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Haus Gallery 06.05.2023 13:36

ESTONIAN ART AUCTION - MID-19TH CENTURY TO 1965

SPRING 2023
Saturday, 6th of May

ON A TIMELINE

Foreword: Piia Ausman, Curator of the Auction

Author of the catalogue texts: Eero Epner, Art Historian

The 2023 spring auction organised by Haus Gallery presents art on a timeline. It is important for us to offer systematic and thematically curated selections of works to both auction participants and art lovers. Each auction leaves an art-historical trail, mapping out for the public works that have until now been in private collections, and in some cases completely undiscovered, complementing and illustrating the creative history of many artists. Each of Haus Gallery’s current and subsequent auction exhibitions is not just an event focused on buying and selling works, but aspires to be a biannual small survey exhibition, bringing together a comparative picture of our art’s past, development, experiments, and present.

This year’s auction exhibition will present works throughout Estonian art history, grouped by decade. This catalogue covers the period from the mid-19th century to 1965. It was the 1960s that were the most tumultuous in our art, when both old and new artists visibly mixed. An era when the Pallas artists, who made their mark in the first half of the 20th century, painted alongside the young names who had just emerged on the art scene and who have now become classics of our modern art. So, in this decade, we can see side by side the new world vision of the ANK '64 group and landscapes created in the key of classical modernism, as well as the modern experimental expressions of experienced artists.

Curated in this way, the exhibition certainly creates a truer reflection of reality, showing both the differences and similarities in artistic pursuits at the time, revealing the divisions and commonalities between the eras and the inherent intertwining.

Although, when placed in a logical sequence, the selection of works in Haus Gallery’s art auctions can still be characterised as an overlapping of curated coincidences, a process that is fascinating in its mystery. In most cases, it is impossible for us to plan in advance the works that will be auctioned, as they come from private collections, especially in the case of early art, and the decisions to sell them are often taken outside our control. You could say that the works are finding us and we are looking for the best ways to showcase them. These coincidences are all the more inspiring. Each selection of art assembled at the moment of the auction has its own individual undertone, setting the challenge each time of how to present the selection and how to combine the works together to tell a thoughtful, holistic story of our art history.

The trace of each auction is an art-historical document – a printed catalogue, a video image, an internet record. The way we present our art in the context of an auction, or more broadly, cannot simply be a series of pictures stitched together for sale, but a responsibility to manage our intellectual heritage with dignity. We also need to think about the educational aspect, about how the art information presented through auctions contributes to our artistic awareness and knowledge in the long term.

In this year’s Haus Gallery auction catalogue, you will find chapters by decade that talk about the important and characteristic features of a given period of time, and go on to describe the role of each author in that period, through the work they are auctioning.

This catalogue begins with Johann Köler’s exceptionally masterful and inspiring arrangement of the head of Jesus from the period 1857–1858, pauses in the 1910s through Konrad Mägi’s outstandingly colour-intensive landscape, looks at Nikolai Kull through his painterly self-portrait from the 1920s, takes a look at Johannes Võerahansu’s touching view of the early spring landscape on the eve of war in 1941, or perceives Johannes Greenberg’s profoundly psychological figure compositions from the same place, touches on the repressed and restrained 1950s, when landscapes but also flowers dominated, and concludes with works from the 1960s, when the young Valdur Ohakas painted a vigorous and experimental courtyard in Tallinn’s Old Town, and Elmar Kits a domestic greenhouse with an old woman who exudes the serene wisdom of being in action…

Our art is eloquent and inherently rich. Now that the selections for the art auctions have been compiled once again, let us take some time together to delve into the art as a whole, as well as the meaningful reflections of each individual work.

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MID 19th CENTURY

The 19th century is represented in this year’s auction by two portraits of people by Johann Köler and Theodor Albert Sprengel. Köler depicts a man as a god: a magnificent, large-scale arrangement of the head of Christ, which later became the basis for the famous altarpiece in Võnnu Church. Sprengel, on the other hand, has captured a man as a mere human: with encyclopaedic precision he has painted a Hiiumaa farm woman, without forgetting to include the sea and the little boat in the background, as well as the symbols of Hiiumaa. This meticulous attention to the painting of people remains largely a 19th-century phenomenon, as the 20th century saw a much greater interest in landscapes, still-lifes, and other non-human subjects. If a person is allowed on the canvas, it is more of a generalisation and, for example, the realistic and psychological painting of the face is no longer of interest. Why the 19th century turned out to be so man-centred is difficult to speculate. Obviously, art history conventions and teaching principles play a role here.

