ON THE WAY WITH PURVĪTIS: THE PATH OF TATJANA KAČALOVA
ON THE WAY WITH PURVĪTIS: THE PATH OF TATJANA KAČALOVA

Summary/Abstract: The article reiterates the main research path trodden by art historian Tatjana Kačalova (née Rosenschild-Paulin, 1915–2010) whose investigations on the art of Vilhelms Purvītis (1872–1945) in particular and Latvian landscape painting in general, carried out since the 1960s under Soviet occupation until the beginning of the 21st century in the independent Republic of Latvia, are important landmarks in the local history of this scholarly discipline. The historiographical lens is used for a biographical purpose – to create and contextualise an intellectual portrait of the researcher by considering a blend of various perspectives: relationships between Kačalova’s multicultural background and her commitment to the construction of Latvian national canon in the arts; comparison with imperial Russian, Baltic German, imperial Soviet, and Latvian exile approaches; institutional factors from the Art Academy of Latvia to Soviet centralised science policy and issues of book industry; strategies of internationalisation in source research and interpretation; the role of interdisciplinary interests and the researcher’s first artistic education; the immediate and retrospective reception of Tatjana Kačalova’s manuscripts and publications; implications and afterlife of her scholarly endeavours today.

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