SILVIJA GROSA JŪGENDSTILA PERIODA PLASTISKAIS UN ...

the architecture and art of Latvia at the turn of the centuries as an important
component in overall European art processes.
At the turn of the 20 th and 21 st centuries, there were also publications
which related to the phenomena of art that had existed 100 years or so before. Of
note in terms of this dissertation are studies conducted by Dainis Bruģis, Jānis
Zilgalvis, Inta Pujāte and Kristiāna Ābele. These authors contributed to a
collection of papers which was edited by the author of this dissertation – “Art
Nouveau. Time and Space: The Baltic Sea Countries at the Turn of the 19 th and
20 th Centuries” – which was the result of an eponymous international conference.
Also of use to the author have been authorities in the style of Art Nouveau
who have produced general literature about the style and its era. These include
Stephan Tschudi-Madsen, Mieczyslaw Wallis, Robert Schmutzler, Debora
Silverman, and Paul Greenhalgh. Among literature devoted to analogies, the most
important works have been those produced by Yevgeniya Kirichenko , Sixten
Ringbom and Pekka Korvenmaa.
II. THE ARCHITECTONIC, CRAFTS-BASED AND SOCIAL
PREREQUISITES FOR DÉCOR ON BUILDINGS IN RĪGA AT THE TURN
OF THE 19 TH AND 20 TH CENTURIES
II.1. Construction in Rīga at the turn of the 19 th and 20 th centuries and décor
at the beginning of this period
At the turn of the 19 th and the 20 th centuries, Rīga was a city of massive
contrasts. The rapidly expanding bourgeoisie sought ways of proving itself,
although the massive social inequality which existed was really of the type that
was typical all over the world. A specific situation in the city was created by the
fact that it was part of the Russian Empire – it was a zone of special interests.
There was also the matter of ethnic tensions created and upheld by the traditional
privileges which Baltic Germans enjoyed in the Baltic provinces of the empire. At
the beginning of the 1900s, most wealth in Rīga belonged to Baltic Germans, most
of the members of the recognised intelligentsia sprang from amongst their midst,
and they continued to have major privileges in terms of governance of the city and
oversight over the building industry. At the same time, however, increasing
numbers of ethnic Latvians and representatives of other nationalities appeared as
clients of builders, as well as architects and producers of décor for buildings. This
was a period of rapid industrialisation, and the elegant part of the city expanded
considerably. There was increased urbanisation in Rīga’s peripheral areas, and
zones of buildings for working people were established in suburban areas. Public
buildings were also erected, but the majority of construction during the period that
is under review here was related to buildings of rental flats.
The last two years of the 19 th century began a boom in construction in
Rīga. In the first years of the 20 th century, a poor economic situation joined with
political unrest in the city in reducing the number of stone buildings that were
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