Voldemārs Matvejs

Voldemārs Matvejs (1877–1914) was a Latvian artist and art theorist. Despite dying in 1914, he was to have a significant impact on the development of Soviet art. Nikolay Punin remarked: "If he had not died so early he would have been the first among us: he knew what was necessary for art better than the others: he saw and understood better than the rest."^[1] He was one of the founders of the Union of Youth in 1908.

Voldemārs Matvejs c. 1912

He had a particular interest in African art and his writing in this area has been compared with that of Carl Einstein.^[1]

Faktura

Main article: Faktura

Matvejs was the art theorist who pioneered the concept of Faktura.^[2]

Gallery

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  Red Roofs, Visby (ca. 1909)
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  Ancient Times (ca. 1910)
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  Yellow Square (1911)
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  View of Paris (1912)
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  Red and Black (1913)