Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Oil on canvas. 1971
Signature: L. Siim 71 / “MÄNG” 1971. A 92×109 cm.

The grand old lady of Estonian pop art and postmodernist painting, Ludmilla Siim (b. 1938), whose powerful life’s work was recognized in 2022 with the Kristjan Raud Prize, the Konrad Mägi Medal, and the AkzoNobel Art Prize, often addresses the theme of youth in her earlier work.

“Game” is first of all a powerful coloristic painting that captivates us with the wide range of shades of green. Secondly, it’s an example of the artist’s fidelity to the rules of classical landscape painting – a view into the depth of the picture space opens up from between the mass of trees placed on both sides of the composition, like backdrops. Thirdly, Siim captivates here with her unique use of staffage – young people play only a miniature role in nature (a similar technique was also used in the same year by Toomas Vint in “Little Liisi and her father’s walk in the forest near the city”). The conditional row of trees towering as a closing wall on the horizon of the picture space acts as a figurative reference to the possibility of the artificial world, which was a beloved technique for young painters of that era.

Artist Mall Nukke writes: “This is a park environment where a person can for once throw away their urban attitude and frolic along the trimmed lawn. In the distance, behind the treetops, a mysterious wreath glows, which is definitely not of natural origin. This is proven by the human regularity, the rhythmic arrangement. But despite the delimited area, the atmosphere is full of joy of life. In a city where people are like caged animals, they too feel spring in their hearts for once. And they behave like young foals in a meadow. The green surroundings are proliferating, all-powerful. In the midst of the mighty trees, people are like ants, busy with their games.”

Text: Harry Liivrand, Mall Nukke