Olev Subbi

1930 - 2013

CS 85. 1996

Acrylic, oil, masonite. 100 x 75 cm
price 3 772 (sold)


Olev Subbi "CS 85"

In the present auction choice works of three artists have been joined in the section “classics of the modern art”. Different artists, different meanings. When Helga Jõerüüt is telling us a story of an artist, who after having changed the profession still continues to deal with art and is able to find her way between different trends, then Olev Subbi is a painter par excellence – painting is his real thing. Valve Janov in her turn is an artist, who while having concentrated on painting, does not get tired of looking for the possibilities to renew it. But the fates of Subbi and Janov are also characteristic to the 20.century Estonia. Subbi was sent to exile and he received the possibility to study art only after eight years. Valve Janov belonged to the so-called Sooster group, where she together with other Tartu artists strove for art that could hardly have been called the official style.The status of Olev Subbi has been totally different from that of Jõerüüt and Janov. After his return to Estonia he quickly became an artist, whose every work was an event. Each painting Subbi accomplished was meaningful in art historical sense and worth recording. By today Subbi has remained in the center of the local art world for more than four decades. His works are not too numerous, as already state collections both in Estonia and abroad own more than a third of his creation. Subbi’s “CS 85” is a rare example among the artist’s paintings, introducing the small series of his new still-lives. Being a person respecting traditions, Subbi has concentrated from the beginning of his creative period among others also on still-lives, which were to a quite large extent classical ones. But “CS 85” brings traditional elements to a room that has been left empty in a surrealistic manner. Instead of a copper bowl and an orange is a wine bottle, candlestick and vase. Still the main values of Subbi’s creation have not disappeared anywhere. As a strong theoretician, Subbi handles colours with extraordinary awareness and unfeigned sensitivity. The artist himself has said that the painting must stand up to him, it must not let the artist accomplish his initial idea. So here is also hidden under the apparent control a subtle hunch of inspiration and the inability of controlling. But when Jõerüüt is not striving to achieve a grand result, when Janov concentrates on testing, then Subbi is always ready. Amazing sense of colours, exact room plan, multi-referential layers and the meaning of the creation of Subbi of the last decades gives the painting the value that is difficult to repeat.

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Appearance in auctions

Winter Landscape
Olev Subbi
Winter Landscape
1950s. Oil, cardboard 32 x 42 cm (framed)
ESTONIAN ART AUCTION - MID-19TH CENTURY TO 1965 Haus Gallery 06.05.2023
3 400
Final price: 4 000
Sitting Nude
Olev Subbi
Sitting Nude
1959. Pastel 42.6 x 36.5 cm (framed)
CONTEMPORARY ART CLASSICS Haus Gallery 30.10.2022
3 400
Final price: 7 700
Ragnar's Black and White
Olev Subbi
Ragnar's Black and White
1996. Acrylic, oil, masonite 60 x 80 cm (framed)
MODERN ART CLASSICS - Sunday, May 15th 15:00 Haus Gallery 15.05.2022
6 200
Final price: 6 200
April Evening
Olev Subbi
April Evening
2003. Oil, acrylic on cardboard 90 x 120 cm (framed)
ESTONIAN MODERN ART CLASSICS AUCTION - FALL 2021 Haus Gallery 13.11.2021
18 000
Final price: 18 000
Very Red Flower
Olev Subbi
Very Red Flower
1970. Tempera, oil, canvas 42 x 30.5 cm (framed)
EESTI MOODSA KUNSTI KLASSIKA OKSJON Haus Gallery 08.05.2021
3 500
Final price: 35 500
Little Asters
Olev Subbi
Little Asters
1999. Acrylic, pastel, cardboard 60 x 80 cm (framed)
AUTUMN 2020 Haus Gallery 30.10.2020
12 000
Final price: 12 000
Õu vana autoga
Olev Subbi
Õu vana autoga
1979. Oil, tempera, cardboard 67.5 x 91 cm (framed)
SPRING 2020 Haus Gallery 15.05.2020
16 500
Final price: 100 500
(sold)"> (sold)Viis kaske
Olev Subbi
Viis kaske
2013. oil, acrylic, masonite 60 x 80 cm (not framed)
Haus Gallery's spring auction Haus Gallery 25.04.2019
7 800
Final price: 15 100
(sold)"> (sold)Tütarlaps kollases
Olev Subbi
Tütarlaps kollases
1962. Oil, canvas 100 x 74.5 cm (framed)
Haus Gallery's Autumn Auction Haus Gallery 01.11.2018
5 200
Final price: 8 300
(sold)"> (sold)Lambad
Olev Subbi
Lambad
1960. Oil, cardboard 60 x 85 cm (framed)
Haus Gallery's Autumn Auction Haus Gallery 01.11.2018
5 100
Final price: 7 800
(sold)"> (sold)Piazza del Pozzo
Olev Subbi
Piazza del Pozzo
1993. oil, cardboard 90 x 120 cm (framed)
Haus Gallery's anniversary auction Haus Gallery 03.11.2017
4 500
Final price: 7 400
(sold)"> (sold)Tantsijad
Olev Subbi
Tantsijad
1962. 177 x 119 cm (framed)
Haus Gallery's anniversary auction Haus Gallery 03.11.2017
21 000
Final price: 21 000
Natüürmort õuntega
Olev Subbi
Natüürmort õuntega
1964. pastel on paper lm 56 x 46 cm (framed)
HAUS GALLERY XVIII AUCTION autumn Haus Gallery 08.10.2015-30.11.1999
2 800
Final price:
Õhtune natüürmort
Olev Subbi
Õhtune natüürmort
2009. acrylic, oil, cardboard 80 x 60 cm (framed)
HAUS GALLERY XXIV ART AUCTION 2009 spring Haus Gallery 28.04.2009
4 026
Final price:
(sold)"> (sold)Rõuge meierei
Olev Subbi
Rõuge meierei
1964. oil, cardboard 70 x 99 cm
HAUS GALLERY XXI ART AUCTION 2007 autumn Old Masters Paintings Haus Gallery 23.10.2007
3 643
Final price: 3 643
Tumehall riie
Olev Subbi
Tumehall riie
1998. acrylic, oil, masnonite 75 x 100 cm (not framed)
HAUS GALLERY XX ART AUCTION, 2007 spring. Contemporary Art ArtDepoo 05.04.2007-17.04.2007
3 963
Final price:
(sold)"> (sold)CS 85
Olev Subbi
CS 85
1996. Acrylic, oil, masonite 100 x 75 cm
HAUS GALLRY XIX ART AUCTION, 2006 autumn. Old Masters Painting Haus Gallery 24.10.2006
3 771
Final price: 4 857

Appearance in exhibitions

Light Flowers
Olev Subbi
Light Flowers
1972. Tempera, oil, canvas 30 x 42 cm (framed)
HAUS GALLERY Haus Gallery 08.03.2024

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