Head of Christ (Fragment)
1. Johann Köler Head of Christ (Fragment) 1857-1858. Oil, canvas 72 x 55 cm (framed) Starting price 24 000 Last bid 26 000 Final price 26 000
Girl from Hiiumaa
2. Theodor Albert Sprengel Girl from Hiiumaa 1870s. Oil, canvas 46.3 x 25 cm (framed) Starting price 2 400 Last bid 4 400 Final price 4 400

1910s

The 1910s are represented by two works that are somewhat inversely related. Konrad Mägi, who lived and worked abroad for a long time, is represented this time with a magnificent view of South Estonia, which is unusually experimental and shows us facets of Mägi’s oeuvre that we have so far been able to decide on the basis of a preliminary draft of the same work. At the same time, Ants Murakin is known as an artist who worked mainly in Estonia, but this time it is his sensitive and nuanced watercolour, painted somewhere in Southern Europe. While Murakin is charming in his truthfulness and his special attention to all the obfuscations and colour blurring in reality, Mägi prefers to distance himself from truth and reality. Although he is inspired by his observation of the landscape, he has quickly distanced himself from it and creates a completely sovereign work that rhymes a little with abstractionism. Bold brushstrokes and experimental colour combinations bring us Konrad Mägi, who is once again in search of something new and discovering for himself. His escape from fixity, from stagnation, was constant and programmatic, and for this reason he tried to reinvent himself with almost every painting.

Landscape
3. Konrad Mägi Landscape 1915-1916. Oil, cardboard 49.5 x 65.5 cm (framed) Starting price 156 000 Last bid 401 000 Final price 401 000
Outdoor View
4. Ants Murakin Outdoor View 1917-1920. Watercolour Vm 32.2 x 34.5 cm (framed) Starting price 2 100 Last bid 2 900 Final price 2 900

1920s AND 1930s

Somewhat surprisingly, the 1920s and 1930s are the most experimental this time. While in general these decades in Estonian art history are known as a period of experimentation and then calming down, in this auction we see five paintings that speak of quite the opposite trend. Paintings by Nikolai Kull and Andrei Jegorov show well-known painters from a new angle. Andrei Jegorov’s painting style, which has already become familiar, will be given a new twist this time through a different composition, an unusual blurring and the introduction of people into the painting. The work of Nikolai Kull is also a true discovery, where Kull, who later became known even for his somewhat robust generalisations, is supple and elegant. From the 1930s, Kaarel Liimandi’s work has been included in this year’s selection. The experiment of one of the most important colour masters in Estonian art history shows him from a new angle and speaks of his unmistakable sense of colour even in the midst of experimentation. Gori’s exploratory watercolour, Erich Pehap’s first known painting, and Ott Kangilaski’s vibrant still-life form an ensemble that speaks of youthful freshness, exploration, and incessant curiosity.

Self-Portrait
5. Nikolai Kull Self-Portrait 1921. Pastel, paper Lm 69 x 49.3 cm (framed) Starting price 3 700 Last bid 4 300 Final price 4 300
Courtyard View in Tallinn (Vene Str 6)
6. Andrei Jegorov Courtyard View in Tallinn (Vene Str 6) 1922. Oil, plywood 71 x 53.2 cm (framed) Starting price 8 200 Last bid 25 000 Final price 25 000
Birch Forest
7. Gori Birch Forest 1920s. Watercolor Vm 21 x 32 cm (framed) Starting price 2 400 Last bid 3 400 Final price 3 400
Landscape with Haystacks
8. Anatoli Kaigorodov Landscape with Haystacks 1920s. Tempera, cardboard 39.5 x 58 cm (framed) Starting price 4 900 Last bid 9 300 Final price 9 300
View on a Church
9. Erich Pehap View on a Church 1930. Oil, canvas 51.3 x 39.5 cm (framed) Starting price 2 100 Last bid 4 600 Final price 4 600
Tulips in a Vase
10. Ott Kangilaski Tulips in a Vase 1931. Gouache, paper Lm 48.8 x 31 cm (framed) Starting price 1 400 Last bid 1 400 Final price 1 400
Flower
11. Kaarel Liimand Flower 1935. Oil, plywood 51.5 x 38.8 cm (framed) Starting price 4 800 Last bid 10 600 Final price 10 600

