Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Oil on canvas. 1955.
Signature: Gustav Mägi 55

Gustav Mägi (1914-1994), a Pallas graduate, became a unique representative of the Cubist and Surrealist movements in his new homeland, Sweden. He took geometric form from the former and poetic vision from the latter. This resulted in exciting experiments in form that, in the context of Estonian art abroad at the time, had a true avant-garde effect.

Mägi’s most valued style was characterized by pastel flatness and spatial illusions, and the large-scale “A game of dice” is the best example of this. The central object of the room, the table, is surrounded by other objects in a harmonious geometric grid of lines. It seems as if the artist, searching for a place for each of them, threw a dice into the air and, depending on how it fell, placed the table legs in a more conventional and unexpected location.

In this way, he creates unexpected and ambivalent spatial relationships, where the objects grow fluidly into each other and the table itself becomes the supporting part of the space. Mägi sensitively balances the relationship between color and form, sometimes highlighting one, sometimes the other, thus giving both an equal opportunity to shine.

However, Mägi does not limit himself to Cubist plays with form and color but also creates exciting painterly textures, imitating rough wood and creating optical effects, too. Mägi, who rather kept to himself during the Swedish period, certainly deserves further serious discovery for Estonian art history.

Text: Harry Liivrand, Katre Palm