Ansis Artums (1908-1997) and Leonīds Āriņš (1907-1991) are two artists from Tukums, two friends of childhood and youth. Later they became like two intersecting parallels… They felt the necessity for each other also at times they didn’t meet; the awareness of the existence of the other was most important for both of them… Each of them followed his own way in art, and both were solitary men, though the art life in Tukums was focused on them. Vivid individuals with high erudition in arts, ardent admirers of French painting, but each pursuing his own manner of painting. Tukums can be proud of these two brilliant artists. When Āriņš said that painting is a form of high art attainable only to a great individual, he did not mean himself. Now we can rightly refer it to both of them. 

Ansis Artums used to paint the beauty around him: gardens in blossom, chestnut trees, the picturesque narrow streets of Tukums, the Slocene river in the time of floods or bird-cherries in blossom, whereas Leonīds Āriņš was fond of representing not so much what he saw than what he knew. The quest of forms was essential for both of them. This exhibition reveals how different they were, as each of them used their own means of expression – a brush, oil colours and canvas for Artums, a sheet of paper, a bottle of ink and pen for Āriņš. He was an ardent draftsman, all his drawings are superb, with a soul in them. On display are his ink drawings side by side with Artums’ paintings. From February 25 the viewers can assess how well they go with each other in the gallery Daugava.