The research project, initiated and organised by the Art Museum of Estonia, is a starting point and first stage of a broader goal of reactivating interdisciplinary research and networks regarding Estonian art in the first half of the 20th century. The project is meant to function as an active meeting space for researchers from Estonia, Norway, Latvia, Finland, Sweden etc. One of the aims of the project is to activate cross-disciplinary cooperation between different institutions, such as museums and universities.
Focusing on the relations between Scandinavia and Baltic countries, we see the project as a process of building up the research network, led by moderators of research groups, with the meetings, discussions, lectures etc. held in different institutions in Estonia and Norway. For further cooperation, joint research and curatorial initiatives, the research and network project aims to bring together topics and themes that are currently being worked on or are up-coming among the researchers of the period.
Nowadays, from the Estonian point of view, examining the contexts and developments in Scandinavian and Estonian culture during the period of modernisation and nation building requires a systematic and interdisciplinary approach, highlighting new views, comparisons and topics, as well as goals for further research.
The main goal of the project is to encourage studies of the entire period. The researchers are expected to take an interdisciplinary approach and focus on themes that lead to comparative analysis between Scandinavia and Baltic countries. Particular importance should be given to topics that draw connections between studies in art history and other relevant and important fields, such as history, sociology, the history of ideas, gender, cultural nationalism, critical theory and ecocriticism.
Expected focus topics: visual culture and the construction of national identities (e.g. transnational nationalism, and the role of folk culture and folklore), women, ethnic and racial minorities, the body, gender and sexuality, migration, war, class and visual culture, the environment and ecocriticism, relationships with place and location, and landscape experience.
Network groups
I. Thinking Through Nationalism and Indigeneity in Early 20th Century Visual Culture: Baltic and Scandinavian Comparisons
Moderator Linda Kaljundi, PhD (Estonian Academy of Arts)
By focusing on the relationships among visual culture, identity and nation-building, this work group takes up recent debates on the decolonisation of art history and heritage in the Nordic and Baltic regions. We argue that the early twentieth century is a crucial period for these discussions, as this age of nation-building is fundamental for thinking through and historicising such concepts as identity, authenticity, indigeneity and race in this field.
The current debates on decolonisation in Norway and Estonia are both similar and different, providing a fertile basis for comparison. In Norway, as in Northern Europe as a whole, decolonisation efforts have largely focused on the indigenous Sapmi culture and on amnesia regarding Nordic involvement in colonial projects around the world. In Estonia and the eastern Baltic, the decolonisation of art history has mostly been associated with deconstructing the dominant Russian and Eurocentric narratives and canons.
We propose to combine these two perspectives and to examine the early 20th century constructions of ancient history and heritage, authentic folk culture, indigeneity, race and whiteness from a comparative angle, as well as highlighting the transnational and transcultural aspects of the romantic nationalist cultivation of visual culture by the emerging young nations.
II. Early 20th Century Political, Cultural and Intellectual History, Baltic-Scandinavian Connections and Creative Interactions
Moderator Mart Kuldkepp, PhD (Tartu University / University College London)
This work group brings together political, intellectual and cultural historians of the early 20th century (pre-World War II) Baltic Sea region. The thematic focus is on the ideas and aspirations of early 20th century national and social movements in the Baltics, as well as the policies of contemporary governing powers that they interacted with: the Romanov Empire, German occupation regimes, and the newly formed Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian nation states.
The group members’ research delves into policies and ideas of national self-determination and social reform, including the origins, spread and implementation of relevant political concepts within transnational and regional frameworks. Particular areas of interest are Baltic-Scandinavian interactions, as well as the intersection of political activities and cultural expressions, investigating how artists, writers and musicians made use of or contributed to the popularisation of ideas tied to national and international politics, including national self-determination and social change.
III. Missing Link in Art History: The First Private Collectors of National Contemporary Art in the Nordic and Baltic Countries
Moderator Nils Ohlsen, PhD (Lillehammer Art Museum)
Such works as P.S. Krøyer’s Hip Hip Hurrah, Edvard Munch’s The Scream, and Richard Bergh’s Nordic Summer Evening are now considered icons of Nordic art. What is far less known is that these works entered public awareness thanks to the initiative of some of the first private collectors of national contemporary art in the Nordic countries.
The seminar at the Lillehammer Art Museum aims to shed light on the practice of collecting, as well as the artistic, cultural, political and social motivations behind this new type of collector.
Project coordinator: Liis Pählapuu,
In collaboration with:
Lillehammer Art Museum, Estonian Academy of Arts and Tartu University
