Labourers’ Motif

Late 1950s–early 1960s, oil on canvas, 139x190 cm (with frame 159x210x8 cm) /// Latvian painter Māra Kažociņa (1936–1992) received her professional training at the Art Academy of Latvia. Her creative path began in the mid-1960s, when a new generation of conceptually and formally bold artists emerged in Latvian painting. Kažociņa is regarded as one of the most distinctive painters of her generation, whose works unite rigorous intellectualism with a sensitive emotional atmosphere. She considered the painter Edgars Iltners (1925–1983) to be her most important artistic mentor, and his influence is evident in her early period, in works characterised by romanticised robustness and elements of the so-called Soviet “severe style” or “harsh style”. From realism and the specific image, Kažociņa gradually moved towards greater conceptualisation, stylisation, and the generalisation of imagery. In her painting, reality becomes a metaphor whose meaning lies in the balance of form and colour. The artist sought to combine rational thought with emotional depth, consciously distancing herself from the thematic ideology of everyday Soviet life. Her works are marked by a laconic, even ascetic mode of expression, robust forms, and balanced colour relationships. During her lifetime, the painter held more than 20 solo exhibitions, and several memorial exhibitions were organised after her death. One of the most recent was “The Spiral” (Spirāle) at the Latvian National Museum of Art in 2022, as part of the exhibition series “The Generations” (Paaudzes). Kažociņa’s paintings are held in private collections in Latvia, Germany, Russia, UK, US, as well as in public collections: the Latvian National Museum of Art, the Museum of the Artists’ Union of Latvia, Liepāja Museum, Ogre History and Art Museum, Talsi Regional Museum (Latvia), and the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow, Russia). A figurative, thematic large-scale composition presents an interpretation of the labourers’ motif, characteristic of the social and ideological context of the mid-twentieth century in Soviet Bloc countries The work was created in the early stage of Kažociņa’s career, possibly during her studies. In this monumental composition, three workers are depicted in a moment of rest, observing the industrial landscape. The intensity of physical labour is emphasised by robust figures placed close to the picture plane, sunlit skin, bold muscular modelling, and a laconic simplicity of clothing, all of which together lend the figures both vitality and a sense of everyday realism. The composition and draws on references to the work of Edgars Iltners, particularly to the visual language of the Soviet “severe style” or “harsh style”, grounded in laconicism, constructive rhythm, and the monumentality of the working person’s image. The painting demonstrates a professional approach based on direct observation and the principles of realism, while simultaneously reflecting the visual language and ideological orientation of its time. /// The artist’s signature is located in the lower left corner of the painting.