SILVIJA GROSA JŪGENDSTILA PERIODA PLASTISKAIS UN ...

Association of Architects. Minutes from the association’s meetings show that Volz
was quite possibly a so-called co-operating member. For many years he was one
of the most active participants at meetings of the organisation.
It was specifically Volz’s business which was usually commissioned to
work on public buildings, the individual homes of wealthy residents of Rīga, as
well as buildings of flats. This was true in the last quarter of the 19 th century, as
well as during the period that is being reviewed here. The company designed
décor for several major public buildings, including the National Bank, the City Art
Museum, the Stock Exchange School of Commerce, the Rīga Russian Theatre, etc.
The Volz workshop also provided décor for several castles in Latvia. Around
1905, it helped to design the Tallinn German Theatre, as well as several apartment
buildings in Estonia’s capital city. It is thought that the personal involvement of
Volz himself was probably limited to the most important projects. According to a
catalogue issued in relation to a trade exhibition held in honour of Rīga’s 700 th
anniversary in 1901, Volz’s workshop employed 35 people, including several
professional sculptors.
Because of its varied activities and its successful marketing, the Volz
workshop was an exception among other, similar enterprises, and that allowed
Volz to remain a master of the sector in Rīga.
II.3.1.3. The Otto & Wassil workshop
Beginning in 1900, and for several years thereafter, one of the most
important sculptural workshops in Rīga was that of Otto & Wassil. Founded by
Zygmunt Otto and Oswald Wassil, the company employed nine people in 1901 and
had financial turnover of 18,000 roubles in that year (for comparison’s sake, one
can note that Volz had turnover of 25,000 roubles). Sometime around 1903, the
workshop was renamed to become Wassil & Co. Presumably this related to a
change in its ownership structure, and it is known that the enterprise did not
survive past 1906.
At the aforementioned trade exhibition related to Rīga’s 700 th anniversary,
Otto & Wassil received a gold medal for an allegorically decorative group of
fountains which it had designed. The composition has not survived and is known
only through photographs. The intention to produce the 25-foot sculptural group in
durable materials never came to fruition.
There is little information about Oswald Wassil, and it is only recently
that some of his biographic facts have become known. Voldemārs Osvalds Vasils
(Wassil) was born at the Krīderkrogs homestead of the Lēdurga Parish in Latvia on
August 27, 1871. His father, Kārlis, was a leaseholder. His mother was called
Līze. Oswald Wassil’s name is found in address listings in Rīga from 1900 until
1906. He and Otto rented space for the company at Dzirnavu Street 70, then at
Ņevas Street 10, and finally at Avotu Street 4.
It was possible to find additional information about Otto’s work.
Zygmunt Józef Otto was born in 1874 in Lemberg, which, after 1918, was known
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