Edmond Arnold Blumenfeldt was one of the most mysterious Estonian artists of the 20th century. He was born in 1903 in Saint Petersburg to a merchant’s family. In the same city, he completed evening classes at art school when he was a teenager, and then moved to Berlin. While in Paris in the 1920s, he attracted considerable attention, displayed his works at an influential exhibition, and his works were featured in local art magazines. Unfortunately, only a few works from this glorious period have survived: some were destroyed in the turmoil of the Second World War, but it is highly likely that some are still in Paris.

When Blumenfeldt moved back to Tallinn, he briefly emerged as one of the most prominent practitioners of geometric expressionism. Among other things, he created a number of abstract stage designs, many of which were never realised due to their technical complexity and modern formal language. In the 1930s, however, Blumenfeldt fell off the radar of the art world. Almost done with painting, the artist started working as an advertising artist and graphic designer, concentrating on packaging design rather than avant-garde. Most of the time, his work was even focused on clients in Riga. 

This exhibition puts the previously unknown carpet designs of Edmond Arnold Blumenfeldt on display for the first time. These were made in the early 1940s, when the artist was trying to earn a living under the Soviet occupation. In addition to carpet designs, he also designed cigarette boxes, tin lids, etc. His attempt to cope with the new times is also reflected in his signature, which is written on paper in Cyrillic. It is not known whether his designs were ever carried out. In addition to the carpet designs, the exhibition also puts on display a series of Blumenfeldt’s linocut prints from Paris (1937) – the city where he had his breakthrough as an artist at the time. The folder was intended to be sold to tourists in Paris, but its print run was unexpectedly small, just 30 copies. 

Edmond Arnold Blumenfeldt’s carpet designs are decorative and highly nuanced. The patterns are colourful, the ornamentation slightly oriental, and there is nothing reminiscent of the difficult social times that were prevalent in the period when the designs were made. Rather, the designs are a throwback to the Art Deco style of the 1920s, bringing influences from France and Germany to Soviet Estonia. In grievous conditions, these sketches were probably the only way to maintain a certain creative freedom, as carpet designs were allowed to be abstract. Just a few years later, in 1946, the artist died, barely 43 years old.

The rare sketches are from the collection of Blumenfeldt’s heirs.

Exhibition curator – Piia Ausman

Text – Eero Epner