Karlis Padegs
Encyclopedia
Kārlis Padegs is one of Latvia
's most popular artists. He studied under noted Latvian painter Vilhelms Purvitis
at the Latvia Art Academy. Padegs' style was original and shocking - using themes which were very iconoclastic at the time.
, workers district of Riga
. Padegs spent all his life in Riga with the exception of several years in childhood during World War I
when he lived in Dorpat (Tartu
) Estonia
. The presence of his motherland is, however, rarely felt in his art. One is made acutely aware of an atmosphere reminiscent of Chicago
and Paris
.
Kārlis Padegs turned into a legend of Riga's artistic life. He was contemporary of the tempestuous Jānis Tīdemanis (Džonis) who spent his formative years in Belgium
and the barefooted tramp Irbīte (pastel painter Voldemārs Irbe). Some Riga inhabitants will still recall Kārlis Padegs as a most extravagant personality- his Spanish hat, a red scarf, a long black coat, pig-skin gloves, a bamboo cane, patent leather shoes and a white gaiters with little black buttons. The artist may be better remembered than his exhibitions held in quite untraditional premises (at cafe, in the street, in dancing halls) or in the show-windows of L.Kreicberga's photo sallon that once even attracted the attention of the police.
Padegs was a Riga dandy
whose doings were described in newspapers and discussed in society and who obtrusively played up to the public before exhibitions.
He once wrote in the newspaper that just this outsider who dreams about Narcissus and the perverse madonna does not forget the invalid. He shows him side by side with the fashionable Dorian Gray
, the lover Don Juan
, but why?- Because of sharp contrast, to make even the most dim-minded people understand that the world in World War I
has already lost 12,996,117 people killed and 5,669,000 disabled people who have not died yet, and we do not want new victims.
and H. Matisse
, the Norwegian painter E. Munch and many more. In most cases the comparison was not too favourable . On the other hand, Kārlis Padegs ranking among this illustrious galaxy of artists including many outstanding figures in art was most honourable and alluring.
Since the exhibition mounted in 1933 Kārlis Padegs art became an expression of unpleasant, even ugly traits opposed to the tendency towards beauty in Latvian art. Padegs once said: I must often listen to reproaches- why do you draw such disgusting pictures when there is so much beauty in the world?- But there are also many abominable things and somebody must draw them too, I answer. I want to show the seamy side of life which we do not like to see in order not to spoil our feeling of comfort or our good appetite.
Padegs deliberately strove to shock the morality of his contemporaries (as did avant-garde artists), to bewilder the upper and middle class by the squalid tragedy of the streets. His art was turned towards the derelicts of society- the city's poor, prostitutes, drunkards, cripples, debauches. He developed a kind of highly erotic traits, showed the seclusion of these people. His main contribution to this effect was The book for poor people representing with complete honesty urban life scenes.
Even the female nude in Kārlis Padegs paintings and drawings has nothing in common with attainable or worshipped beauty. Beauty is expressed in terms of exotic ever-refinement. His women's images incorporate sensual exposure of a prostitutes body and the divine mystery of a madonna
.
Padegs art came to full flower in a society of high development in art and thought. You will not find in his works traits of amazement. He was an artist with a strong ironical bent willing to combine hardly comparable things and by this method he achieved exceedingly sharp effects. In 1933 he painted his famous Madonna with a Machine-gun, a picture of a recognizable type as a foreboding of World War II
. Padegs mind was absorbed with unconventional themes. Death was one of the most unpleasant subjects for the artist who suffered from tuberculosis for many years.
In Latvian art Padegs stood apart as he did in everyday life. Defiant and rousing envy. His life was full of paradoxes. He had made his mark as a perfect Latvian draftsman when he took a new direction and graduated from the landscape studio at the Latvian Academy of arts thanks to the help of rector Vilhelms Purvītis
, a landscapist of European fame in the early 20th. century.
Padegs preferred themes were modern urban life, antiwar subjects, an idealised dream world and sarcastic self-portraits. His work was redolent with expressive distortion, refined features and sharp contrasts.
In later days he was nearly forgotten and only in the early 80s marking the end of a period of general self- complacence did one of the most peculiar Latvian artists and his work become of current interest.
Over this period a great many pieces of Padeg's heritage (mostly his earlier works) were lost. Some of them may in all probability be regained.
He lived at Elizabete iela 24, where there is a plaque to his memory.
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
's most popular artists. He studied under noted Latvian painter Vilhelms Purvitis
Vilhelms Purvitis
Vilhelms Purvītis was a landscape painter and educator who founded the Latvian Academy of Art and was its rector from 1919 to 1934....
at the Latvia Art Academy. Padegs' style was original and shocking - using themes which were very iconoclastic at the time.
Padegs personality
Kārlis Padegs was born on 8 October 1911 in TorņakalnsTornakalns
Torņakalns is a neighbourhood of Riga, Latvia. Located on the westbank of the Daugava River . The name Torņakalns derives from a fortified tower built in the Middle Ages close to the Daugava River to alarm the city of Riga in case of emergency and unwelcomed intruders about to cross the river...
