Gustavs Šķilters (15 November 1874 – 24 September 1954) was a Latvian artist, working mainly as a sculptor.

Biography

Gustavs Šķilters was born in present-day Rencēni Parish, the son of a blacksmith, and trained to become an artist in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. He graduated in 1899 and with the aid of a scholarship spent the following six years abroad. He traveled to Germany and spent much time in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where he was influenced by the flowering of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

and studied sculpture under

Paul Richer Paul Marie Louis Pierre Richer (17 January 1849 – 17 December 1933) was a French anatomist, physiologist, sculptor, medallist, and anatomical artist who was a native of Chartres. He was a professor of artistic anatomy at the École nationale s ...

and . He also frequented the atelier of

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

, often together with his compatriots Teodors Zaļkalns and

Burkards Dzenis Burkards Dzenis (1879, Dreiliņi, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire – 1966, Dayton, Ohio) was a Latvian artist. Biography Burkards Dzenis was born in the outskirts of Riga and spent his first years in the city. He decided to become an ar ...

. After his return to Saint Petersburg in 1905, he took up teaching sculpture at the present-day

Saint Petersburg Art and Industry Academy The Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design (Санкт-Петербургская художественно-промышленная академия имени А. Л. Штиглица; abbreviated as СПГХПА) is the ...

, a position he would hold for the next thirteen years except for a short spell working for jeweler

Peter Carl Fabergé Peter Carl Fabergé, also known as Karl Gustavovich Fabergé (russian: Карл Гу́ставович Фаберже́, ''Karl Gustavovich Faberzhe''; 30 May 1846 – 24 September 1920), was a Russian jewellery, jeweller best known for the fam ...

. Following the

Latvian War of Independence The Latvian War of Independence ( lv, Latvijas Neatkarības karš), sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles () or the Latvian War of Liberation (), was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaim ...

, Šķilters moved to Riga and took up the newly created position of professor at the

Art Academy of Latvia The Art Academy of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Mākslas akadēmija) is an institution of higher education and scientific research in art, located in Riga, Latvia. The neo-Gothic brick building is located on Krišjānis Valdemārs Street, next to t ...

in 1923. Gustavs Šķilters worked mainly as a sculptor. Several of his works exist only as plaster models, an effect of there not being any professional

foundries A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

in Latvia during the time in which he was active. His art displays influences, early on, from Art Nouveau and

Symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sy ...

. He was also active as an art critic. Šķilters died in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

in 1954, aged 79, and was buried at

Forest Cemetery, Riga Forest Cemetery ( lv, Rīgas Meža kapi) is an large cemetery in the northwestern part of Riga, the capital of Latvia, between the neighbourhoods of Mežaparks and Čiekurkalns. Formally, the cemetery is divided between 1st Forest Cemetery, w ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skilters, Gustavs 1874 births 1954 deaths People from Valmiera Municipality People from Kreis Wolmar Latvian sculptors 20th-century Latvian painters Latvian male painters Latvian military personnel of the Latvian War of Independence Burials at Forest Cemetery, Riga Artists from the Russian Empire