Three famous Latvian women (1): Hilda Vika
Liden & Denz invites you to discover three incredible Latvian women, whose contributions have shaped Latvian art and history. Today, we start with Hilda Vika!
Biography
Born in Riga in 1897, Hilda Vika is a famous Latvian painter and writer. She spent her childhood between Latvia, Russia, Poland and Lithuania, before graduating as an accountant clerk. While working in a bank, she took painting lessons – her true passion was, indeed, art. She was first exhibited in 1927, but her first solo exhibition happened in Riga in 1933. In the meantime, she also published poems, short stories and novels that she herself illustrated.
A modern pagan, Vika joined, alongside her husband, the Dievturība movement, continuing ethnic Latvian religion. Based on Latvian folklore and mythology, the Dievturība movement aimed to revive Latvian traditions from what it was before christianization.
Style
Hilda Vika style was first influenced by the Art Deco movement, with geometrical esthetism and vitality. Her paintings depict landscapes as well as everyday life, highlighting the role and beauty of women. Both her paintings and writings include references to Latvian mythology and folklore.
After World War II, Hilda Vika was forced to convert her style to socialist realism. Although she did her best to master the rules of socialist realism, she was banned from the Latvian Artist Union in 1950. While her husband was sentenced to jail, Hilda Vika lost her status as an artist. She spent her last years in poverty, before she died in 1963.
Today, Hilda Vika is considered as one of the major Latvian artists. The Latvian national museum of art dedicated an exhibition to her work in 2019. In the meantime, the town of Dobele, in which the painter had her family house, announced a plan to create a cultural space to foster creativity in the city.
This article was brought to you by Theo, currently studying Russian at Liden & Denz Riga.
The picture displayed in this article is a painting entitled “The Flower Waterers”, by Hilda Vīka (ca. 1933). Watercolour on paper. Collection of the Latvian National Museum of Art. Photo: Normunds Brasliņš
