“In the cities, there is little work for collectors of ethnographic materials and documenters of the life of our nation; here, the most interesting and valuable could be market scenes, carts, and types [of people] who gather on market days.”
M. Sams. On collecting ethnographic materials. In: Stari. 1913. No. 7
Following the call of the Latvian Photographic Society to capture the changing lifestyles, photographers most often chose to go to their home counties, which they knew best, to photograph the daily life, buildings, landscapes, and people.
Photographer Voldemārs Priede (1880-1940), active Latvian Photographic Society member and contributor to photo exhibits, in Gaujiena documented rye harvesting, clover collection, and sheep shearing. In Kalsnava photographer Indriķis Purgalis (1880-?) documented the daily of Vietalva farmers – work in the fields and hay gathering, fishing in the river, and Easter celebrations.
The ethnographic photographs of Kārlis Ezergailis documented the daily life of his native region near Limbaži: harvesting hay, tending animals, sawing wood, and washing laundry. Ezergalis also was an organ builder (1872-1924) but his pictures had a better fate than the organ he built in Lēdurga church, which was destroyed by a fire soon after the World War II.
Augusts Malvess
Photographs taken by architect Augusts Malvess (1878-1951) focused on specific aspects and details of construction. Thus, they presented useful information about the history of folk construction. As a lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Latvia, Malvess continued his ethnographic studies with a new vision, instructing his students to collect materials about buildings on farmers’ homesteads in the field research.
Oskars Jankovskis
Riga district court employee and Riga Latvian Society administrator Oskars Jankovskis (1872-1940) was among the winners since the first exhibitions of the Latvian Photographic Society for his “neatly processed” photographs of the traditional bulding construction. For Jankovskis, the background was as important as the subject to be captured – if a group of people was being photographed, the environment in which they worked or relaxed was carefully noted, and if a building was being photographed, he took in the landscape.
Documenters of small town and countryside life
Paulīne Ķemers
Paulīne Ķemers (née Lasmanis, 1876-1942) was the first female ethno-photographer in Latvia. Few of her photographs have survived, documenting life on Riga’s seaside farms. Ķemers mainly photographed women harvesting potatoes, feeding cattle, and doing other work.
Arturs Štāls
Arturs Štāls (1897-1951), then commerce student and later member of the Monument Board followed the call to photograph, published in Stari. Like photographer Jānis Rieksts, he created a series of photographs about flax processing – drying, soaking, pressing, twisting, and crocheting.
Pēteris Šmits
Photographer Pēteris Šmits (1882–1973) photographed Latvian nature, historical monuments, artisan, and tools using a stereo camera. Viewing these images through a special device – a stereoscope – created a spatial impression. Šmits gained recognition in local and international exhibitions with these photos. He was a member, served on the board, and was chairman of the Latvian Photographic Society since its founding in 1906.
Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš
Author and painter Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš (1877–1962) was also a skilled photographer; he took his first ethnographic photographs in Sēlija in 1904 for the Museum of Riga Latvian Society. The photographs, which mainly depict the buildings typical of his native Nereta, are complete with notes on the time, place, and subject of the photograph.
Jaunsudrabiņš was invited to be a member of the jury for the second photo exhibition of the Latvian Photographic Society, and in 1914 he was awarded lifelong membership. He was the literary editor for Stari, created the Latvian Photographic Society diplomas, membership cards, and exhibition medals, and read lectures on art history.
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Rye shocks. Jaunjelgava county Sauka township Brīdagi homestead. August 1904. Photo Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš
See the next stand: Pioneers of ethnographic cinema in Latvia
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