THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PERSONALITY IN DEFINING AND REALISATION OF THE ROLE OF A MUSEUM: A CASE STUDY OF TUKUMS MUSEUM (1953–1960)

Abstract

The paper reflects the understanding of Auguste Kapmane, Director of the State Tukums Museum (the present Tukums Museum), on the role of the museum, or rather its contribution to society in accordance with ideological tasks of Soviet museums. It also deals with her activities in realisation of the role of museum within the context of the social-political events of the 1950s. Evaluation of her activities in Tukums is not unambiguous. Although she had been a member of the Communist Party since 1917 and she was head of a museum whose collection was dominated by artwork of the pre-Soviet period, she held professional criteria higher than ideological tasks. She did not comply with the demand of several evaluation commissions of the museum collections to destroy the works of the so-called formalists and she also dared to exhibit pictures by some émigré painters. Likewise, she enlarged the museum collection with prominent artwork by Latvian painters from collections of other museums during the so-called cleansing actions.