Banks, Culture, Financial Services, Forum, Latvia

The lots can be seen in the exhibition hall on the first floor of the Bank on working days from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

For more than five years, the antique house Artembassy has been holding the largest auctions of art in the Baltic States in cooperation with Rietumu Bank. Each time, the auction organisers try to select and offer unique and high-quality works of art, graphics, applied art, as well as historical artefacts to art lovers and collectors. 

“The previous year, 2016 was very good. We witnessed both records of bidding turnover and very interested and vigorous bidding for specific lots, and sometimes even unexpectedly high prices. I guess that our fellow auctioneers can say the same thing. First of all, interest in paintings, porcelain, interior antiques, is high, thus the market is on the rise,” stated Mr Aigars Grīnbergs, CEO of the auction house Mākslas Vēstniecība. 

At the upcoming auction, there will be works of famous artists of the 19 ^th century, such as Fedders and Rizzoni, the founders of Latvian painting Walter and Rozentāls, and the greatest masters who worked in the twentieth century. 

The top lots include the Finnish Landscape by Jānis Rozentāls, the Riverside by Julius Fedders, two wonderful women’s portraits by Alexander Rizzoni, the porcelain vase Cranes painted according to the sketch by Sigismund Vidberg, and the large decorative plate Riga made according to the sketches of Niklāvs Strunke. 

The period of classical modernism of the 20-30’s of the 20 ^th century is widely and interestingly represented as usually. In addition to spectacular large oil paintings such as the Merchant in the Market in Riga by Niklāvs Strunke (1939), the Haymaking by Ludolfs Liberts (1929), the Irbenes Street by Konrāds Ubāns (1937), the Politicians by Otto Skulme (1936), the White Trees by Jānis Tidemanis (1930’s), one may also bargain for small works and sketches of those artists, as well as purchase drawings of such famous representatives of the avant-garde in Latvia as Alexandra Beltsova and Romāns Suta. 

An excellent selection of the works of the famous Latvian marine painter Eduards Kalniņš should be noted in particular, which includes four magnificent miniatures made by the master during his trips abroad: the China, the India, the Venice, and the Stoga. Moreover, the catalogue includes two early works of the artist as well, the Team with oxen (1936) and the Sailboats on the Shore (1936), as well as the Landscape with Rafts (1943) and the Still Life with Fishes (the 1960's). 

The creative work of Johann Walter-Qurau is represented with two masterpieces this time, the large art nouveau style painting, In the Park (1920’s), and a beautiful miniature, In the Mountains of Saxony. 

The paintings of the mid-twentieth century are chosen very carefully, with great taste and very representatively. Art lovers and collectors will have the opportunity to purchase paintings by such renowned artists as Valdis Kalnroze, Leo Kokle, Kārlis Miesnieks, Jēkabs Bīne, and Jānis Cielava, Ārijs Skride, Francisks Varslavāns, and Jānis Tillbergs. 

The works of the last third of the twentieth century are of equal significance, as the following names are offered like Leonīds Āriņš, Indulis Zariņš, Herberts Siliņš, Jānis Pauļuks, Jānis Osis, Laimdota Mūrnieks, Boriss Bērziņš, and others. 

Connoisseurs of applied arts will have an option to buy the chinaware from world-famous factories like Meissen, Gardner, Sevres, and Kuznetsov. 

In total, more than 350 lots are included in the auction catalogue. You can participate in the auction in person or in absentia, making bids on the Internet or by phone. The Internet broadcast of the auction will be provided. 

The auctions in the Rietumu Bank are traditionally among the largest and most anticipated ones in the Baltic States and become a significant event for the widest range of art connoisseurs. 

The auction starts at 12 a.m. on April 29 at the headquarters of the Rietumu Bank located at Vesetas Street 7, Riga. 

Detailed information about the auction and the catalogue are available on the website www.artembassy.lv.