Richard Uutmaa
(1905–1977)
Landscape with a Windmill. 1958
Oil, canvas. 50 x 70 cm (framed)
price 11 600
A rare find in Richard Uutmaa’s oeuvre, where the treatment of sun and light is very different from Uutmaa’s usual repertoire. Uutmaa visited Saaremaa on several occasions to paint – the seaside landscape there was probably reminiscent of his childhood home in Altja, but also offered new architectural nuances (windmill, stone fences). Saaremaa also gradually began to form an Estonian visual equivalence: on the one hand, its archaic nature and milieu offered the opportunity to move back in time away from Soviet life, and on the other, Saaremaa seemed mysterious enough, as access to the island was restricted.
Uutmaa has depicted the sun in a direct view, reminiscent of one of Konrad Mägi’s works on Saaremaa. The sun shining through the brown haze has not covered the landscape with bright light as usual, but with a muted veil, giving Saaremaa a slightly mysterious and mysterious look.