1940s

The 1940s were an extremely turbulent and changing time for artists. This is reflected in the current selection, which includes very diverse and fragmented applications. Two paintings by Johannes Greenberg speak most clearly of the more tragic side of the era. Well known to art historians, the works have finally come up for auction and show us a deeply soulful approach to the traumas of the era by a great author. Several authors, on the other hand, delved into quite different motifs: landscapes, haystacks, old town motifs, and so on. By the mid-1940s we already see the introduction of compulsory approaches, but artists still tried to continue with their own: Richard Sagrits chose as his motif the country close to his heart and sought independence with his brushwork, while Nigul Espe depicted the heroic reconstruction of Tartu, but as a man from Tartu he was probably personally interested in this theme. Special mention should be made of Johannes Võerahansu’s masterly portrait of a nurse from the 1940s, which is in keeping with the times, and certainly of the extremely rare early painting by Evald Okas, one of the most versatile and prolific Estonian artists of the 20th century, which is at once filigree in its execution and mysterious in its imagery.

The Nurse
12. Johannes Võerahansu The Nurse 1940. Oil, canvas 110 x 100 cm (framed) Starting price 14 000 Last bid - Final price -
Still Life on a Window Sill
13. Evald Okas Still Life on a Window Sill 1940. Oil, plywood 60 x 48 cm (framed) Starting price 7 700 Last bid 13 600 Final price 13 600
Portrait of a Woman
14. Johannes Greenberg Portrait of a Woman 1940-1944. Oil, canvas 69.5 x 52 cm (framed) Starting price 12 000 Last bid 12 000 Final price 12 000
Early Spring Landscape
15. Johannes Võerahansu Early Spring Landscape 1941. Oil, canvas on plywood 49.5 x 39.5 cm (framed) Starting price 4 900 Last bid 10 200 Final price 10 200
Grief
16. Johannes Greenberg Grief 1943. Oil, plywood 89 x 69 cm (framed) Starting price 17 000 Last bid 100 000 Final price 100 000
Departure to Kythera Island
17. August Luiga Departure to Kythera Island 1943. Oil, plywood 63 x 82 cm (framed) Starting price 3 300 Last bid 30 700 Final price 30 700
The Coast of Rutja
18. Richard Sagrits The Coast of Rutja 1945. Oil, canvas 78.5 x 103 cm (framed) Starting price 19 000 Last bid 30 500 Final price 30 500
Landscape
19. Aleksander Vardi Landscape 1940s. Oil, carton Lm 29 x 55.5 cm (framed) Starting price 2 900 Last bid 17 100 Final price 17 100
Man with a Shovel
20. Olga Terri Man with a Shovel 1940s. Oil, canvas 52.5 x 71 cm (framed) Starting price 2 400 Last bid 33 600 Final price 33 600
Heath
21. Richard Kivit Heath 1940s. Gouache, cardboard Vm 20.2 x 28.4 cm (framed) Starting price 1 500 Last bid 5 000 Final price 5 000
Winter View of Kiek in de Kök
22. Karl Burman seenior Winter View of Kiek in de Kök 1946. Watercolor Km 13.5 x 8.7 cm (framed) Starting price 900 Last bid 1 600 Final price 1 600
Red Factory
23. Johannes Võerahansu Red Factory 1946. Oil, plywood 39 x 60 cm (framed) Starting price 4 100 Last bid 9 000 Final price 9 000
Old Barn
24. Karl Burman seenior Old Barn 1948. Gouache Lm 19.9 x 23.5 cm (framed) Starting price 1 300 Last bid 2 000 Final price 2 000

1950s

In the 1950s, the branching out of the Estonian art scene deepened, all the more so as many artists were now working abroad. Among them were daring and energetic experimenters, as well as writers who, for years after their departure, painted important motifs from memory. Prominent among these is Julius Gentalen’s airy view of Tallinn, perhaps painted after Stalin’s death, which in its own discreet way celebrates the possibility of a better future. There were also experimenters on this side of the Iron Curtain, but their experiments were rather more cautious due to circumstances: lack of paint, for example, but of course official norms did not allow them to feel so free. All the more admirable, for example, are the experiments of Valdur Ohakas, who tries to achieve the maximum in cramped conditions. On the other hand, there was also quite a lot of focus on tradition and the repetition of archaic life or classical motifs: From Märt Bormeister’s ethnographic view of Kihnu to Johannes Võerahansu’s still-lifes. Lydia Mei’s wistful view of a house in Pääsküla sums up one of the things that characterised the period: finding a sense of security when everything seems to be falling apart.

