In Estonia, raged by Stalinism, the late 1950's were perceived as a sort of vernal ice-breaking. The seeming collapse of Stalinism during the so-called Khrushchev thaw created an illusion of a movement towards a more humane society. Fresh air, oozing from tiny cracks in the prison wall raised hopes to renew contacts with the free world. Those were the days when a large group of later well-known Estonian artists took their first artistic steps. The period was a meeting-point of young people from different backgrounds – of those having just graduated from Tallinn Art Institute and those former students of Pallas Art School, who were being released from the Siberian prison camps. The discovery of one another created a group of like minds with tight contacts in their professional and private lives.

Photo: Stanislav Stepaško