2019 - 09 - 21
Gederts Eliass was born on the 23rd of September 1887, at „Zīlēni”, Platone civil parish, Jelgava district. Parents Jānis and Karlīne Eliass could give to their four children working habits, persistence, self-independence and accuracy in all matters. Besides mother had passed to Gederts the skill to see the beautiful – both in small and large things. The stable, aesthetic basis obtained in the family helped G. Eliass to live his life in conformity with himself. Even then when externals urged to compromise.
G.Eliass is considered to be the founder of pastoral genre in Latvian painting. Scenes from native “Zīlēni” everyday life are the greatest and truest portrayal of Latvian farmstead and its people in the national painting. In his paintings this theme acquired such a noble, philosophically universal and epically extended character for the first time.
He was rich and varied in his creative work, gifted with strong and peculiar talent and great working capacity. He left more than 1,000 oil paintings, approximately 600 watercolours, 200 pastels and nearly 2,000 paintings.
