August Luiga 1906–1985 Laundry Washers. 1950

August Luiga was a painter and theatre artist active in Valga and elsewhere in South Estonia. He rarely exhibited his work, painting for himself rather than for the public. As such, he was free to touch on the themes and forms closest to his heart, but when, for example, in 1944, he showed some of his paintings in a slightly exceptional way, he was compared by critics to, among others, Alexander Vardi. Like many semi-enthusiasts, Luiga often chose familiar motifs from art history for the subjects of his paintings. The women bustling about in the water is a classic painterly narrative, as the merging of woman and nature was seen as something paradisiacal and authentic. Luiga has also added children, apparently in an attempt to create a pastoral idyll. He seems to take particular pleasure in stitching together a whole from patches of colour, juxtaposing warm and cool tones and feeling unconstrained in a way that only a self-painter can.