Estonian art under Communism (Part 7) Many established artists made dramatic changes in their oeuvres during this decade, but quite often these alterations were designed to emphasize the Estonian roots of their art. Avo Keerend (b. 1920) moved toward abstraction in the 1980s, creating prints like Still Life with Olives, 1984, but in doing so he deliberately paid homage to the Estonian geometric abstractionists of the 1920s. At the same time, he also started to use intense colors, a clear reflection of the influence of Konrad Magi (1878-1925), the foremost colorist in Estonia and the first director of the Art School “Pallas.” Magi’s Impressionist and Fauve-inspired approach was originally designated unacceptable by the Communist Party, but in 1968 a commemorative exhibition of his work was organized and, by the 1980s, intense colors as well as other forms of color exploration had begun to appear in the work of Keerend and other artists. Sirje Runge, for example, also started to explore subtle color tonalities at this time. Her paintings from the early 1980s, like Landscape 23 (1982), consist of dreamy, dematerialized Fields of color with slight tonal variations intersected by rectangular color areas of related but darker tonalities. These works remain mysterious and without any evident message. In contrast, Juri Arrak started to use charcoal as his medium in this decade, following the historic example of Kristjan Raud. In these works, Arrak explores the relationship between men and animals. International stimuli and influences became increasingly evident in Estonian art as wider foreign travel became possible. Vello Vinn’s prints sometimes represent monsters that appear to be constructed of readymade parts, as in his photo etching Wednesday I, 1983. In such works, Vinn reminds the viewer of Arcimboldo, the sixteenth-century Italian artist who created men of vegetables and other recognizable objects. Peeter Ulas divides his prints into three horizontal registers reminiscent of the paintings of Mark Rothko. Within these tiers, Ulas then examines natural atmospheric and geological forms. There were other general stylistic tendencies among Estonian artists in the 1980s, including a movement toward more compact compositions and more generalized form. The narrative background of earlier decades was often abandoned in favor of a uniform blank ground. There was, in addition, a noticeable interest in preserving the autonomy of the two-dimensional surface plane behind which opens a narrow ledge-like space (this is notable in the work of Vive Tolli, Tonis Vint, and Evi Tihemets). The hard-edge painting style of Hyperrealism often gave way in the 1980s to a soft painterly brushstroke reminiscent of the “Pallas” style (as in the work of Jaan Elken). The popularity of Hyperrealism declined, and Symbolism and Surrealism become dominant. In 1989, the Worldwide Association of Surrealism, which includes artists, writers, and poets, was established in Tallinn. What has developed slowly, but is apparent today, is the revival of artistic life in Tartu, a city which for many years was deprived of its cultural heritage. This restoration began in 1957, when, as in the nineteenth century, the University of Tartu established a studio-art program, now known as the Art Cabinet (Kunstikabinett) in the Education and Methodology Department. By 1967, the art students had organized an association, called Visarid (i.e., someone in opposition, not satisfied), which was comparable to the ANK ’64 movement in Tallinn. The new program offered studio training in drawing, watercolor, oil, ceramics, and metalwork to all university students and, in particular, to the future elementary teachers of history and languages as a secondary field of teaching. As in the nineteenth century, the program has been successful. Furthermore, in 1988 a division of the State Art Institute of Tallinn was established at the University of Tartu with a five-year curriculum. At present, however, the university is considering integrating it as a university department. In 1988, local artists, writers, and poets established the Art Association of Tartu, modeling it after the Art Association of “Pallas,” which existed from 1918 to 1940. The earlier association was responsible for the creation of the Art School “Pallas” in 1919. And while the reborn organization has not yet reached that high level of development, it has opened a small studio and an art gallery for the exhibition of contemporary art, the first of its kind in Tartu. Until now, artists in Tartu have valiantly tried to keep alive the style of “Pallas.” With these new developments in Tartu, only one question remains: Will there be a School of Tartu that will return the artistic life of the city to its former level of distinction? The same question may be asked with regard to Estonian art in general now that there exists a new democratic situation, where art is free from censorship, where artists have the right to organize their own exhibitions, and where a free exchange of ideas is a regular possibility. (Olga Berendsen)
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 10:47:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015