The
collection of the Mūkusala Art Salon encompasses the period from the
beginning of the 19th century till the present, reflecting the general
tendencies in Latvian art. Due to their more convenient storage, most of
the items in the collection are in the classical 2-dimensional media of
painting and print. The collection also contains sculpture, applied
art, scenography and objects. In total the collection consists of
hundreds of items.
The
masters of Latvian painting of the 20th century form the nucelus of the
collection (Leonīds Āriņš, Boriss Bērziņš, Ģederts Eliass, Eduards
Kalniņš, Ludolfs Liberts, Jānis Osis, Rūdolfs Pinnis, Jānis Pauļuks,
Vilhelms Purvītis, Janis Rozentāls, Jānis Ferdinands Tīdemanis, Konrāds
Ubāns, Johans Valters-Kūravs, Indulis Zariņš, Auseklis Baušķenieks). The
collection also includes artists that have remained outside the
mainstream (e.g., Vladimirs Gluščenko, Gunārs Kļava un Genādijs
Suhanovs), as well as those of the middle and younger generations.
Sculpture is most widely represented by Kārlis Baumanis’ medals, while printmaking - by Guntars Sietiņš and Paulis Liepa.
The
collection also includes works by artists from the Latvian diaspora
(Vija Celmiņš, Jānis Kalmīte, Visvaldis Reinholds, Juris Soikāns,
Raimonds Staprāns) and those, who chose to move abroad (Voldemārs
Andersons, Aleksandrs Drēviņš, Gustavs Klucis), thus sketching the
artistic paths Latvian artists chose abroad (which often were in step
with global art movements).
Despite
being oriented towards representing the Latvian national school of
painting, the collection also includes works by Russian artists living
in Latvia, as well as authors representing the neighbouring regions:
Estonia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine.