The exhibition will offer a selection of the most prominent pieces Riga Porcelain Museum has added to its collection in recent five years. The mission of the museum is to raise awareness about the porcelain created in Latvia – the traditions of its manufacturing, design development and art processes since the most ancient times in the middle of the 19th century up to now-a-days.
In the period from year 2012 to 2016 several hundreds of objects were added to the collection of the museum that provide the most impressive chronological representation of the various historic periods and the work of creative personalities. With the help of donations and procurements funded within projects it is possible to show in more detail both the history of the influential Kuznetsov and Jessen porcelain factories in the 19th century as well as record the growing artistic capacity of other smaller workshops of that time in Riga, for example, Jaksch Trade House and Art Workshop. The newly acquired objects allow for recording the link between mass produce and unique pieces of art. The exhibits reflect the qualitative differences in the situation of the independent Latvia in 1920s-30s compared to the dramatic changes in porcelain art and manufacturing in the Soviet period as well as the role of a creative personality, a factory artist, within the anonymous and collective industry. A particular value belongs to the pieces created by their authors in the last decade of the 20th and first decade of the 21st century. These pieces illustrate the current individual creative capacity of Latvian artists as well as inform about the specific conditions of work in Latvia after the closing of the biggest manufacturer Riga Porcelain Factory and the effect it had on the trends in the contemporary art and design.
The new acquisitions provide not only for more diverse, precise and interesting offering of the museum, but also for raising the awareness about the cultural heritage all over Latvia and abroad with the help of loans to other institutions and travelling exhibitions. A part of the new acquisitions have already been included in the main exposition of the museum, others are used in the exhibitions outside of it. In this show a selection of pieces are shown that let to characterise the value and significance of the newly acquired piece.
Publicity photo: Vase. A/S “M. S. Kuzņecovs” porcelain, faience and ceramics factory. The author of the paintings Tamāra Meija (Bukovska). 1937 – 1940. Riga Porcelain Factory collection. Photo by Gvido Kajons.