Artwork
Voldemārs Zeltiņš (1879–1909)
available 2 items
Voldemārs Zeltiņš (January 25, 1879 – September 13, 1909) was the most expressive Latvian painter of the Impressionist/Post-Impressionist era, the most active user of texture in oil painting, and the most pronounced nonconformist in Latvian art during the first decade of the 20th century.
V. Zeltiņš was born in 1879 at the Brasla Manor—located in the vicinity of Riga at the time—into the family of a tenant farmer. Following his father's early death, the family lived in poverty, and hardship dogged Zeltiņš throughout his short life. After completing elementary school, he apprenticed as a house painter while attending a vocational school in the evenings. From 1896 to 1899, Zeltiņš studied at V. Blūms’s school in Riga; captivated by the painting style of Vilhelms Purvītis, he clashed with a conservative instructor and was forced to leave the school. Zeltiņš exhibited his work at the Riga Art Salon in 1901 and 1902, and the press hailed him as a successor and protégé of Purvītis. However, the exact nature and duration of his studies under Purvītis remain unclear; it is likely that Zeltiņš met the master and received some guidance and advice. In any case, the influence of Purvītis on his landscapes is undeniable. In 1902, Zeltiņš traveled to St. Petersburg and enrolled in the Stieglitz School, but he was dissatisfied with the focus on ornamental drawing and left the school after just a few months. Although he reportedly enrolled in the Art Academy in the autumn of that same year, Zeltiņš’s name does not appear in its archival records; he may have attended the school of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts for a time. During this period, he copied landscapes by Isaac Levitan at the Alexander III Museum. In 1903, Zeltiņš studied under the virtuoso St. Petersburg portraitist Osip Braz, though the duration of this study is unknown. Undoubtedly, Zeltiņš’s development as an artist was also shaped by what he saw at exhibitions and by what he read and viewed in various publications. In his writings, he mentions and speaks favorably of Levitan, Mikhail Vrubel, Alexandre Benois, James Whistler, and Giovanni Segantini. The once-asserted "fascination" with Vincent van Gogh is open to question: Zeltiņš could not have seen the Dutch artist's original works, and it is unclear whether he was even familiar with the then-rare reproductions of them. Certain stylistic parallels between the two painters can be attributed to similarities in aesthetic values and psychological makeup.
From 1904 onwards, Zeltiņš resided in Latvia, traveling—as far as is known—only to Šiauliai to undertake decorative work for income (having also spent time in Vitebsk after leaving St. Petersburg). Around 1905, he became part of a circle of young neo-romantic artists, writers, and actors who rejected the prevailing culture and social order. This group was labeled "decadent" due to the members' bohemian lifestyle—though, in the words of Zeltiņš’s friend Pāvils Gruzna, it was a "feeble, heavy-handed, and not particularly witty sort of bohemianism, devoid of any tradition." Their dismissive attitude resonated with the revolutionary events of the time, yet the "decadents" did not become active revolutionaries; instead, they sought innovation within the cultural sphere. They looked for alternatives to conservative art, and Zeltiņš is considered the most radical among these nonconformists. Valuing the freedom of an independent individual above the life of a secure wage-earner, he subsisted on odd jobs. Lacking a permanent place of residence, Zeltiņš moved from one friend to another; for a time—to save money—he stayed in a "commune" with the Štrāls brothers (a writer and a painter), and later at the industrialist Augusts Dombrovskis’s philanthropic establishment, "Burtnieku pils." He was unable or unwilling to fit into the art market of the time, giving his paintings away to friends and exhibiting in only two group shows in the provinces during his lifetime. Outwardly, he resembled a country lad—short, broad-shouldered, and red-haired, with "the heavy hand of a laborer" (Gruzna)—while his demeanor was restless, emotionally reactive, and prone to confrontation. Though not superstitious, he participated in séances and took an interest not only in philosophy (it is said that, even while starving, he read Arthur Schopenhauer) but also in mysticism—themes that, however, did not manifest in his known artworks. He endured the hardships of a bohemian lifestyle with "unbroken optimism" (Gruzna). Yet, there were also moments of depression; his mood would swing wildly—"from fantasies of performing miracles to a hell of despair" (Alfrēds Goba). During one such episode, triggered by an unhappy love affair, Zeltiņš took his own life by poisoning himself in the autumn of 1909.
Zeltiņš's works have been preserved at the LNMM, the Tukums Museum, and in private collections.