Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Mixed media on cardboard. 1980s.
Signature: N. KORMAŠ

Nikolai Kormašov, who fully integrated into the Estonian cultural space, became one of our most prominent representatives of the harsh expressionist style and later lyrical realism whose descendants still offer irreplaceable value to the local scene. In 1983, an exhibition of the artist’s smaller works created between 1974 and 1982 was held at the Kadriorg Palace.

In the foreword there, Kormašov wrote that “these works are united by an attempt to free themselves from the rigidity of programmed form, the schematic nature and opposition of images, an attempt towards pictorial integrity in which the depiction of the relationships between the objects themselves is not so important as the objects themselves” (Mai Levin, “The Joy of Painting”, Sirp ja Vasar, no. 6, 1983).

Kormašov’s last quarter century of work consisted mainly of themes related to Southeast Estonia. “Summer in Setomaa” carries the artist’s aforementioned credo and so, we find in it a mosaic painting consisting of different genres where the human figure, the farm environment, animals and nature itself interact with each other.

The work has both the brilliance typical of Orthodox icon paintings as well as visionary generalization. The soft pastel color scheme and small format emphasize the intimate nature of the motif – a moment from a summer picnic where each element has its own full-fledged place.

Text: Harry Liivrand, Katre Palm