Kaja Kärner 1920–1998 View from the Water Tower. 1958

On rotation: K Kärner View from the water tower I 58.

Kaja Kärner was one of those artists who became a victim of political repression while living in Tartu, but did not run away from it into conformism or silence. In 1950, she was fired from her position as a drawing teacher and expelled from the artists' union, so that for the next nine years - including the time this painting was completed - she had to work as a commercial sign painter. Expulsion from the Union of Artists also meant losing paint, brush and canvas. However, she did not stop working - which is also proven by this painting. In the same year that the "View of the Water Tower" was completed, she took part in the exhibition again for the first time, and it is possible that this painting was also up there. Created with understandably scarce resources, it probably depicts the Karlova district in Tartu, which Kärner often painted.

Enn Lillemets has noticed that Kärner's "logical silence preserved the purity of color." So some Pallasians were forced to give up pure colors, because they were seen as too "beautiful" and to go along with official requirements. However, Kärner could remain herself. When she appeared at the exhibition again in 1958, Voldemar Erm wrote (possibly also with this work in mind): "The young K. Kärner arouses interest with her laconic generalized form structure and tasteful color in her city views." Kärner herself said a few years later: "I remember colors well, but shapes only if they are of a memorable color. Most of the time, I try to realize the colorful impressions I get from outside at home, and these pictures are obedient to me. When painting in nature, where the light changes so quickly, there is no sign of obedience. I try to preserve the first impression, which I consider the most important when choosing a motif, but at the same time I can't avoid observing new shades." The work participated in the exhibition of Valve Janov and Kaja Kärner at the Tartu Art Museum in 1971 (no. 24 in the catalog).