Autumn Reflections, Circa 1985

Elvīra Stupenkova  

A graduate of the Design Department of the Art Academy of Latvia in 1983 and of Riga Technical University, she combined the discipline of design with a lifelong dedication to painting. She further developed her practice with Professor V. Kozins and artist J. Hermanis and was a member of the Latvian Designers' Society (LDS No. 131).

Associated with Romantic Realism, Stupenkova worked primarily in oil and watercolor. Landscapes, maritime scenes, flowers and still lifes became recurring subjects through which she explored atmospheric light, memory, seasonal change and the poetry of everyday life.

From the 1980s onward, she participated in exhibitions and cultural activities in Latvia and beyond. Her surviving archive includes exhibition photographs, invitations, press material, correspondence and academic records.

According to her family and surviving archives, hundreds of her works entered private collections in Latvia and elsewhere in Europe during her lifetime, largely through the traditional offline art market.

She occasionally worked under the name Alla Bogomazova; Stupenkova, her maternal grandmother's surname, became the name principally associated with her artistic legacy.

Following her death in 2021, paintings and extensive archival material remained preserved by her family. Selected works and documents have been entrusted to Abstract Art Gallery, Riga for research, preservation and international presentation.

The Elvīra Stupenkova Legacy Collection & Archive is now being progressively catalogued, preserving and reconnecting her work with the documented history of her artistic life.