“‘You Can’t Paint!’ A Short Summary of Estonian Art History” at Valga Museum

On Tuesday, 30 January at 4 p.m. the exhibition “‘You Can’t Paint!’ A Short Summary of Estonian Art History” will open at the Valga Museum. The exhibition curator is Peeter Talvistu. A SPECIAL BUS from Tartu will go to the opening.

The fifth exhibition by the Tartu Artists’ Union at the Valga Museum offers a short summary of the history of Estonian art using paintings from 19th century Biedermeier to 21st century installative painting. The participating authors and artworks mark significant and even radical points in Estonian art history. With many of them, however, the artistic value was questioned at the time of creation.

Such moments include the first examples of naturalism brought home from Italy, automatist coloured lines drawn on a sheet of paper, impressionist dreams forever captured in hearts and by paintbrushes, and fragments of reality transferred onto canvas with the help of a slide projector. At these moments, there always seems to be some among the audience, art critics or fellow artists who say that this is not art, or “You can’t paint!”, but these works often later become important milestones of our art history. This exhibition contains a selection of such moments.

The artists with works in the exhibition are Julie Hagen-Schwarz, Ado Vabbe, August Jansen, Johannes Saal, Lola Liivat, Enn Tegova, Alar Tuul and Mihkel Ilus. Most works come from the collections of the Tartu Art Museum.

The graphic design of the exhibition is by Katrin Nõu.

Since the transportation connections between Tartu and Valga are limited, a special bus will travel to the opening. The bus leaves from Tartu on 30 January at 2.30 p.m. in front of the Tartu Art House and returns to Tartu at 6 p.m. The trip costs five euros (payable on the bus in cash). To secure a place on the bus, it is necessary to REGISTER at sekretar@kunstimaja.ee by 29 January.
 
The exhibition is open until 2 March.
 
Additional information:
Peeter Talvistu
Curator
E-mail: talvistu@gmail.com 
Tel: +372 5650 7782
 
Valga Museum
Vabaduse 8, Valga
www.valgamuuseum.ee
Tue–Fri 11–18, Sat 10–15
The exhibition is being supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the Tartu town government, the Valga town government and the Valga Museum