Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Oil on plywood. 1944.
Signature: Elmar Kits 44

During the war years, Elmar Kits (1913-1972) often stayed with relatives in Suislepa, where he created several impressionistically colorful landscapes. Some of these views of Mulgimaa are still lost, for example “Early autumnal Suislepa landscape” from 1943, but the joy of each new find is all the greater.

This work comes to Estonia from Canada, from the collection of actress Milli Nõmtak. This painting is most likely one of Kits’ Suislepa’s landscapes because the works of this period are characterized by an abundance of light on the one hand and a restrained color scheme, reduced to sparse tones on the other – for him, the goal was always to achieve an interesting coloristic whole. We also often encounter the motif of a village road in his works from this region, which in “Autumnal landscape” forms the central line, enthroned by a human figure disappearing into the distance.

Text: Mai Levin