Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Oil on canvas, pasted on cardboard. 1956.
Signature: R. Uutmaa 56 a.

In the early 1950s, Richard Uutmaa (1905-1977) spent the summer with his family in Pirita, at a holiday home for creative people. While there, he loved to depict the beautiful valley of the Pirita River and its smoothly winding coastline. In the last decade of the decade, he mainly vacationed in Kiisa but Pirita was not lost in his heart and the views there found their way into his work even then.

“The artist’s virtuoso brushwork always amazes, as does the richness of his palette,” writes art historian Mai Levin, adding: “This landscape fascinates with its picturesque freedom, the freshness resulting from brush strokes, and the interesting black-gray-white-olive-green tones.”

Accustomed to the more even waves of the sea, Uutmaa was excited to capture the movement of fast-flowing river water instead, and here he proves himself to be a truly versatile master – we clearly perceive both the twists and turns, the pressure of underwater rocks, and the dynamics of freely flowing water. It seems that the vacation had a good effect on him because the energy and freshness resulting from it have also been transferred to the painting.

Text: Mai Levin, Katre Palm