Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Plaster. 1980.

Endel Taniloo (1923-2019), who was sent to Siberia as a young man, narrowly escaped starvation there. Perhaps that is why the search for peace and harmony stemming from the personal experience of the later Tartu sculpture master is also noticeable in his work. The full-size format of an active figure is relatively rare in his work and all the more valuable for this reason.

The female figure, with its art deco-style stylized sense of form and well-highlighting the plastic properties of plaster as a material, seems at first glance to be based on the antique depiction of Aphrodite. However, at the same time, Taniloo also maintains a dialogue with the aesthetics of the 1930s in his work, where the body model was a well-known Lithuanian artist of the time. Taniloo also made a bronze sculpture of the same design.

The authorship of the work is confirmed by the artist’s daughter, Airike Taniloo-Bogatkin.

Text: Harry Liivrand, Katre Palm