Felix Randel 1901–1977 Mõistlik soovitus. 1956

These two works show Felix Randel as a superb caricaturist, who he was actually known in the first range. Caricature is a genre, where the moods and topical themes of one period are reflected in the most direct manner. Here has not been used the softening art filter, on the contrary, Randel presents his critical attitudes with sharpness and irony. As a child of his own time, he of course presents official, not personal standpoints. “Mõistlik soovitus” is a typical propagandistic caricature, but there are few ones known at such a level. Randel’s skill here is to be an A-B-C book for people: his picture language must be so directly readable, his characters so clear and assessment of the situations so incontrovertible that there would emerge no temptation for starting a dispute. “Kunst” in its turn has a sore essence. During that period contemporary art was especially taunted, but also during that period avant-garde in the Estonian art started to gradually find more supporters. Randel’s caricature is therefore also sad and is reflecting the artist’s complicated author position: while sharing his belongings rather with a colleague than a party, he would still submit to the latter.