Soviet Woman in Estonian Art
Location: 4th floor, B-wing
The exhibition introduces forgotten or little known works from early Soviet Estonian art, concentrating on the image of “new Soviet femininity”, that played important role in Soviet ideology and culture. Our collective memory tends to identify this with representations that carry clear political and ideological messages of Soviet power and gender politics: e.g. women workers and tractor drivers, party functionaries and also peace demonstrators carrying the red flag. But why not include portraits of Soviet Estonian intellectuals and cultural workers? And why exclude images of Estonian women dressed in folk costumes for Song Festivals that continued to take place during the Soviet period? The works of art in this exhibition show that representation of Soviet femininity in Estonian art was heterogeneous and that, in addition to the usual signifiers of a specifically Soviet identity – i.e. women workers and collective farmers, there existed a whole array of other images.
The exhibition embraces a period of Soviet Estonian art that lasted approximately for one generation – from the end of the Second World War to the early 1960s. This period may also be considered a “golden age” of the images of Soviet women in Estonian art. The artworks produced during this period show some differences in style: the earlier works exemplify different stages in the implementation of socialist realism, whereas the later works signify the gradual abandonment of its rigid formula and the development of more modernist styles of realism.
The two dominant themes of the exhibition are representations of labour and of women’s social identities. While the portraits of heroic women workers and collective farmers were commissioned works, the artists themselves often favoured portraits of cultural workers and the intelligentsia. In the case of women, besides the artists, writers and poets, numerous dancers and especially classical ballet dancers were also depicted. The national culture – based on the Stalinist formula “socialist in content, national in style” – is represented in the exhibition by images of song festival participants and folk dancers in Estonian folk costumes. The list of major themes may be completed with the images of women in sport and social activism. During the first pre-war decades, the imagery of Soviet femininity emerged in the works of many leading Estonian artists who are also represented in this show: Aino Bach, Eduard Einmann, Leili Muuga, Luulik Kokamägi, Valerian Loik, Voldemar Väli, Nikolai Kormashov, Kalju Reitel and others.
Curators: Katrin Kivimaa, Kädi Talvoja
Designer: Eva-Maria Gramakovski
Collections:
Art Museum of Estonia, Tartu Art Museum, Estonian History Museum, Estonian Theatre and Music Museum, Kohtla-Järve Museum of Oil Shale, gallery Vaal, private collections; Film chronicles from Estonian Film Archives