Construction of a New Main Street in Tartu
25. Nigul Espe Construction of a New Main Street in Tartu 1950. Watercolor Vm 39 x 61 cm (framed) Starting price 3 600 Last bid 3 600 Final price 3 600
Autumn Motif
26. Lepo Mikko Autumn Motif 1950-1951. Oil, cardboard 49.5 x 72 cm (framed) Starting price 4 100 Last bid 6 300 Final price 6 300
View of Tallinn
27. Aleksander Pilar View of Tallinn 1951. Watercolour Vm 30 x 41.3 cm (framed) Starting price 1 500 Last bid 2 600 Final price 2 600
At the Harbour
28. Richard Uutmaa At the Harbour 1951. Oil, cardboard 34.3 x 49.6 cm (framed) Starting price 4 600 Last bid 14 700 Final price 14 700
Yellow Roses in a Vase
29. Johannes Võerahansu Yellow Roses in a Vase 1952. Oil, plywood 46 x 38 cm (framed) Starting price 4 400 Last bid 13 600 Final price 13 600
Pääsküla During a Winter Night
30. Lydia Mei Pääsküla During a Winter Night 1952. Watercolour Vm 44.8 x 35 cm (framed) Starting price 1 300 Last bid 4 800 Final price 4 800
View from a Window
31. Julius Gentalen View from a Window 1953. Watercolor Vm 36 x 43 cm (framed) Starting price 1 700 Last bid 1 900 Final price 1 900
Kihnu Farmhouse
32. Märt Bormeister Kihnu Farmhouse 1955. Oil, cardboard 24.6 x 34.6 cm (framed) Starting price 1 900 Last bid 1 900 Final price 1 900
Vitrine
33. Erich Pehap Vitrine 1955. Oil, acrylic, cardboard Vm 62 x 45.5 cm (framed) Starting price 2 300 Last bid 7 700 Final price 7 700
Dordogne Landscape
34. Juhan Nõmmik Dordogne Landscape 1955. Oil, canvas 72 x 60 cm (framed) Starting price 4 100 Last bid 6 900 Final price 6 900
Laundry Washers
35. August Luiga Laundry Washers 1950s. Oil, paper on cardboard 43 x 51 cm (framed) Starting price 2 100 Last bid 10 100 Final price 10 100
Suburban View
36. Olga Terri Suburban View 1950s. Oil, cardboard Lm 41.5 x 60 cm (framed) Starting price 2 100 Last bid 3 000 Final price 3 000
Winter Landscape
37. August Albo Winter Landscape 1950s. Oil, canvas on cardboard 50.5 x 60.5 cm (framed) Starting price 4 800 Last bid 12 100 Final price 12 100
Winter Landscape
38. Olev Subbi Winter Landscape 1950s. Oil, cardboard 32 x 42 cm (framed) Starting price 3 400 Last bid 4 000 Final price 4 000
Winter Landscape
39. Lydia Mei Winter Landscape 1956. Watercolour Vm 32.3 x 26.8 cm (framed) Starting price 1 400 Last bid 1 700 Final price 1 700
Early Spring Winter Weather
40. Kalju Nagel Early Spring Winter Weather 1957. Oil, canvas 60 x 81 cm (framed) Starting price 2 800 Last bid 6 500 Final price 6 500
Boat Ramp
41. Valdur Ohakas Boat Ramp 1957. Oil, plywood 37.5 x 50.5 cm (framed) Starting price 2 100 Last bid 4 200 Final price 4 200
Study of a Landscape
42. Johannes Saal Study of a Landscape 1957. Watercolor Lm 21.3 x 31.2 cm (framed) Starting price 2 300 Last bid 2 900 Final price 2 900
Landscape with a Windmill
43. Richard Uutmaa Landscape with a Windmill 1958. Oil, canvas 50 x 70 cm (framed) Starting price 5 900 Last bid 11 600 Final price 11 600
Sunbathers
44. Valdur Ohakas Sunbathers 1958. Oil, plywood 29.8 x 43 cm (framed) Starting price 3 400 Last bid 6 500 Final price 6 500
Still Life with Bananas
45. Ilmar Kimm Still Life with Bananas 1958. Oil, canvas 59 x 73 cm (framed) Starting price 2 200 Last bid 2 200 Final price 2 200
Figures in a Summer Landscape
46. Nancy Nõmmeots-Pedersen Figures in a Summer Landscape 1958. Pastel, paper 53.5 x 34 cm (framed) Starting price 1 200 Last bid 1 200 Final price 1 200
Field Flowers in a Vase
47. Johannes Võerahansu Field Flowers in a Vase 1959. Oil, canvas on cardboard 81 x 64.5 cm (framed) Starting price 6 600 Last bid 25 200 Final price 25 200
Patarei Sea Battery
48. Lembit Sarapuu Patarei Sea Battery 1959. Oil, cardboard 32 x 42.3 cm (framed) Starting price 2 800 Last bid 4 800 Final price 4 800

