SILVIJA GROSA JŪGENDSTILA PERIODA PLASTISKAIS UN ...

II.3. Sculptural, painting and other workshops in Rīga during the turn of the
19 th and 20 th centuries
The period which is being discussed here was one in which a great many apartment
buildings were put up in Rīga. Sculptures were used to a great extent, which
suggests that sculptors could often demonstrate their own initiative in the
decoration of buildings. It seems significant that many of the façade designs that
were drawn up by architects during this period were approximate in nature. That
becomes particularly evident when one compares the drawings to the actual façade
that was erected. Interior design, too, was an area in which architects often could
offer no more than just recommendations. That mostly applied to common use
areas such as vestibules and stairwells.
III.3.1. Sculptural workshops: A general overview
Address listings from Rīga which date back to the turn of the 19 th and 20 th
centuries show that the number of decorative sculpture workshops and stone-works
was malleable, and most did not exist for more than four or five years. Many of
the specialists in this area who worked in Rīga were not native residents of the city.
True, the role of foreign artists should not be exaggerated here. A basic education
in the decorative arts was available in Rīga as early as in the latter half of the 19 th
century. This was true at the Rīga (German) Trade Society School, at various
trade-related courses, etc.
During this period, there were several companies which probably were
intermediaries between builders and companies which manufactured or imported
components. It can be assumed that in the latter stages of the Art Nouveau period,
such less expensive products became more popular. Decorative sculpture
workshops which advertised actively around the year 1900 were those of Adolf
Schrader, Karl Teitz and J. Lācis. Available information, however, suggests that
they probably worked largely in the area of gravestones, obelisks, crosses, and the
like. Presumably the same was true of the companies of J. Knubbe, H. Hurvitz and
several others about whom more detailed information is not available.
II.3.1.2. The workshop of August Volz
The largest and most stable decorative sculpture workshop in Rīga
belonged to a sculptor who was a native of Berlin, arrived in Rīga in 1875, and
established his enterprise one year later. This was August Franz Leberecht Volz,
who was born in 1851 in Magdeburg and died in 1926 in Rīga. From 1869 to
1871, he studied at the Berlin Academy of Art. Volz worked both in the area of
monumental sculpture and in the area of smaller sculptures. He produced grave
monuments, but his workshop also provided décor for many buildings in Rīga and
elsewhere. In 1879, Volz went to work as a teacher at two schools, the
aforementioned Rīga (German) Trade Society School and the Elisa Jung-Stilling
Art School. Volz was a member of the Small Guild of Rīga, which was also
known as St John's Guild, and he maintained active relations with the Rīga
61