Tartu Art Museum : Paintings

DOKUMENDIREGISTER EESTI KEELES

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Exhibitions in the Leaning Building on Town Hall Square

Tartu, Raekoja plats 18

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Paintings

The collection of paintings of the Tartu Art Museum consists mainly of Estonian art of the 20^th century. There are only few examples from the 19^th century. Therefore the selection of works by Johann Köler, and his contemporaries such as Karl Ludvig Maibach, Paul Raud and others is relatively random and small.

Estonian art of the 20^th century starting from its first decade is, however, quite well represented. It is possible to get a good overview of the work of grand masters from the turn of the century such as Nikolai Triik and Konrad Mägi. The collection includes, for instance, the famous avant-gardist painting by Ado Vabbe, "In the cafe" (1918).

Johann Köler
Portrait of the daughter of Nikolay Petrovitsch Semjonov. 1865

Ado Vabbe
In the cafe. 1918

Aleksander Vardi
Montmartre in the evening. 1938

Johannes Võerahansu
Landscape with geese.1938

Worth a special mention are the paintings by artists who studied in the Higher Art School Pallas.

This formed the basis ofthe museum's collection of paintings and is by now more representative than the collection of works by the school of artists born in Tartu. There are several paintings by Aleksander Vardi, Johannes Võerahansu, Kaarel Liimand, Andrus Johani, Juhan Muks, Karl Pärsimägi, Karin Luts, Elmar Kits, Endel Kõks and Alfred Kongo. There are considerably fewer paintings by artists who were active in the 1920s and 1930s outside Tartu.

During the post-war decades, the collection grew largely by the addition of paintings by artists who were active in Tartu. The collections of works of those artists who received their art education in Tartu, the so-called Tartu circle of friends, are also quite rich and include painters such as Ülo Sooster, Lembit Saarts, Kaja Kärner, Valve Janov, Lüüdia Vallimäe-Mark, Silvia Jõgever. The same can be said about the collections of slightly younger Tartu artists Ilmar Malin and Efraim Allsalu, and the even younger Helle Vahersalu and Saskia Kasemaa.

Ülo Sooster
Coloured junipers. 1966

Elmar Kits
Interjor II. 1970

Jüri Kask
KUU-UU. 1995

Julie Hagen-Schwarz
Mandolin player. 1851

Painters from Tallinn, such as Olav Maran, Olev Subbi, and Enn Põldroos, also members of the ANK-64 movement like Jüri Arrak, Malle Leis, Kristiina Kaasik, and younger painters Andres Tolts, Jaan Elken, etc, are represented by fewer paintings.

Besides Estonian art, the collection of paintings also includes a few examples of Russian and West-European art. Noteworthy is the heritage of the Baltic German painters who were active in Tartu in the 19^th century, where the works by Julie Hagen-Schwarz deserve special emphasis.