Our Modernism. Estonian Sculpture in the 1960s–1970s
Location: 4th floor, B-wing
The three-dimensional objects on display at the exhibition “Our Modernism. Estonian Sculpture in the 1960s–1970s” offer both aesthetic pleasure and an art historical overview of an era which focussed on the meaningfulness of shapes, on new materials, and on universal human ideas.
“As is characteristic of classic Estonian Modernist sculpture, the works displayed are beautiful and have an extraordinarily positive emotional effect,” says the curator Juta Kivimäe about the exhibition. “All the sculptures come from an era which we have started to forget; we seldom consider how up to date with modern trends in art our local artists were in those decades.” At the end of the 1950s, Estonian artists were once again able to form links with various trends in the West. They could visit the first foreign art exhibitions in Moscow and Leningrad, and the World’s Fair in Brussels. A sculpture exhibition for Baltic republics took place in Riga and an exhibition on Finnish art was held in the Tallinn Art Hall.
New materials – chamotte, aluminium, epoxy resin, plastics and dolomite – gave new meanings to sculptures. The movement towards abstract art had to be rediscovered, as the pre-war sculptors had not managed to make it an inherent part of the Estonian artistic tradition. The modernist shapes of monuments created at that time undermined the authority of socialist realism. A new aesthetic emerged in all areas of art in the 1970s in which sculpture artists in general focussed more on the meaningfulness of forms. “Young sculptors combined both abstract and figurative elements, thus creating witty constructs and giving shape to universal human philosophical ideas,” Kivimäe explains. “New subject matter was introduced to Estonian sculpture, forms became more grotesque and the sense of reality became twisted. A generation of young female artists, with their themes and aesthetic, drew attention in the art scene.”
Artists:
Albert Eskel, Juta Eskel, Ernst Jõesaar, Aime Jürjo, Ellen Kolk, Ilme Kuld, Riho Kuld, Aime Kuulbusch-Mölder, Lydia Laas, Tõnu Maarand, Elfriide Maran, Mare Mikof, Peeter Mudist, Olav Männi, Maire-Helve Männik, Ants Mölder, Arseni Mölder, Juhan Paberit, Hille Palm, Lembit Palm, Kaie Parts, Anu Põder, Kalju Reiteli, Aulin Rimm, Enn Roos, Jaak Soans, Roman Timotheus, Lembit Tolli, Adele Ulm-Augustas, Matti Varik, Edgar Viies, Erna Viitol, August Vomm, Ülo Õun
Collections:
Art Museum of Estonia, Tartu Art Museum, Tallinn Art Hall, Estonian History Museum, private collections.
Curator: Juta Kivimäe
Exhibition designer: Isabel Aaso-Zahradnikova
Graphic designer: Külli Kaats
