Arts and a Nation ─ The Role of Visual Arts and Artists in the Making of the Latvian Identity, 1905-1940

Focusing on Latvia, (between 1905 and 1940), Suzanne Pourchier-Plasseraud, has chosen a nation without an ancient state history of its own, to illustrate the evolution of the concept of national identity into a claim for independence, with the help of art and artists.

Suzanne Pourchier-Plasseraud (PhD in History, Universite de Paris 1- La Sorbonne) has extensively travelled in the Baltic States since 1988 and is a specialist in visual arts of Lithuania and Latvia. She is one of the co-authors ofCapitales baltes (Autrement ,1999 ), Carnets baltes 1980-1999 (Lituanica, 1999),Les Litvaks, heritage universel d’un monde juif disparu (la Decouverte, 2008), and the author ofLes Arts de la nation, construction nationale et arts visuels en Lettonie 1905-1934 (Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2012).