Autobiographical Enn Põldroos
Ants Juske

	The methodology of art history has been considerably enriched during recent years: besides old approaches such as the iconographical, formalist, and sociological, there are now neo-Freudian, feminist and, on a new level, bio- and autobiographical methodologies. During the Soviet period, translating series of books about the tragic lives of the famous post-impressionists was a profitable business; one of the bestsellers was Rodin's tome Naked I Came. The treatment of domestic artists was primarily a formalist style analysis, and everything private, even well known to the artist's friends and critics, was strictly avoided. Now artists themselves have begun to talk. Raul Meel * has published a bulky book about his experience, not to mention recent works of older artists such as Ants Viidalepp. Enn Põldroos has, in fact, already issued several books, the latest being fiction. Thus many things are beginning to find their place. When I chose his The Dance Party for interpretation, I read with fascination some extracts from Põldroos's autobiographical book Man with a Jester's Hat. Even the title is meaningful. A long-time high art official, writer of art and finally top politician during the perestroika period suddenly identifies with a jester? Rather, Põldroos is probably identifying with the romantic notion of an artist as a troubadour or a court jester. There is also the Ode to Vanity - the title of the introduction to his catalogue. This includes romantic liaisons with the opposite sex, endless personal dramas and tragic anxieties that find expression in art.
	What do we see in his painting The Dance Party? Põldroos was 35 at the time, and had gone through various complicated relationships. In his memoirs he wrote: "The blow was too hard for me to feel any pain. I went out into the street, wandered around aimlessly, heaven knows where and for how long. I invited a girl I met by accident to come with me. At home I heard the sounds of Helgi returning. I threw the girl out without having done anything with her. This habit stuck with me. When I now remember these occasions, often with wonderful women, I feel frustration and shame." Something of these emotions is also reflected in The Dance Party. The dancing figures cling to each other, in a Picasso-like style; a man and a woman, depicted in a much more realistic manner, are staring at each other in the foreground. Their glances express both the search for closeness and inevitable alienation. The red vase with a little white flower seems like the last counterpoint placed in the painting. I have naturally no idea what incited Põldroos to paint this picture, but I perceive something very personal here, something that makes me take it seriously - more than any other painting of Põldroos - born out of a pure Fauvist joy of colours, apparently from his brighter period of life. * Raul Meel (1941), painter, performance and graphic artist. Since the 1960s one of the best known Estonian artists abroad. Enn Põldroos (1933), painter, organiser of art life and writer. Since the late 1950s a highly innovative painter whose work is characterised, in the words of the author, by "an attempt to unite the ethical and the aesthetic". In recent years he has published books with often autobiographical content. Ants Juske (1956), critic, curator, now rector of the Higher Art School in Tartu. See also www.art.tartu.ee
	| Estonian Art 2/03 (13) | Published by the Estonian Institute 2003 | ISSN 1406-5711 (Online) | ISSN 1406-3549 (Printed version) | einst@einst.ee | tel: (372) 631 43 55 | fax: (372) 631 43 56 |