Gallery: Major Estonian-German art exhibition arrives in Tallinn
An Estonian-German exhibition that marked the largest show of Estonian art ever held in Germany this spring has arrived at Tallinn's Kumu Art Museum.
"Spiegel im Spiegel: Encounters Between Estonian and German Art from Lucas Cranach to Arvo Pärt and Gerhard Richter" opens Friday in the Grand Hall at Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn, following its spring debut in Dresden.
"Spiegel im Spiegel" is an extensive cooperation project that studies past and present contacts between Estonian and German art.
While reflecting the complexity of those relations as well as the issues of colonial power and mentality, the exhibition also highlights the significant cultural intertwining evident in German, Baltic-German and Estonian art.
Curated by Marion Ackermann, Sergey Fofanov and Kadi Polli, "Spiegel im Spiegel" was organized in cooperation between the Dresden State Art Collections (SKD) and the Art Museum of Estonia.
The exhibition brings together works by Arvo Pärt and Gerhard Richter, August Matthias Hagen and Caspar David Friedrich, Eduard Wiiralt and Otto Dix, Konrad Mägi and Max Pechstein, Ülo Sooster and Joseph Beuys, and many other major figures from Estonia and German art.
The title of the exhibition, "Spiegel im Spiegel" ("Mirror in a Mirror") is a nod to the 1978 work by award-winning Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, who celebrated his 90th birthday last month.
The Dresden show marked the first time a selection of his manuscripts and musical diaries, chosen by the Arvo Pärt Center, were displayed outside Estonia. Polli says these works, also on display in Tallinn, provide viewers with a look into Pärt's highly visual creative process.
"Spiegel im Spiegel: Encounters Between Estonian and German Art from Lucas Cranach to Arvo Pärt and Gerhard Richter" ran from May through August at Dresden's Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau, and will remain open at the Great Hall in Tallinn's Kumu Art Museum through Sunday, April 12.
The sculptures that formed part of Estonian artist Edith Karlson's exhibition "Hora Lupi" at the 2024 Venice Art Biennale are now also on display in the Kumu Atrium.
The central part of "Hora lupi" was featured as part of "Spiegel im Spiegel" in Dresden this spring.
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Editor: Neit-Eerik Nestor, Aili Vahtla
