Press Materials 2017

September 16, 2017 - March 4, 2018, Niguliste Museum 
For the first time, five large-scale religious paintings from the Art Museum of Estonia, which have been neglected for almost a century, will be exhibited. The goal of the exhibition is to reveal, layer by layer, the origins and fate of the works from the 17th and 18th centuries. The objective of the research is to find answers to the following questions. Where are the paintings from? Who commissioned them and from whom? What was their initial function and meaning? What do the paintings depict and why in this way? And how does the fate of the works reflect not only the period in which they were completed, but also the history of the 20th century?

Exhibition curator: Merike Kurisoo

March 2 - September 10, 2017, Niguliste Museum 
The Silver Collection at the Art Museum of Estonia has the largest number of historical artisan pendant shields in Estonia: almost 300. Most of them have never been exhibited before. The exhibition introduces the various functions of pendant shields and provides a survey of their artistic development through the centuries. Artisan pendant shields can be considered to be silver documents of a kind, because, in addition to the emblem of the respective craft, the name of the master and the year he became a master were engraved on the pendant shield. Pendant shields were also donated to the guild for other reasons, for example after a new guild elder was sworn into office, on the occasion of the guild’s jubilee or other historical events. The shields of the masters who were currently employed were hung on one of the guild’s most important ceremonial objects: the salutation goblet. The pendant shields of the masters of previous generations, which included part of the centuries-long history of the occupation, were stored in the guild’s chest. In addition to the items from the Silver Collection of the Art Museum of Estonia, a selection from the Tallinn City Museum and Estonian History Museum will also be exhibited.

Exhibition curators: Anu Mänd and Tarmo Saaret