, workers district of Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
. Padegs spent all his life in Riga with the exception of several years in childhood during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
when he lived in Dorpat (Tartu
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. Situated 186 km southeast of Tallinn, the...
) Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
. The presence of his motherland is, however, rarely felt in his art. One is made acutely aware of an atmosphere reminiscent of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Kārlis Padegs turned into a legend of Riga's artistic life. He was contemporary of the tempestuous Jānis Tīdemanis (Džonis) who spent his formative years in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and the barefooted tramp Irbīte (pastel painter Voldemārs Irbe). Some Riga inhabitants will still recall Kārlis Padegs as a most extravagant personality- his Spanish hat, a red scarf, a long black coat, pig-skin gloves, a bamboo cane, patent leather shoes and a white gaiters with little black buttons. The artist may be better remembered than his exhibitions held in quite untraditional premises (at cafe, in the street, in dancing halls) or in the show-windows of L.Kreicberga's photo sallon that once even attracted the attention of the police.
Padegs was a Riga dandy
Dandy
A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self...
whose doings were described in newspapers and discussed in society and who obtrusively played up to the public before exhibitions.
He once wrote in the newspaper that just this outsider who dreams about Narcissus and the perverse madonna does not forget the invalid. He shows him side by side with the fashionable Dorian Gray
Dorian Gray
Dorian Gray is the main character of Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.It may also refer to:* Dorian Gray , an Italian film starring Helmut Berger...
, the lover Don Juan
Don Juan
Don Juan is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630...
, but why?- Because of sharp contrast, to make even the most dim-minded people understand that the world in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
has already lost 12,996,117 people killed and 5,669,000 disabled people who have not died yet, and we do not want new victims.
Padegs art
The art of Kārlis Padegs is essentially original. His works viewed at exhibitions in the mid-30s did not seem to his contemporaries typical and symptomatic of Latvian art. They tried to trace the more likely sources of his outside influences- the Old Dutch masters, the Belgian F.Rops, the Frenchman H. de Toulouse-LautrecHenri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an œuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern...
and H. Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
, the Norwegian painter E. Munch and many more. In most cases the comparison was not too favourable . On the other hand, Kārlis Padegs ranking among this illustrious galaxy of artists including many outstanding figures in art was most honourable and alluring.
Since the exhibition mounted in 1933 Kārlis Padegs art became an expression of unpleasant, even ugly traits opposed to the tendency towards beauty in Latvian art. Padegs once said: I must often listen to reproaches- why do you draw such disgusting pictures when there is so much beauty in the world?- But there are also many abominable things and somebody must draw them too, I answer. I want to show the seamy side of life which we do not like to see in order not to spoil our feeling of comfort or our good appetite.
Padegs deliberately strove to shock the morality of his contemporaries (as did avant-garde artists), to bewilder the upper and middle class by the squalid tragedy of the streets. His art was turned towards the derelicts of society- the city's poor, prostitutes, drunkards, cripples, debauches. He developed a kind of highly erotic traits, showed the seclusion of these people. His main contribution to this effect was The book for poor people representing with complete honesty urban life scenes.
Even the female nude in Kārlis Padegs paintings and drawings has nothing in common with attainable or worshipped beauty. Beauty is expressed in terms of exotic ever-refinement. His women's images incorporate sensual exposure of a prostitutes body and the divine mystery of a madonna
Madonna (art)
Images of the Madonna and the Madonna and Child or Virgin and Child are pictorial or sculptured representations of Mary, Mother of Jesus, either alone, or more frequently, with the infant Jesus. These images are central icons of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity where Mary remains...
.
Padegs art came to full flower in a society of high development in art and thought. You will not find in his works traits of amazement. He was an artist with a strong ironical bent willing to combine hardly comparable things and by this method he achieved exceedingly sharp effects. In 1933 he painted his famous Madonna with a Machine-gun, a picture of a recognizable type as a foreboding of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Padegs mind was absorbed with unconventional themes. Death was one of the most unpleasant subjects for the artist who suffered from tuberculosis for many years.
In Latvian art Padegs stood apart as he did in everyday life. Defiant and rousing envy. His life was full of paradoxes. He had made his mark as a perfect Latvian draftsman when he took a new direction and graduated from the landscape studio at the Latvian Academy of arts thanks to the help of rector Vilhelms Purvītis
Vilhelms Purvitis
Vilhelms Purvītis was a landscape painter and educator who founded the Latvian Academy of Art and was its rector from 1919 to 1934....
, a landscapist of European fame in the early 20th. century.
Padegs preferred themes were modern urban life, antiwar subjects, an idealised dream world and sarcastic self-portraits. His work was redolent with expressive distortion, refined features and sharp contrasts.
Padegs death and legacy
Kārlis Padegs died in Riga, April 1940 from tuberculosis. He was 29 years old. He suffered from it all his life and after the very productive period in the 1939 he was so exhausted that his illness finally overcame young painter.In later days he was nearly forgotten and only in the early 80s marking the end of a period of general self- complacence did one of the most peculiar Latvian artists and his work become of current interest.
Over this period a great many pieces of Padeg's heritage (mostly his earlier works) were lost. Some of them may in all probability be regained.
He lived at Elizabete iela 24, where there is a plaque to his memory.