Davydova-Medene, Lea Matisovna

Born Mar. 31, 1921, in Novadnieki, in present-day Saldus Raion, Latvian SSR. Soviet portrait sculptor. Honored Art Worker of the Latvian SSR (1966).

From 1941 to 1949, Davydova-Medene studied at the Academy of Arts in Riga under T. Zaļkalns. The diverse search for plastic means of depicting artistic images reflects the striving of the artist to express the individual uniqueness of the physical and spiritual temper of man, to emphasize his active, creative basis. Her works include portrait sculptures of P. Upītis (granite, 1960), M. Kempe (granite, 1961), and A. Upīts (granite, 1964–67), which are all in the Museum of Arts of the Latvian SSR in Riga. Among her other works are a monumental portrait scupture of I. Sudmalis (bronze, 1960, placed in Communards Square in Riga) and a portrait sculpture of K. Zemdega (granite, 1962–65, Russian Museum, Leningrad). For all of the above works Davydova-Medene received the State Prize of the Latvian SSR (1965).