Jēkabs Kazaks (18 February 1895, in Riga – 30 November 1920, in Riga) was a Latvian modernist painter.

Biography

Kazaks was born in a relatively meager surroundings and had to struggle to finish his high school education. He studied at the Riga Art School between 1913 and 1915 (under Vilhelms Purvītis and Roberts Tillbergs) and the

Penza Penza ( rus, Пе́нза, p=ˈpʲɛnzə) is the largest city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, Penza had a population of 517,311, making it the 38th-la ...

Art School during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, (1915-1917). Like many Latvian modernists, his formal artistic training and the choice of his most compelling subjects derived from his experience as a refugee during World War I. Kazaks style contained elements of

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

, West European Old Masters, modern French painters and early 20th century Latvian Modernism. He was also profoundly inspired by the series of paintings of his fellow countryman Jazeps Grosvalds, bringing to these themes his own intimist painter's sensitivity. He used his influences and interests to create a personal style characterised by expressiveness, simplicity, synthesis and distortion of forms. He was involved in the formation of the Expressionists' Group in 1919 and then the Riga Artists' Group as its theoretician and first chairman. Several of his major works portray the everyday life of refugees, he also painted portraits and self-portraits. His medium was conditional colour pattern in oil and water colour which he augmented with various graphic techniques (Indian ink, drawing, linocut, woodcut). Over 40 of his oil paintings as well as around 150 of his water colours and drawings are exhibited at the Latvian State Museum of Art.

Selected paintings

File:Kazaks Julija Sproga.jpg, Portrait of Julijas Sproga File:Kazaks Pie galda.jpg, At the Table File:Kazaks Peldetajas.jpg, Bathers File:Kazaks Begli-m.jpg, Refugees File:Jēkabs Kazaks - Ladies at the Seaside - Google Art Project.jpg, Ladies at the Seaside (1920)

References

External links

1895 births 1920 deaths Artists from Riga People from Kreis Riga 20th-century Latvian painters Latvian male painters {{Latvia-painter-stub