Marta Skulme

Marta Skulme was born on May 13, 1890 in Mālpils Municipality in a family of a farmer.

Skulme studied at Art School in Kazan (1912–1914) and at Tavricheskaya Art School in Petrograd (1914–1918) under the guidance of sculptor Leonid Sherwood. She worked mainly in small forms of sculpture, although she possessed excellent gift of a monumentalist (in 1924 she shared the 1st prize with Kārlis Zāle in the competition for the Freedom Monument).[2] The plastic art of Marta Skulme has developed to artistic generalization. Her images possess elements of spiritual balance, inner nobility. The sculptress worked in different materials (granite, bronze, wood), however the majority of her sculptures are performed in plaster castings. She participated in exhibitions since 1920. Her works have been presented at the republican, USSR exhibitions and abroad.[3]

Marta Skulme died on January 3, 1962 in Riga. She was buried on January 7, 1962 at the Riga Forest Cemetery.

Sculptural portraits:

• "Portrait of Father", 1923
• "Head of a Woman", 1930
• "Portrait of Džemma", 1940
• "Portrait of Teodors Zaļkalns", 1952
• "Portrait of Academician Lidija Liepiņa", 1960

Figurative compositions:

• "Woman from Vidzeme", 1928
• "Sheafbinder", 1949
• "Sack Carrier", 1950
• "Successors", 1957

• Excerpt from documentary “Amazon of avant-garde: Marta Liepina-Skulme”