Auseklis Baušķenieks

The painter Auseklis Baušķenieks left an indelible mark on the art world with his style of representing both everyday life and extraordinary events. He used pastel colors and a dotted painting technique to reflect on his times and society. His artworks included detailed portraits and unconventional characters such as robots, aliens, and giants, revealing his passion for science, technology, science fiction, and visions of the future. Baušķenieks’s use of humor and irony to depict life, Soviet society, and the absurd nature of the regime was a bold and innovative approach, not well received by those in power at the time.

Following his graduation from Jelgava Secondary School No. 2 in 1929, Baušķenieks embarked on a path that would shape his artistic career. Initially, he enrolled at the University of Latvia’s Department of Architecture, where he honed his drawing and watercolor skills under the tutelage of Vilhelms Purvītis (1872–1945). However, his heart was set on a different path. Driven by his passion for art, he made the bold decision to redirect his studies, joining the Painting Department at the Art Academy of Latvia in 1933. Under the guidance of esteemed artists such as Konrāds Ubāns (1893–1981), Augusts Annus (1893–1984), Kārlis Miesnieks (1887–1977), Valdemārs Tone (1892–1958), and Ģederts Eliass (1887–1975), Baušķenieks further refined his artistic style. In 1942 he graduated from the Art Academy, presenting his diploma work, On the Ship’s Deck. [1] The next year he participated in his first group exhibition, showing the painting Apbedīšana [The Funeral].

During the war, Baušķenieks was sent to a labor camp in Germany. After he returned to Riga in 1946, he worked as an artist-designer from 1947 to 1948. Later, he served as the head of the fine arts group at the Riga Pioneers Palace from 1949 to 1962. Only in the mid-1950s did he resume painting, and in 1957 he participated in an exhibition for the first time since the war. In 1961 Baušķenieks became a member of the Artists’ Union of the Latvian SSR. In 1975, at age sixty-five, Baušķenieks held his first solo exhibition at the Artists’ House in Riga, exhibiting sixty-six paintings.

The artist’s early works, while not yet showcasing the sense of irony that would later become one of his defining characteristics, still reveal his exceptional skill as a portraitist. His keen insight into the psychology of his subjects is evident in every stroke. Each individual who posed for him was captured with a unique depth (Self-Portrait, 1942; Ņina, 1955). Furthermore, his paintings depicting everyday life were not mere reflections of reality; rather, they were inspired by seemingly trivial and ordinary situations that held a deeper societal meaning (In the Bathroom, 1957). By exposing social myths and everyday complexities, the artist challenged the official socialist narrative in visual culture and media, offering a unique and thought-provoking perspective.

The social irony in Baušķenieks’s works gradually took form, acquiring an additional tinge of silent insubordination against the Soviet system. This defiant streak was fueled by a widespread spontaneous atmosphere of nonviolent protest in Latvia, which began during the 1960s in all fields of culture (Bound by Art, 1966; Celebration, 1973). In the 1980s, the artist desired to summarize his reflections on human destiny, to look for counterpoints to the collision of fantastic myths and elementary truths of life, and to observe correlations in ambitious compositions of philosophical reflections. He observed life’s funny and absurd moments on the street and on public transportation.

Due to his irony and playfulness, he was an uncomfortable artist for the Soviet regime. In 1981, Baušķenieks held his second solo show, with thirty-four artworks, at the Artists’ House in Riga. For this exhibition, Baušķenieks faced punishment from the Latvian Soviet authorities due to his “erroneous thinking and painting.” As a result, his name was banned from local mass media for nearly three years, preventing any mention of him in either broadcasts or print. [2] After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Baušķenieks continued to reflect on social and political contexts and the new system (Street, 1991). This was an ironic protest against the established order, even if it differed from the previous one.

Baušķenieks’s paintings are a mixture of realism and subconscious surrealism, depicting philosophical content and ironically showing situations from an unusual point of view. The figurative works can be classified into two groups. The first includes “close-ups,” where the paintings depict everyday scenes focusing on a limited number of people and their actions (The Bus Has Gone, 1974, ZAM, D04539; The Artist and His Model, 1975; The Exhausted, 1985, ZAM, D11725). These works capture moments of human experience that are relatable and familiar. The second group of paintings depicts panoramic scenes featuring many figures engaged in various activities, where each character has a miniature life that can be observed from a distance or up close (Youthful Years and Old Man’s Years, 1977; Roots, 1982).

Baušķenieks portrayed universal themes while simultaneously depicting seemingly insignificant objects in precise detail. After carefully considering topics of his paintings, he wanted to illustrate them in his unique technique. Even the titles of his works were carefully chosen to provide additional information about the content. It has been estimated that he painted around 350 paintings in his lifetime, as he created each work over an extended period. The artist has had twenty-two personal exhibitions and a retrospective at the Latvian National Museum of Art. His paintings are in the collections of the Museum of the Artists’ Union of Latvia, the Latvian National Museum of Art, and the Zuzāns collection, as well as in private collections in Latvia and abroad.

Agnese Zviedre

Photo portrait: Auseklis Baušķenieks, c. 1980. Photo by Atis Ieviņš

Notes

1. Insight into his 1930s and early 1940s paintings is limited due to the small number of surviving works and black-and-white photographs of his canvases from that time.

2. Laima Slava, ed., Auseklis Baušķenieks (Rīga: Neputns, 2010), 374.