Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/niklavs-strunke-2006" aria-label="More by Niklavs Strunke" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Niklavs Strunke</a>
Town Kraslava
Purchased 1939
adults
architecture
building - non-specific
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
countries and continents
figure
Kraslava
Latvia
people
places
street
townscapes / man-made features
painting oil paint canvas
The Town of Kraslava
support: 543 × 690 mm
Purchased 1939
<p><b>Nikl</b><b>ā</b><b>vs Strunke</b><span> 1894-1966 </span>
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<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/strunke-the-town-of-kraslava-n05033" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05033</span></a> </span><b>The Town of Kr</b><b>ā</b><b>slava</b><span>
1937-8 </span>
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<p><span>Inscribed 'N. Strunke' b.l.</span>
<br/><span>Oil on canvas, 21 1/4 x 26 3/4 (54 x 68)</span>
<br/><span>Purchased from the artist with the aid of Lord Bossom and the Latvian Government 1939</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
</span><i>Art de la Lettonie</i><span>, Musée du Jeu de Paume, Paris, January-February 1939 (133); </span><i>Art of Latvia</i><span>, RIBA, London, May 1939 (122)</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i><span>
</span><i>Nikl</i><i>ā</i><i>va Strunkes Trimdas Gr</i><i>ā</i><i>mata</i><span>
(Daugava 1971), p.125, dated 1938 </span>
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<p><span>Kr</span><span>ā</span><span>slava, a small town of some 4,000 inhabitants, is in what was then south-eastern Latvia, close to the border with Poland. According to Mrs Olga Strunke (letter of 28 November 1975), her husband spent every summer travelling through regions of Latvia on foot or by whatever mechanised means were available, and on each occasion when he returned to Riga he would say that he had discovered a new and exciting part of Latvia. 'This is how he came to do many <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> of Kr</span><span>ā</span><span>slava, Daugavpils and other cities which he painted </span><i>in their natural surroundings</i><span>, and which had captivated him because of their mythology and folklore, mythical church celebrations and provincial simplicities.' </span>
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<p><span>The artist said in April 1953 that this picture was painted in 1937, but it is reproduced in the posthumous book of his writings with the date 1938. Mrs Strunke explains that it was begun in 1937 and finished in 1938. Strunke also painted some similar pictures of Kr</span><span>ā</span><span>slava in 1939. </span>
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<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.710-11, reproduced p.710 </span>
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Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults architecture building - non-specific cities, towns, villages (non-UK) countries and continents figure Kraslava Latvia people places street townscapes / man-made features