Flowers against the Background of Freedom Square
Anne Lõugas

	In 1936 Adamson-Eric painted a triptych Flowers against the background of Freedom Square. The three fairly small paintings portray a wide panorama of the city square - Vabaduse väljak, 'Freedom Square'. In the foreground we see items of earthly pleasures - wild flowers in a glass jar, a basket with strawberries, a small bunch of cream-coloured roses. The view over the windowsill, half covered by white drapery, embraces the imposing buildings, recently erected beside the voluminous Jaani church - the dark red house of the insurance company EKA, the Gloria Palace cinema and the Palace hotel, still in scaffolding. The artist himself was looking out of the window of his spacious studio in the new modern art building. Vabaduse väljak, only recently cleared of the bronze statue of Peter I, symbol of the Russian Tsarist empire, was the heart of the city and the centre of the whole country. Adamson-Eric had no intention of stressing the importance of the central square of his country's small capital. The patriotic veduta merely served as a pretext for the artist's purely artistic purposes. The centre of the picture displays the horses and carts of people who have come to the market. They appear almost as if forgotten there. The somewhat comical archaism of these horses and carts further deepen the self-absorbed tranquillity of a summer's noon. The view could even be seen as dreary, were it not graced by picturesque qualities - the vibrantly colourful texture of the painting, the hotly vibrating air uniting the fore- and backgrounds, creating a sense of altitude and space.
	Depicting the heart of a state in such idyllic tranquillity might seem slightly unexpected, if not provincial. Especially so at a time when all of Europe was in turmoil, anticipating ominous events. In Russia and Germany, ideological art predominated. Surrealism lent sombre predictions to realism in France. Constructivism and abstract art tried to penetrate deeper within the ideas floating over Europe. Adamson-Eric did not belong among the simple-minded, although his paintings often display naive motifs, scrawlings executed in a child's hand. He had travelled widely in various European countries - in Spain in 1932, in Greece in 1934, in Russia in 1935. Over 8 years, until 1932, his postal address was in Paris. To a great extent an autodidact, he had learned a lot from such French artists as Andre Lhote, Auguste Renoir, Andre Derain. The artist knew what was going on in Europe, knew about the ideological art and the presentiments circulating among creative people.
	Hedonistic late Impressionism, so evident in Adamson-Eric's painting, was quickly accepted in Estonia. In 1936 when the development of the Republic of Estonia had probably reached one of its peaks, the moment had arrived to look back the achievements with satisfaction and refuse to look forward at the threatening future. Flowers against the background of Freedom Square is a multilayered work of art. Does not the glorification and appreciation of the moment and achievements actually conceal a threat under its emphasised calm? Perhaps there is something prophetic in that beautiful still life against the backgound of a city square. The summer's mid-day peace may conceal approaching autumn storms. Despite the past and the future, the painting is a glorification to the present of the year 1936.
	| Estonian Art 2/99 (6) | Published by the Estonian Institute 1999 | ISSN 1406-5711 | einst@einst.ee | tel: (372) 631 43 55 | fax: (372) 631 43 56 |