The Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn: permanent and topical exhibitions

    Friedrich Hartmann Barisien, Christian Gottlieb Welté: Põltsamaa lossi talvine vaade / Põltsamaa Palace at Winter (1783). Oil on canvas. 210,5 x 160. Eesti Kunstimuuseum EKM j 9257 M 3700.

Eesti Kunstimuuseum Kumu. The Kumu Art Museum is situated on the limestone cliff between Kadriorg Park and the Lasnamäe district. Weizenbergi 34 / Valge 1, 10127 Tallinn. The building opened its doors to the public on 18 February 2006. Architect: Pekka Vapaavuori.

Eesti Kunstimuuseum Kumu. The Kumu Art Museum 

Weizenbergi 34 / Valge 1, 10127 Tallinn

Visited on 12 July 2024

I have visited Kumu before and admired it as a building of inspiration, a space for rich associations with plenty of room to breathe. Today I visited the permanent exhibitions of the Art Museum of Estonia for the first time. They are on display on the third and the fourth floors. It was a fabulous day.

The Third Floor houses "Landscapes of Identity: Estonian Art 1700-1945". We are welcomed by distinguished busts of Estonian cultural figures such as Lydia Koidula sculpted by August Weizenberg. Over the centuries, Estonian visual arts reflect the general outlines of continental trends, but peculiar landscapes, seascapes, faces, costumes, buildings, climates, seasons and qualities of light and air give it all an original distinction. From the Great Northern War to the end of the Second World War we experience the persistence of the Estonian spirit against the Swedish Empire of King Charles XII, the rise of Russia since Peter the Great, the German landlords, the Nazi Occupation and the Soviet Occupation. There is much to discover. Innovative solutions of hanging break the routine. There is an excursion in the depiction of sex work. There is a portrait room where the quantity of the portraits transforms into quality - and into an act of installation art / conceptual art. Similarly, and even more so, in a bust room developed by Villu Jaanisoo around Tamara Ditman's bust The Seagull, with dozens of important figures ranging from Peter the Great to V. I. Lenin. I am also impressed by the Black Room where selected paintings glow with rare illumination - paintings such as Ernst Hermann Schlihting's Toolse varemed / Toolse Castle Ruins (n.d.). 

Aili Vint: Mees merd kuulamas / Man Listening to the Sea (1972). Oil on canvas. 160 x 98 cm. Eesti Kunstimuuseum EKM j 15105 M 4599.

The Fourth Floor exhibition is called "Conflicts and Adaptations: Estonian Art of the Soviet Era (1940-1991)". The curator is Anu Allas working with an inspired team, and they have also written an excellent guidebook, which is a true keepsake. Estonian art reflected the same periods as Soviet art in general: Stalin - Thaw - Stagnation - and Glasnost. But because Estonia was the most Western outpost of the USSR, liberty was reflected more openly. I learn about the image of power and the power of the image. I learn about inner exile. I learn about trauma in secret art such as Olga Terri's Prisoner (1949) and Fear (1952). I learn about Stalinist Impressionism - a paradox, because Stalinist art was tendency art, and impressionism, whose 150th anniversary we celebrate this year, was against tendency and even against big subjects in general, art for art's sake. After 1956, modernism was tolerated within limits, and even abstraction, when it was understood in a context of architecture and design. Surrealism, whose centenary we celebrate this year, flourished in the underground circle of Ulo Sooster in Tartu. A work like Ilmar Malin's Fading Sun (1968) was possible to register as surrealist art, abstract art, figurative art or symbolic art. It is striking to notice how the international trends of 1960s modern art found expressions in Estonia. Pop Art was an ambiguous reaction to consumer society - a phenomenont absent from Estonia. But here we have Estonian Pop Art - an original and different reflection. We have also psychedelia, collages, assemblages, records of performances, media art, happenings, self-referential art, found photographs and environment art. The individual spirit was highlighted against the collectivist agenda. Socialist realism was never abandoned, but artists transcended it via hyperrealism.

Jevgeni Zolotko: an installation of gravestones with names erased in the exhibition The Secret of Adam (2024).

