Riga Art Pit-Stop@Chekhov Theatre is a new concept space in the heart of Riga where creative synergy of performing and visual arts reigns supreme.
📅 Open 6 days a week, from 12.00 to 19.00, closed on Mondays.
Free entrance.
Born in the collaboration between Mikhail Chekhov Riga Russian Theatre and Zuzeum Art Center, Riga Art Pit-Stop@Chekhov Theatre invites visitors to discover the personality of Mikhail(Michael) Chekhov – one of the most influential theatre directors and actors of the 20th century – and to enjoy a thematic selection of artworks from the Zuzāns collection. The exposition is inspired by key concepts of the acting method, developed by Chekhov and adopted by countless theatre and film actors worldwide.
The inaugural exhibition of Riga Art Pit-Stop@Chekhov Theatre draws of Chekhov’s concept of imaginary body, showcasing 4 pieces by Marta Liepiņa-Skulme – the first professional Latvian woman sculptor. Like Chekhov, Liepiņa-Skulme was a truly cosmopolitan spirit, combining in her art influences as diverse as cubism and African sculpture. The early pieces selected for the exhibition present the body as an expressive, imaginary totality – one that Chekhov believed to be a key to successful acting.
Riga Art Pit-Stop@Chekhov Theatre is a place where your journey in art begins!
Marta Liepiņa-Skulme (1890–1962) was born in Mālpils parish to Andrejs Liepiņš, a scrivener, and Karolīne (also Karlīne) Šarlote Liepiņa. She received her education at the Kazan Art School, the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in St Petersburg, and studied with the sculptor P. Bromirsky in Moscow. Later, she visited Dresden, Berlin, and Paris, and the influence of Western European modernism she encountered there is vividly reflected in her later work. She worked primarily in sculpture, creating portraits, figural compositions, and monumental works. In 1924, she shared 1st and 2nd place with Kārlis Zāle in the competition for the Freedom Monument. In 1920, she married the painter Oto Skulme, with whom she had a daughter, the painter Džemma Lija Skulme (1925–2019).
