Lucia Peka

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Lucia Peka
The Artist at work in her Pennsylvania studio 1970.
Birth name	Lucija Rudzitis
Born	March 30, 1912(1912-03-30) Umurga, Latvia
Died	August 13, 1991 (aged 79) Pennsylvania, USA
Nationality	Latvian American
Field	Painting
Training	McGill Conservatory in Montreal Canada and Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Movement	Colorism

Lucia Peka (March 30, 1912 - August 13, 1991) was a Latvian-American artist and painter.

Contents 1 Life and work 1.1 Latvian diaspora 2 Awards and criticism 3 Associations 4 Artist's signature 5 Gallery 5.1 Still life 5.2 Landscape 5.3 Figurative 6 External links

[edit] Life and work

Born in Latvia, raised in Sweden, France and Canada, Lucija Rudzitis was educated in Canada and the United States, before marrying Andrew Peka. They worked and resided in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania until her death, in 1991.

Lucia's father was a Roman Catholic priest in the St. Jacob Cathedral, Riga, Latvia until the family fled to Sweden during World War II.

After leaving Sweden with her family, Peka studied art at the McGill Conservatory in Montreal, Canada, and the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh where her art was exhibited at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

[edit] Latvian diaspora

Peka is part of the Latvian Diaspora - Latvian nationals who produced art outside of Latvia during the Soviet occupation. As more than 200,000 Latvian citizens died during World War II and the Nazi occupation, thousands of Latvians fled the country to become the Diaspora. When these Latvian "Displaced Persons" came to the United States and other western countries, they saw in the subsequent Soviet occupation of their homeland, an effort to eradicate Latvian culture. But resources are now available, in Latvia and abroad, to provide a substantial overview of art from this Latvian Diaspora period. In Latvia the three main institutions responsible for maintaining such information on artists of the Diaspora are the Latvian National Museum of Art, the Latvian Center for Contemporary Art and the Latvian Artist’s Union. Together, they have begun to complete the history of European art.

[edit] Awards and criticism

R. Stevens of La Revue Moderne, commenting on a December 1968 retrospective of her work in Montreal, wrote, "Lucia's paintings are powerful and heavily textured. She suggests whole worlds, working with simple but ample strokes of brush and pallet knife. Her painting, 'The Well' stands out against the light of a tormented sky, suggesting a feeling of pathetic solitude. Her choice of colors is strong yet harmonious. Her compositions seem almost musical. She may be one of the last great colorists."

Lucia Peka won the "Purchase Prize" at the Ford City, Pennsylvania Art Collection. She won the Lila Shelby Award at the National Academy Museum in New York. Owners of her work include the Latvian National Museum of Art, the Permanent Collection in the Alfred Khouri Memorial Wing of the Chrysler Museum of Fine Arts in Norfolk Virginia, the Huntington Library and Museum at San Marino, actor George Clooney, and former New York Governor Mario Cuomo. Many of her paintings have been donated to charitable endeavors, such as the Women's Hospital in Cleveland, PBS Channel 13 (New York) and the American Cancer Society.

After a June 1969 showing of Peka's work at the Chrysler Museum, Cornelia Justice of the Norfolk Ledger-Star (now merged with The Virginian-Pilot) commented, "I recall with pleasure the Lucia Peka oil so innocuously labeled 'Flowers'. With a technique so bold and a color sense so far above average, this should have been given a more flamboyant title."

[edit] Associations

During her lifetime, Peka was an active member of several Latvian Diaspora art associations and regional artist groups, including: Copley Society of Art (Copley, Mass.), Fairfax Virginia Art League, the American Latvian Artists Association, Artist's League of Central New Jersey, the National Association of Women Artists in New York, and the American Latvian Associationof Rockville, Maryland.

[edit] Artist's signature

[edit] Gallery

Interest in Peka's lifetime of work is steadily increasing as more becomes known about the extent of the Latvian Diaspora, and the artists who comprise it. Since the reestablishment of an independent Latvia in 1991, Latvian nationals have begun to catalogue and exhibit art from this period, which has become more valuable as Latvians attempt to reclaim missing parts of their culture.

In a 1972 interview, Lucia Peka explained that her "outlook on life has always been bright, hopeful and positive with a relentless energy and movement." When asked about her preference for working with oils and the pallet knife, the artist compared her painting to "cooking with butter, both having a similar texture."

According to Dr. Ansis Karps of the Latvian National Museum of Art, Peka was, "always surrounded by music, and had a wonderfully sensitive and absorbing life as she sought to express feelings, desires and dreams through oil painting."

[edit] Still life

"Still Life with Fruit" 1965	"Flowers 4" 1965	"Blue Vase" 1967	"Red Blossoms" 1971
"Sunflowers" 1975	"Flowers (Ziedi)" 1969	"Summer Still Life"	"Flowers"

[edit] Landscape

"Landscape" 1973	"Land's End" 1971	"Winter Lake" 1972	"Boats" 1972
"Harbour" 1972	"Poplars" 1971	"Riga" 1971	"Sailboat" 1968
"Spring Lake" 1964	"Storm Clouds" 1964	"The Well"	"Windmills" 1969
"Sea Scape"	"Shore Moon"	"Summer Place"	"Seagulls"

[edit] Figurative

"Dinner" 1966	"Moonbeams" 1973	"Flower Stand" 1974	"Sisters" 1971
"Three Sisters"	"Farm Idyll" 1972	"Flower Girls" 1966	"In the Garden" 1966
"Farm Scape" 1964	"Heritage"	"Wheat Stacks"	"Still Life I"

[edit] External links

• Additional information about Latvian artists in Canada
• The Center for Latvian Diaspora Art (Diasporas Makslas Centrs)
• See the "Art in Exile" Chapter of "The Visual Arts in Latvia" at the Latvian Institute
• Examine the history of the "American Lavtian Artists Association (ALMA)"

Persondata
NAME	Peka, Lucia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Lucija Rudzitis
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Latvian painter
DATE OF BIRTH	March 30, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH	Umurga, Latvia
DATE OF DEATH	August 13, 1991
PLACE OF DEATH	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania