-Studio located on Alexander St. 17 and orders a stack\nof photo postcards featuring his sets from the Dresden performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In the same year, Dobu\u017einskis opened a huge personal\nexhibition in Riga\u2019s City Art Museum (Pils\u0113tas M\u0101kslas Muzejs) featuring 170\nworks. Bibliographer Vytautas Steponaitis retained a tiny catalog of the\nexhibition written in two languages, Latvian and French: M. Dobu\u017einska darbu\nizst\u0101de: 1924\u20131925. R\u012bgas Pils\u0113tas M\u0101kslas Muzej\u0101, R\u012bga: \u201cLatvju Kulturas\u201d\nSpiestuve, [1925].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dobu\u017einskis exhibited watercolours, oil paintings,\nlithographs, drawings and other graphics, mostly depicting Russia, especially\nSt. Petersburg and Moscow. There were also Lithuanian motifs in the exhibition.\nFor example, two Vilnius watercolours: \u201cOld Church\u201d (1902) and \u201cRuins of the\nCastle\u201d (1912) and six recent paintings of Kaunas and Vilnius (1923). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of 1925, the Lithuanian State Theater in\nKaunas invited Dobu\u017einskis to work on Pyotr Tchaikovsky\u2019s opera \u201cThe Queen of\nSpades.\u201d Most of the time, he stayed with Liudas and Bronislava Girai. It seems\nthat the artist worked on opera\u2019s costumes and scenography in both cities.\nSeparate notes and sketches in Dobu\u017einskis\u2019s notebook attest to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The premiere which took place on 22 May 1925 was a great\nsuccess. However, the Dobu\u017einskis family did not intend to live in Kaunas,\nbecause of the shortage of apartments with amenities at the time. Besides, the\nartist felt the insincerity and jealousy of Kaunas intellectuals [3]. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1925 Dobu\u017einskis became a member of the Society of\nLatvianLithuanian Unity founded in Riga in 1921. He paid the entrance fee and\nthe membership fee for a total of 2 lats and 20 santimi. On 16 of December 1925\nthe Lithuanian Consul in Riga Kazimieras Vizbaras asks Riga\u2019s Prefecture to\ngrant Dobu\u017einskis, who was a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania, and his\nfamily a free visa to Lithuania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Starting in 1926,\nDobu\u017einskis lives and creates in Western Europe. In 1929 the Dobu\u017einskis family\nmoves to Kaunas and spends a decade there. He also retains his connections with\nRiga and Latvia. In 1920s-1930s he gives public lectures in Riga: \u201cThe Italian\nMagnet (Italian Cult in European Art)\u201d and \u201cArt and the Mechanization of Modern\nCulture\u201d [4].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1930 the second exhibition of Dobu\u017einskis\u2019s works takes\nplace in Riga. It was accompanied by a catalog, M. Dobu\u017einska darbu izst\u0101de:\nR\u012bga: \u201cLatvju Kulturas\u201d Spiestuve, 1930. This exhibition is smaller than the\nfirst one, consisting of \u2018only\u2019 61 works. Four of them are dedicated to\nLithuania and Latvia: views of Jieznas and Skaruliai churches and Riga Old\nTown, and \u201cHouse on the Embankment\u201d [M\u0101jas krastmal\u0101]. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year later, in 1931, the editorial board of Latvian\nEncyclopedia (of Culture, Society and Education) asked Dobu\u017einskis to fill in a\nquestionnaire about his life and works. The questionnaire indicated the current\nDobu\u017einskis\u2019s address: Maironio 5, Kaunas. Dobu\u017einskis started to fill out the\nquestionnaire before his work at the Lithuanian State Theater, because he\nrefers to himself as a painter-artist and not a painter-scenographer. The card\nfilled out by the editorial board specifies Dobu\u017einskis\u2019s profession in more\nabstract and precise way; it states that he is an artist (m\u0101kslinieks).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

 In 1931-1934,\nDobu\u017einskis studied Latvian ornaments and worked on combining Lithuanian and\nLatvian ornaments. He also created symbols for the Society of LatvianLithuanian\nUnity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1] http:\/\/tekstai.lt\/zurnalas-metai\/7147-\nantanas-andrijauskas-amziaus-dvasiapazinau-butent-cia?catid=743%3A2013-\nm-nr-01-sausis <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2] \u0412\u043e\u0441\u043f\u043e\u043c\u0438\u043d\u0430\u043d\u0438\u044f \u043e \u0414\u043e\u0431\u0443\u0436\u0438\u043d\u0441\u043a\u043e\u043c, \u0441\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0430\u0432\u043b\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435, \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0438\u0441\u043b\u043e\u0432\u0438\u0435 \u0438\n\u043f\u0440\u0438\u043c\u0435\u0447\u0430\u043d\u0438\u044f \u0413.\u0418. \u0427\u0443\u0433\u0443\u043d\u043e\u0432\u0430, \u0421\u0430\u043d\u043a\u0442\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0431\u0443\u0440\u0433 : \u0410\u043a\u0430\u0434\u0435\u043c. \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0435\u043a\u0442, 1997, 1997, p. 281. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3] Antanas Andrijauskas, Am\u017eiaus dvasi\u0105 pa\u017einau b\u016btent \u010dia.\nMstislavas Dobu\u017einskis ir jo \u012fna\u0161as \u012f Lietuvos dail\u0117s raid\u0105. http:\/\/www.tekstai.lt\/rss\/743-2013-m-nr01-sausis\/7147-antanas-andrijauskasamziaus-dvasia-pazinau-butent-cia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jurgita Kristina Pa\u010dkauskien\u0117 What do we know about painter Mstislavas Dobu\u017einskis\u2019s links with Latvia? According to philosopher Antanas Andrijauskas, before leaving for Western Europe Dobu\u017einskis visited Riga with exhibitions [1]. What he did not mention was that the artist not only visited Riga, he lived there! On 6 March 1924, opera \u201cEugene Onegin\u201d featuring Dobu\u017einskis\u2019s … Toliau skaityti „Mstislavas Dobu\u017einskis and Latvia”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1555],"tags":[2863],"class_list":["post-3955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-naujienos","category-news","tag-mstislavas-dobuzinskis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}