Press Materials 2017

October 21, 2017 - February 25, 2018, Kadriorg Art Museum 
A large-scale, international exhibition organised in collaboration with the National Museum in Warsaw brings almost 40 Mannerist paintings from Poland to the Kadriorg Art Museum. The central style trait of Mannerist art is artistry. Instead of an imitation of nature that is as objective as possible, the emphasis is on subjectivity and theatricality. The aesthetics of the art is closely related to the court culture of the time, which was interested in curiosities and erotica and cultivated elegant manners and a luxurious lifestyle. The bourgeois urban culture of the Netherlands provides a distinctive interpretation of Mannerism, by synthesising the new style and motifs with the local portrayal tradition that valued detailed depiction.
The rich collection of the National Museum in Warsaw provides a diverse and interesting selection of the Mannerist painting genre from the 16th– and 17th-century Netherlands, introducing this intriguing chapter in art history to the present-day audience.

Exhibition curator: Greta Koppel

May 27 - October 1, 2017, Kadriorg Art Museum 
This exhibition, which was organised in collaboration with the University of Tartu Art Museum, focuses on ancient Egypt. A close examination will be made of the Egyptian craze that struck Europe in the late 18th century. The Egyptian mummies, which are unique in the Baltic countries and Finland, and knowledge of the culture of ancient Egypt arrived at the University of Tartu in the early 19th century as the legacy of Otto Friedrich von Richter (1791–1816), a young Baltic German orientalist and traveller. The exhibition is supplemented by works from the Art Museum of Estonia and other Estonian collections that are Egyptian-themed and inspired by the cultural legacy of Egypt.

Exhibition curators: Anu Allikvee (Art Museum of Estonia), Jaanika Anderson (University of Tartu Art Museum) and Kristiina Tiideberg (University of Tartu Art Museum)

January 21 - May 14, 2017, Kadriorg Art Museum 
The compositions by the 17th– and 18th-century Netherlandish, Italian and French masters of flower bouquets, fruit baskets and elegantly covered breakfast tables, as well as their compositions of hunting trophies, have charmed viewers for centuries with the mastery of their painting techniques and allegorical subtexts. Along with earlier paintings, this exhibition also includes works by contemporary artists from Finland and the Baltic countries that relate technically and thematically to the still life genre.
Although the Dutch term stilleven (“immobile object” or “still life”) is encountered for the first time in Dutch inventory records from the mid-17th century, the roots of still life art stretch back to the 14th century, when compositions creating optical illusions (trompe l´oeil) were a beloved element of interior design. The increasing popularity of still lifes in the 15th century was associated with changes related to the comprehension of people’s senses and the rise of empiricism during the Renaissance, which placed great value on observation and direct experiences. The popular name for the genre, nature morte (“dead nature”), became fixed during the 18th century in France and, along with the corporeal and material components, emphasised the symbolic, religious and moralistic level of still lifes: a reference to the ephemerality of life.
The 17th and early 18th centuries can be considered to be the golden age of the still life genre, especially in the Netherlands. Although it was at the lowest position in the French Academy’s hierarchy of painting genres, still lifes provided the best opportunities for the expression of great artistic skill and aesthetic refinements within the framework of realistic interpretation. Along with the masterfully painted depictions of consumer and luxury goods produced by human hands, the still lifes of this period have always contained symbolic meanings and commentaries on contemporary social reality and criticisms of consumption habits that even seem topical today.
By juxtaposing still lifes from 17th– and 18th-century Europe with contemporary art, the exhibition expands the reception of still lifes and creates an opportunity to contrast and compare the development of the themes and keywords (abundance, ephemerality and consumption) in European art culture and mentality through five centuries. The work of the following historical still life masters is represented: Willem Claesz. Heda, Pieter Claesz, and Hans van Essen. Works by the following Estonian contemporary artists are included in the exhibition: Lauri Sillak, Aarne Maasik, Tõnis Saadoja and Toomas Kalve.

Exhibition curator: Kerttu Männiste