SILVIJA GROSA JŪGENDSTILA PERIODA PLASTISKAIS UN ...

Among the largest decorative painting workshops at the turn of the 19 th
and 20 th centuries was that of Rudolf Petersen, whose work began in the late 19 th
century, although sometime around 1900 the workshop was taken over by the
Baltic German artist Ernst Tode (1858-1932). The workshop won two gold medals
for interior design at the 1901 exhibition which celebrated Rīga’s 700 th
anniversary. In a 1908 classified ad, the owner of the workshop is indicated as one
Friedrich Alfred Leekney.
Tode also owned the most important stained glass workshop of the era.
He studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Rīga Polytechnic, after which
attended the Munich Academy of Art (1882-1886) and the Düsseldorf Academy of
Art (1889-1891). There, he took a master workshop in historical painting and also
studied various aspects of the applied arts. Tode settled in Rīga in 1891 and went
to teach at the Rīga (German) Trade Society School (1891-1896). In 1985, he
opened his decorative and glass painting workshop, which soon became one of the
most important establishments of its kind not just in Rīga and its environs, but also
in the Russian Empire, including St Petersburg. Among those who studied with
Tode at one time were the painter Hermanis Grīnbergs (1888–1928) and the
stained glass artist Jēkabs Šķērstēns (1890–1940).. Tode shut down operations in
1909 and moved to Munich, where he spent the remainder of his days working as
an historian.
The Tode workshop was responsible for some of the most important
stained glass art in Rīga at the turn of the 19 th and 20 th centuries, including those of
the sacristy of St Peter’s Church, the choral loft of St John’s Church, the Rīga
Dome Cathedral, the building that is now the Latvian Academy of Art, as well as
churches outside of Rīga – in Valtaiķi, Asare, etc. The workshop also produced
stained glass for private homes. Tode’s workshop distinguished itself among all
others by virtue of the fact that most of its work was of original design – Tode
himself drew up most of the original sketches. His style was traditional, all in all,
although creative experimentation was not beyond him.
Another one of the more important stained glass workshops in Rīga was
that of Johann Beyermann. It remained in operation until 1939. There was also
the workshop of Alfred Kahlert, known as Kahlert & Weber (for Franz Weber)
until 1900, and after that, until 1930, as the Kahlert workshop. Among those who
studied there was Alfrēds Lilientāls (1886–1980). Glass painting was traditionally
a realm for Germans in Rīga, but the first Latvians began to enter the relevant guild
in the late 19 th century. Important in this regard was one of the oldest artistic glass
and frosting workshop in Rīga, that of Ādolfs Švolkovskis. It operated until 1930.
Jānis Krīgers (?–1905), one of the first Latvians to own a stained glass workshop,
was one of Švolkovskis’ students, as was Eduards Vainovskis, who would later
continue the workshop’s operations. All of these aforementioned enterprises
partnered with companies in Germany, and their output was professionally
masterful (the guild of glass artists was established in 1541 in Rīga and had a
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