FIRST HALF OF THE 1960s

It is well known that the 1960s brought a new wave of searching and a certain liberation. In Estonian art, it was carried by younger artists, such as Jüri Marran, but also by older artists who had graduated from the Pallas school of painting. Elmar Kits and, ten years younger, Henn Roode and Valdur Ohakas were already middle-aged in the 1960s, but that did not stop them from experimenting. Forms faded and spread, colours became bold, motifs became challenging. Even if the subject matter of a painting was classical, a dense brushstroke could turn out to be an unexpectedly bold statement in the 1960s – as Elmar Kits’ painting shows. Henn Roode’s works, however, were a chapter of their own and strongly influenced other artists in pushing their boundaries. Alongside them, however, were authors for whom art was not a platform for searching, but for finding and confirming. The motifs of the homeland in a calm and harmonious combination of colour and light have a special meaning for Richard Uutmaa or Linda Kits-Mägi. 

Feast
49. Linda Kits-Mägi Feast 1960. Oil, canvas 80 x 119.7 cm (framed) Starting price 6 700 Last bid 6 700 Final price 6 700
Vase with White Lilies
50. Olav Maran Vase with White Lilies 1961. Oil, cardboard 59.5 x 42 cm (framed) Starting price 4 200 Last bid 5 300 Final price 5 300
Still-Life with a Mirror
51. Sirje-Maris Horma (Rebane) Still-Life with a Mirror 1962. Oil, cardboard 61 x 68 cm (framed) Starting price 1 700 Last bid 1 900 Final price 1 900
Self-Portrait
52. Henn Roode Self-Portrait 1962. Oil, cardboard Km 61 x 44.5 cm (not framed) Starting price 5 100 Last bid 7 500 Final price 7 500
The Beach at Puise
53. Richard Uutmaa The Beach at Puise 1962. Oil, canvas 120 x 180 cm (framed) Starting price 37 000 Last bid 57 000 Final price 57 000
Tartu Motif
54. Kaljo Polli Tartu Motif 1962. Oil, canvas 101 x 101 cm (framed) Starting price 4 800 Last bid 9 800 Final price 9 800
Reclining Nude
55. Henn Roode Reclining Nude 1964. Oil, cardboard 50 x 67.7 cm (framed) Starting price 3 600 Last bid 5 600 Final price 5 600
In the Greenhouse
56. Elmar Kits In the Greenhouse 1965. Oil, canvas 71 x 59 cm (framed) Starting price 8 200 Last bid 10 000 Final price 10 000
Cafe Werner
57. Jüri Marran Cafe Werner 1965. Oil, cardboard 79 x 64.5 cm (framed) Starting price 3 200 Last bid 11 100 Final price 11 100
Old Town Courtyard
58. Valdur Ohakas Old Town Courtyard 1960s. Oil, canvas 42 x 42 cm (framed) Starting price 2 500 Last bid 2 700 Final price 2 700
In Broad Day Light
59. Boris Ninemäe In Broad Day Light 1960s. Oil, canvas 50 x 61 cm (framed) Starting price 2 400 Last bid 8 300 Final price 8 300
Old Town Courtyard
60. Valerian Loik Old Town Courtyard 1960s. Oil, canvas 45 x 38 cm (framed) Starting price 2 800 Last bid 4 400 Final price 4 400
Landscape
61. Juhan Muks Landscape 1960s. Oil, canvas on cardboard Vm 50 x 70 cm (framed) Starting price 2 700 Last bid 6 800 Final price 6 800
Red Lilies in a Vase
62. Valerian Loik Red Lilies in a Vase 1960s. Oil, cardboard 49.5 x 40 cm (framed) Starting price 2 100 Last bid 2 600 Final price 2 600
Port
63. Valerian Loik Port 1960s. Oil, canvas 38 x 44.5 cm (framed) Starting price 2 300 Last bid 6 200 Final price 6 200
Lying Nude
64. Johannes Uiga Lying Nude 1960s. Oil, cardboard 35 x 60.5 cm (framed) Starting price 1 800 Last bid 1 800 Final price 1 800