Georgs Kruglovs: Ceramic Art Education at the Art Academy of Latvia in the Soviet Period

• In Event: Gender, Subversion, and Artistic Innovation in the Soviet Avant-Garde

Abstract

Georgs Kruglovs (1905 - 1984) was an outstanding Latvian ceramist and teacher, who was born in Riga, studied at The Art Academy of Latvia, and developed his knowledge at the State Ceramic Technical School in Bunclav, Germany. He worked at M.S. Kuznetsov Company porcelain and faience factory, until the Soviet power came in 1940, when he became the director of the nationalised factory.
However, he devoted most of his life to teaching ceramics and working as the head of the ceramics department at The Latvian Academy of Art (1944 - 1974). In the history of Latvian applied art, Georgs Kurglovs is considered a controversial figure due to his political views.
In the paper, the author intends to examine the artist's pedagogical activity and contribution to higher art education, as well as his influence on the new generations of ceramists in the context of artistic, social and complex political events of the 20th century. Through an in-depth analysis of the artist's personal file, methodological materials in accordance with the leading political guidelines, the Art Academy of Latvia Information Centre. The paper also explores the impact of political and socio-historical events on Kruglov's creative and pedagogical activity, which clearly influenced not only the consolidation of his ideological and personal convictions, but also his professional activity and the perception of the surrounding events.
During this period The Art Academy of Latvia developed into the Latvian SSR's professional ceramists' forge and one of the main research centres for ceramics technology.

Author

• Santa Sleiksa, Art Academy of Latvia (Latvia)