The Fifth Floor is dedicated to a monograph exhibition of Jevgeni Zolotko (born 1983) called The Secret of Adam.

Kumu: "Jevgeni Zolotko’s large solo exhibition in the Kumu Art Museum displays some of the earlier chapters of his creative legacy and creates new ones. The Secret of Adam is an exhibition that consists of various works, and constitutes his most massive work thus far, synthesising recurrent subjects and images in his oeuvre. Zolotko, who entered the art scene in the late 2000s, is one of the most idiosyncratic contemporary artists in Estonia. Instead of dealing with the topical and political, the context of his art is Western cultural history in the broadest sense, embracing antiquity, the Bible, belles-lettres, philosophy and folklore. His works deal with human existence: life, death, loneliness, silence and decay, as well as hope."

Curator Triin Tulgiste-Toss (1987–2024) about the exhibition: 

"While it is often possible to point out shifts in artists’ choices of subject matter or emphasis over time, Zolotko’s art can be compared to a tower: every new work of art grows out of the previous one, specifying and elaborating on what has been said. The Secret of Adam combines previously used elements and those that have been developed further with completely new ones, returning to the central issue in Zolotko’s art: the question of the relationship between things and language."

"It seems like the artist is finally providing us with a clear answer. Words are as old as the first human being and inseparable from his nature, serving in addition to the physical body as a way of communicating with the world and understanding it. The realisation that we need both the physical and language to cope in society becomes evident."

"According to Zolotko, his works are not autobiographical, and his main interest in art is to deal with universal topics. Considering the emotional effects of his works and their perceptiveness, one gets the sense, however, that only a person whose works emanate from personal experience and acknowledgement, not theoretical ideas, can say something like that."

"The purpose of Zolotko’s works has never been to generate intellectual reflection but to induce recognition. You may approach them like a detective trying to find the clues hidden in the installations, but by doing so you will miss something intrinsic. Zolotko’s works are meant to be inside of, like being in nature, and it seems that the sole purpose of the artist is to make sure that the viewer does not feel alone during these moments." (Kumu)

This exhibition is not only monumental but possesses true magnificence and gravity. I am thinking about Anselm Kiefer, now topical also because of Wim Wenders's remarkable movie. The Jevgeni Zolotko exhibition consists of sculptures, images, photographs, paintings, assemblages, objects and videos. It is a one-man adventure in the multitude of contemporary art. The most impressive entry for me is a vast room full of gravestones with names erased. An original and haunting image about the evanescence of memory.

Elisàr von Kupffer (1872-1942): Uus liit / The New Covenant (1916). The central figure is an auto-portrait of the artist himself. Elisarioni keskus, Minusio omavalitsus.

In the nooks and crannies of the Third Floor we can discover a very special exhibition: “Elisarion. Elisàr von Kupffer and Jaanus Samma”. "Come if you dare", we would have said in the 1980s about these flamboyant displays of queer pride created a hundred years ago. They are also idyllic celebrations of gay happiness. Irresistible.

Kumu: "This exhibition brings together the works of the Baltic-German artist Elisàr von Kupffer (1872–1942) and the Estonian artist Jaanus Samma (b. 1982). Elisàr von Kupffer, also known as Elisarion, was a colourful personality, versatile creator and something of a visionary. He was passionate about painting, literature, art history and philosophy. He was also one of the founders of the neo-religious movement Clarism (German klar “clear”).Today, Kupffer is recognised as a pioneer who promoted tolerance for people of different sexual orientations."

"In the exhibition, Elisàr von Kupffer’s homoerotic paintings, influenced by ancient and Renaissance art, are in dialogue with contemporary works by Jaanus Samma, who explores the sexuality of Estonian peasants and queer folk art. His works highlight the relationship between Estonian peasants and the German-speaking elite: a fusion of fear, hostility and desire, and a juxtaposition of the high and the low."

"Jaanus Samma has created a new video work for the exhibition, The Clear World of the Blissful. Also on display is Karl Joonas Alamaa’s installation Limited Fun."