Paper

2009.05

Maija Dragune

Gift

A Gift of the Artist

2004

23-1/4 in

19-3/8 in

She Contains Multitudes (2020)

Cultural/Historical Context

Carnival of Snails Maija Dragūne (b. 1945) Lithograph, 2004 Through over forty years of practice Latvian artist Maija Dragūne has developed a visual language all her own. In her enigmatic lithographs Dragūne takes natural and folkloric forms and transmutes them through her imagination, creating strange and surreal visions of carnivals, masks, musicians, shells, birds, and fish. In Carnival of Snails a mysterious masked figure clad in the diamond patterned costume of a Harlequin presides over a miniature table-top carnival of snail shells. The rhythmic interplay between black and white dazzles and entrances with its dramatic contrasts. Dragūne does not make preparatory sketches; rather she develops a composition in her head and follows it from start to finish on the lithography stone. “The polished surface of white stone proposes a great deal to me. Before I go to work, I have to have a clear idea, because stone will tolerate no repairs.”