A new exhibition at the decorative Arts adn Design Museum (DMDM) in Riga, Latvia, sheds light on the work of Georgs Barkāns (1925-2010), a largely unheralded 20th-century Latvian textile artist. Marking the centennial of his birth, the show explores Barkāns’ diverse artistic practice-spanning textiles, painting, and architecture-and his recurring use of the unicorn motif. Despite numerous exhibitions during his lifetime, Barkāns’ work has remained relatively understudied, with existing scholarship often referencing a 1995 encyclopedia entry by dace Lamberga.
The word “unicorn” often conjures images of wildly successful startups, but a new exhibition at the Decorative Arts and Design Museum (DMDM) explores the artistic life of this mythical creature through the work of Georgs Barkāns (1925–2010). Marking the centennial of the Latvian textile artist, the show shines a light on a figure who, despite numerous solo and group exhibitions, hasn’t received the same level of recognition as contemporaries like Edīte Pauls-Vīgnere and Rūdolfs Heimrāts. Beyond a few small catalogs (1976, 1990), no comprehensive publication dedicated to Barkāns’ work exists, with most resources still referencing a section written by art historian Dace Lamberga in the 1995 encyclopedia Art and Architecture in Biographies 1.
That encyclopedia entry highlights the artist’s multifaceted nature, prompting curator Viļnis Vējš to present the DMDM exhibition as a catalyst for further, interdisciplinary research. Barkāns simultaneously studied at the Architecture Faculty of the University of Latvia (1945–1951) and the Painting Department of the Latvian Academy of Art (1946–1949), establishing himself not only as a textile artist but also as a painter and architect. He also demonstrated an interest in art criticism and theory, publishing in the press and writing a series of essays for the journal Latvijas Architektūra in the early 2000s.
Batik and Tapestries
One facet of Barkāns’ broad interests is revealed in his early works using the batik technique. While not uncommon in Latvian textile art, batik isn’t the most prevalent method. Introduced by Indonesian artists, batik is a complex, multi-step process involving alternating wax application and fabric dyeing. Barkāns’ batik pieces from the late 1960s and early 1970s embrace an archaic, primitivist style, blending a medieval naiveté with modernist simplicity and echoes of “severe style.” These batik compositions are among the few works displayed on the walls; most pieces (whether to call them tapestries or decorative textiles remains a debate among textile art scholars) are arranged throughout the space as installation elements.
The museum has employed a similar approach in previous exhibitions, creating a monumental, fluffy, textured labyrinth. This presentation encourages close observation of the textures, and Barkāns’ work showcases remarkable variety – from thick, short, and puffy “sofa pillow” textures (Revival of the Hero City, 1978; Flight of Birds, 1983) to delicately fine, flowing strands (Sea III, 2000), animal wool-like tufts (A Sheltered Tree, 1970), and relief strip patterns (Lime Tree, 1986) that combine different effects within a single work. Swedish composer Peter Sēderberg’s gently meditative music accompanies visitors as they navigate the labyrinth, enhancing the relaxing atmosphere.
Barkāns’ textiles are organically connected to Latvian textile art of the second half of the 20th century. Opening, for example, the long-out-of-print album Latvian Modern Applied Art (1980) reveals connections to the explorations of Rūdolfs Heimrāts, Ruta Bogustova, Aija Baumanes, Aina Muze, and other textile artists. A common thread is a broadly interpretable message relating to history, culture, and nature, expressed through figurative, floral, ornamental, and other motifs in varying degrees of stylization, abstraction, and the expressive potential of textile materials.
Contemporary Unicorns
However, Barkāns’ consistent focus on the unicorn image is a distinctive element of his artistic signature. According to medieval and Renaissance descriptions, the legendary creature could only be tamed by a virgin, while its horn was believed to purify water and heal illnesses. “Barkāns paraphrased European textile art classics, cycles of 14th–15th century tapestries created by unknown authors, which the artist had the opportunity to view at the National Medieval Museum in Cluny, France” (from the exhibition annotation). The six-tapestry cycle The Lady and the Unicorn at the Cluny Museum is interpreted as a symbolic representation of the five senses – taste, hearing, sight, smell, and touch – while the sixth work, inscribed with À mon seul désir (To My Only Desire), is more enigmatic but generally associated with the theme of love.
