The publication “Boriss Bērziņš. Conversations and Drawings” has been released
Published by “Neputns,” this edition combines an album of Boriss Bērziņš’s drawings with conversations between the artist and Laima Slava. Editor: Raimonds Ķirķis. Designer: Anta Pence.
This book is yet another tribute to the outstanding artist Boriss Bērziņš (1930–2002), whose 95th anniversary will be marked on October 7. The publication brings together art historian Laima Slava’s conversations with Boriss Bērziņš, recorded from the early 1980s through the turn of the millennium, especially in the mid-1990s, alongside an album of the artist’s drawings created over several decades.
The conversations between Laima Slava and Boriss Bērziņš—some of which served as source material for the monograph The Kiss of God (2000) and the album Boriss Bērziņš (2003)—stand as valuable documents in their own right, revealing the views of a key figure in Latvian art history on art, as well as on personal and public history. The selection of drawings for this album highlights the most characteristic works from Bērziņš’s rich legacy, carefully avoiding repetition of already published material. The result offers the viewer both the pleasure of the artist’s talent and genius and his playful exploration of form, image, and line.
Laima Slava writes:
“The master drew a lot. I think it was an organic necessity – to constantly work with a pencil or a ballpoint pen (as soon as such appeared, though at the time it was not considered good taste). Even while conversing, he would always draw something at the end of the table. The Boriss Bērziņš archive at the Latvian National Museum of Art holds not only graphic compositions intended for exhibitions but also more than 10,000 such freely created drawings, large and small. Private collections also preserve his sketchbooks. The book contains a small part of this abundance. In this realm of linear possibilities of plastic form, Boriss Bērziņš’s imagination seems inexhaustible, and his mastery of line—genius. What he conjures in a few strokes is as vivid and alive as the images emerging from cascades of hatching. Equally remarkable is his thematic openness in all possible directions.”
Text and compilation: Laima Slava
Editor: Raimonds Ķirķis
Design: Anta Pence
Image processing: Jānis Pauzers
Printed and bound at Jelgava Printing House.
The book is available at the “Neputns” gallery, Tērbatas Street 49/51, and at www.neputns.lv.
“Neputns” price: EUR 50.
Published with the support of the:
