Before Words
Laima Eglīte
Art begins where words alone are not enough. Before thought is ever articulated, it finds form in movement, gaze, gesture and colour. It is within this quiet space that Laima Eglīte’s painting has evolved for over half a century.
Eglīte holds a distinctive place in the history of Latvian art. She belongs to a generation that sought new expressive possibilities in the visual arts and the theatre during the latter half of the twentieth century. An important part of this cultural landscape was Rīga Pantomime – both a remarkable form of stage art and a way of thinking where movement and gesture became a language in its own right.
Eglīte is part of this cultural phenomenon and its legacy. Having moved from the stage to the canvas, she kept thinking in terms of pantomime. This is why movement in her paintings is not depicted but organically present.
The characters in Eglīte’s paintings – mimes, clowns, enigmatic figures and elegant ladies – do not tell stories in the conventional sense. They embody a mix of human vulnerability, self-irony and quiet dignity. A single gesture, a turn of the head or the rhythm captured in the placement of the hands often says more than narrative itself. In this world, silence carries meaning.
Eglīte’s style has evolved without dramatic shifts. Her work shows Modernist and Cubist influences, but they never become an end in themselves. Form always serves the human presence.
Ultimately, “Before Words” is about the ways culture carries itself forward – how one creative experience continues in another artistic language. In Eglīte’s canvases, movement shapes composition, gesture defines form, and pantomime’s way of thinking lives on in painting.
The exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Mans’s Gallery in Jēkabpils, which marks its 35th anniversary in 2026. Eglīte’s association with the gallery began in its earliest years and has grown into a lasting partnership. Through it, her work has found its way into numerous private collections and continues to be exhibited in Latvia and beyond, keeping her visible in Latvia’s professional art scene.
The Rothko Museum exhibition is the latest chapter in this longstanding relationship, built on trust in the artist and a consistent appreciation of her art.
Uldis Čamans, Mans’s Gallery
Māris Čačka, Rothko Museum
Laima Eglīte (born 1945 in Rīga) is a painter, illustrator and animation film artist, recognised as one of the most distinctive voices in Latvian figurative painting. For over fifty years, her work has returned to humanity, its emotional landscape and the quiet poetics of movement.
After graduating from the Janis Rozentāls Rīga Secondary Art School, Eglīte went on to study painting at the Art Academy of Latvia under Professor Eduards Kalniņš. A member of the Artists’ Union of Latvia since 1976, she has exhibited in Latvia and internationally since 1969.
An important chapter in Eglīte’s artistic biography is her involvement with Rīga Pantomime. Her experience there became central to her artistic thinking and later shaped her painting. Alongside painting, she has illustrated dozens of children’s books and worked closely with the animation studio “Dauka”, creating characters for major Latvian films.
Her works are held in the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art, the Museum of the Artists’ Union of Latvia, the Rothko Museum and numerous other public and private collections in Latvia and abroad.
Curated by Uldis Čamans and Māris Čačka
Supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia and the Daugavpils City Council
11 September – 29 November 2026
Publicity image: Laima Eglīte, “Dance” (detail), oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cm, 2026