Barkāns’ The Legend (1974) is a clear quotation from the Cluny cycle’s Sight, depicting a lady holding a mirror reflecting a unicorn resting its head in her lap. The artist retains the original’s reddish tone and the presence of smaller animals, but avoids directly imitating the “thousand-flower” background and overall medieval structure, instead transforming the figures toward a modernizing simplicity.
The Captured Unicorn (1995–2002) suggests influences from another unicorn cycle – the seven-tapestry series The Hunt of the Unicorn – housed at The Cloisters museum in New York. The tapestry The Captured Unicorn (also known as Unicorn in Enclosure), considered the most popular work in the cycle, depicts the mythical animal within a circular fence; Barkāns’ version features a barely perceptible fence and replaces the background of small flowers with geometric fields and schematic trees.
Inspiration from the “thousand-flower” tapestry tradition isn’t unique to Barkāns’ work, and this connection to the classics likely reflects a desire to belong to European culture during the Soviet occupation. The legacy of earlier periods, often questioned from class-based perspectives at the time, was undeniably “safer” than the more reviled modernism of the 20th century with its formalism and abstraction. However, Barkāns’ interest in the unicorn theme clearly endured, and he likely became familiar with the Hunt of the Unicorn series after Latvia regained its independence. Barkāns’ unicorn examples also raise an intriguing question: where does the line lie between inspiration from art history and postmodern citation, and where do these works best fit within that framework—and perhaps even the usefulness of such a boundary.
A Question of Women
The accompanying texts to the exhibition emphasize the role of Georgs Barkāns’ wife, Dzidra Ozoliņa. They met while studying architecture in Ernests Štālbergs’ workshop. It’s noted that Ozoliņa made a significant contribution to the creation of Barkāns’ textiles, and that both learned the weaving technique at the Riga School of Applied Art, where Barkāns was invited to teach: “In the evenings, when the students went home, the looms were occupied by the teacher and his wife” (from the exhibition annotation). For context, the Department of Textile Art at the Latvian Academy of Art wasn’t established until 1961, meaning that it was primarily later generations who studied there.
The exhibition is supplemented by collaborative works by Barkāns and Ozoliņa, along with other colleagues – architectural models and projects for cultural centers, residential buildings, and department stores, where the presence of laconic, geometricizing modernist aesthetics is clearly discernible. A selection of photographs depicting various everyday and social moments, featuring numerous prominent figures from Latvian culture, also offer glimpses into their lives.
However, it’s possible to speculate that Dzidra Ozoliņa’s achievements as an architect aren’t adequately represented in the exhibition, and her role is reduced to that of a traditional, patriarchal muse. Formally and proportionally, this is arguably the case, but such a criticism would be more justified if the event’s format were a dual exhibition equally dedicated to exploring both personalities. The exhibition annotation just before the entrance, with the heading A Shelter for the Unicorn. Georgs Barkāns 1925–2010. Dzidra Ozoliņa 1922–2014, hints at this dual purpose, but ultimately proves misleading, perhaps indicating an abandoned idea for a dual exhibition. If a monographic project—an exhibition dedicated to the centennial of one artist—was chosen, an equivalent unveiling of the life’s work of his spouse wouldn’t be considered an obligatory component.
The surprisingly broad range from medieval “thousand-flower” tapestries to the legacy of 20th-century modernism seems to be at the core of Barkāns’ creative identity, further confirmed by a small collection of geometrically abstracted assemblages – painted, relief cardboard and wood compositions, where figurative elements may or may not be discerned (Untitled, 1984; Homage to Picasso, 1991; 1993). In the 1990s, abstraction became a widespread, finally permissible form of expression, but even in the 1980s, it often signified individual exploration and genuine interest.
EXHIBITION
A Shelter for the Unicorn. Textile Works by Georgs Barkāns
DMDM through February 8
