Jānis Tīdemanis

Latvian painter Jānis Tīdemanis had an adventurous youth - he went to sea and during these journeys visited art schools in America. He received his professional education in Antwerpen in Belgium, where he lived for more than a decade. Due to the fact that he took part in the Los Angeles art competitions during this period, he is considered as representing Belgium. In the mid-1930s he returned to Latvia, where he made friends with local artists and held workshops for young artists in Rīga’s neighborhood of Pārdaugava. He had a reputation for unconventional social behavior, also in his way to organize exhibitions. When the Latvian capital was evacuated towards the end of World War II, he was deported to Germany, leaving behind hundreds of paintings. He then fled to Switzerland and eventually emigrated to Canada. Influenced by Belgian expressionists, Tīdemanis was one of the few modern painters in Latvia. He used strong contrasts and expressive colors in his oil paintings. His favorite genres were still lives, landscapes and cityscapes and figures, preferably his wife. His painting was entered under the title Swimming, while it’s originally called Kanāla pārpeldētājas (Channel Swimmers).