Eduard Fridrikhovich Kalnyn

Born Oct 12 (25), 1904, in Riga. Soviet painter. People’s Artist of the USSR (1975). Member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1970).

Kalnyn’ studied under V. Purvitis at the Latvian Academy of Arts in Riga from 1923 to 1932. He became an instructor at the Academy of Arts of the Latvian SSR in 1945; receiving a professorship there in 1955. Kalnyn’s art played a large role in the development of Latvian genre painting. His landscapes and genre scenes are characterized by large-scale compositions and large, rhythmic planes of color. They are primarily devoted to the difficult work of fishermen and the magnificent beauty of the elements of the sea. Kalnyn’s works include The Raftsmen (1935), New Sails (1945), The Seventh Baltic Regatta (1952), Latvian Fishermen in the Atlantic (1957), and In the Distance (1967)—all except the last painting are in the Museum of Art of the Latvian SSR in Riga.