The double spirit of the ex libris made by Natalija Cernetsova
by Stefania Clerici
In life and in meeting artists – with notable examples –
often poetry and the simple flow of days interlace. I have to thank
a simple pair of broken socks if I have known the great Latvian
etcher Natalija Cernetsova (Riga, 1969). We met
in occasion of one of its travels in Italy, in the home of an important
ex libris artist and collector, Ernesto Guffanti.
However we had not had way to speak much. Just the following day
we met again at the railway station, because both were going to
Milan. She had missed the train: her socks broke and she had had
to buy a new pair.
During the travel, we have been able therefore to chat and to deepen our acquaintance: Natalija has in fact a great mastery of the Italian language, a much rare one for those who learn it as a foreign language.
Previously, I had already known the artist for reputation, also because I had admired its etchings: a world of legends and myths bloomed between the North seas and Italian architectures, a perception of flashes and sinuous swirls that fascinate and disquiet.
"Natalija has searched and found her way to express herself, taking inspiration from the Nordic traditional themes (in her case, Baltic) where the nature, the sacred and mythology don’t have defined borders. A close inspection reveals how the mythological divinities mostly come from the Mediterranean Greek-Roman tradition” (Beccaletto): in Cernetsova’s etchings and ex libris there’s a double spirit to be breathed, it resounds from the old rocks of Riga – birthplace of the artist – and the Italian voice of places and people that seem to speak with the sweet and strong marks of her works.
Natalija herself, in a note, remembers the Latvian capital: “The sharp gothic towers draw the well known panorama of Riga. One can observe the Renaissance elements, rich baroque ornament, classic shapes and the fantastic creative outbreak in elegant Art Nouveau buildings that Riga boasts. The sparkling waters of the Daugava river, a green hill of parks, music at the corners of the streets, a colourful frame for the city that breathes a magical and fabulous atmosphere…”
She graduated at the Riga University, in Economy and Banking Sciences, although she had already demonstrated a marked interest for the design. But later on, still in her city, she kept the studies in an art school.
She took part to a number of ex libris congresses, won many prizes,
has exposed in several exhibitions, one of the latest being the
one that took place in October 2005 at the Mediterranean
Ex Libris Museum in Ortona (Italy). Cristiano Beccaletto
edited the catalogue.
Natalija Cernetsova, exl op. 226, Marie-Rose
Theunis
C3, 100x70 mm, Leda
Still before exposing her works in Ortona, the artist already was tied to Italy, country that Natalija considers the preferred destination of her numerous travels: in fact, as she says, our country “is a paradise of Art and Nature [because one can admire] unique cities like Rome, Florence, Venice, rich museums that keep the masterpieces of great masters, an atmosphere of creativity and spirituality […] signs of the times, of nature and the life of several centuries that are discovered with every step and with every visit.”
“In Italy, every human work is found to a higher level, often
transforming itself in art work. The sun, that with its warm light
flows generously, mirrors on old palaces’ white marbles, on
the facades of the houses, on windows, on porticoes, on the balconies,
on the public squares and the ways crowded from the smiling
and enlivened people, a lively multicultural sea!”.
Moreover, Cernetsova thinks that “Italy, with its activities
in the artistic field of the ex libris, gives an actual answer that
lets us hope in a bright future for the art of the small
graphics. It’ll be enough to remind, other than the
Ortona project, the Acqui Terme Biennal – that presents to
...
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