Other events in Baltic States

On Saturday, 14 April, Dora Gordine: Sculptor, Artist, Designer, an exhibition brought from London, will open at the Adamson-Eric Museum. Dora Gordine, who started her journey as an artist in Estonia, become one of the most outstanding female sculptors in Europe during the first half of the 20^th century, informs BC Evelina Vedom.

“The reintroduction of Dora Gordine’s work to Estonia will be achieved thanks to a collaboration with art historians in various countries that has lasted for decades,” said the art historian Juta Kivimäe. “For various reasons, this female sculptor with an Estonian background, who had a meteoric international career, has been ignored in Estonian cultural history for decades. This exhibition will add enriching facts to our cultural history: for instance, it turns out that the well-known photo from the survey exhibition of Estonian art in 1919 also includes Dora Gordine standing among the others.”

Dora Gordine’s (1895–1991) debut in the art world was in February 1917 at the third exhibition of the Estonian Art Society, which was held in the Passaaž Cinema in Viru Street. In 1928, Gordine left Tallinn, the city of her youth, as an Estonian citizen. The artist, who moved to Paris, had already worked there periodically since 1924 and was able to forcefully establish herself in the European art world, which was quite male-centred at the time. At the end of the 1920s, she exhibited at such renowned galleries as the Salon des Tuileries (Paris), Alfred Flechtheim Gallery (Berlin and Düsseldorf), Leicester Galleries (London) and others. In 1936 Gordine remarried and started life in Kingston Vale as a lady in English high society, and designed the interiors of her own home. Gordine was a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors and was creatively active into the 1960s.

“The exhibition can be seen as a meeting in Tallinn of the personal museums of Dora Gordine and Adamson-Eric, who were contemporaries,” says Ülle Kruus, the Director of the Adamson-Eric Museum.

The Dorich House Museum has sent 14 beautiful Art Deco-style bronze sculptures to Estonia, along with abundant photo materials introducing the artist’s work, life and home. As a talented designer, the artist created the interior elements and furniture for her home, Dorich House. “The many photos, which were taken through the years, record the artist’s outward image as being perfect and dignified,” said Ülle Kruus.

The exhibition was compiled by Professor of Art History Fran Lloyd, Jonathan Black PhD and Brenda Martin, the Curator of the Dorich House Museum. The exhibition was designed by Inga Heamägi.

The Dorich House Museum, in Kingston Vale near London, is Dora Gordine’s (also Gordin, Gordina) studio museum, and the house museum of Gordine and her husband, Richard Hare (1907–1966), an Irish aristocrat and professor of Russian cultural history. The high-class villa, which was built in 1936, has preserved its period furnishings and numerous artefacts that allude to the couple’s interests and hobbies. Today, the Dorich House Museum belongs to Kingston University.

The Art Museum of Estonia expresses its thanks to the exhibition supporters: the Dorich House Museum at Kingston University, Kingston University and the Ministry of Culture.

On 1 June 2012, a conference entitled A Modernist Woman in Art: Dora Gordine and Her Time will take place at the Kumu Auditorium, with the participation of Estonian, Finnish and English art historians.

During the exhibition, the Adamson-Eric Museum will organize various educational and public programmes. Programmes for students include Awakening Statues for younger schoolchildren and Yardsticks of Beauty for upper secondary school students. Pre-book by calling 644 5838 or sending an e-mail to [email protected].

Exciting events are also coming up in connection with the 31^st Tallinn Old Town Days, with a programme entitled The Yard Gate Is Opening.

Dora Gordine: Sculptor, Artist, Designer will remain open until 5 August 2012.