Exhibitions
Exhibition "Prison and Love. Life and Dream. Ülo Sooster 100" at the Pikk Maja museum in Kärdla, Hiiumaa. (31.08 - 16.11.2024).
A joint project of the museum and the Sooster Foundation. The exhibition features a unique collection of camp drawings from the Sooster family, paintings and graphics from museums and private collections, copies of rare photographs, and archival documents.
Exhibition "Sooster and other artists of "Spring"" at Oskar Luts Parish School-Museum in Palamuse (28.08 - 29.09.2024).
Ülo Sooster created about 50 color illustrations for his favorite childhood book. However, they were published only in 1972, after the artist's death.
Exhibition "Ülo Sooster. Prison and Love. The Beginning of the Creative Path" at the Tallinn City Museum, in the Great Guild Hall building. (March 8 - June 22, 2024).
A joint project of the museum and the Sooster Foundation. This exhibition tells the story of the power of talent, love, and the quest for freedom. A captivating history lesson that is essential for all of us.
Exhibition "Near and Far Physics. Illustrations by Ülo Sooster" at the Tartu Art Museum (August 19 - October 9, 2016).
The exhibition features 118 drawings – illustrations from the original edition of the collection of articles "Physics: Near and Far," published in Moscow in 1963. Included are sketches from the museum's deposit collection and a video interview with the book's compiler, Viktor Trostnikov.
A book has been published.
Exhibition "Visual Arts of the 1960s in Tartu" at the Tartu Art Museum (September 16, 2023 - February 25, 2024).
The exhibition introduces a special period in the history of Estonian art when Tartu was considered the capital of visual arts. It features works by artists of the "Tartu Circle," who were united by their friendship with Ülo Sooster, as well as paintings by Ülo Sooster himself.
A book has been published.
The exhibition of the Estonian Art Museum "Poetics of Borders. Estonian Art 1918 - 2018" at the State Tretyakov Gallery (November 22, 2018 - January 27, 2019).
A separate section - "Teacher and Student: Elmar Kits (1913 - 1972) and Ülo Sooster (1924 - 1970).
A book has been published.
Exhibition "Ülo Sooster. The Line of Surrealism" at the "Vellum" Gallery, Moscow (March 20 - April 15, 2018)
More than forty graphic works created in the 1960s are presented from private collections.
The exhibition "Symmetric Worlds - Reflected Symmetry. Ülo Sooster, Yuri Sobolev, Tõnis Vint, Raul Meel" at the KUMU Art Museum (March 3 - June 11, 2017).
The exhibition is dedicated to the artistic connections between Moscow and Tallinn in the 1960s-80s.
"The focus is on the most iconic representatives of the Tallinn-Moscow artistic axis and the most innovative part of their work related to the publication of popular science materials..."
A book has been published.
The exhibition "A River Flows Here... Chapters from the History of Tartu Art" at the Tartu Art Museum (March 3 - October 30, 2016).
"Visits by Ülo Sooster, who was living in Moscow at the time, brought together artists who had been released from camps in 1956. In his works, Sooster demonstrates various possibilities of modernism; for instance, in the piece 'Couple on the Beach,' the influence of cubism and surrealism is evident.
Just like the cubists of the early century, collage allowed for an escape from realism."
A book has been published.
Exhibition "The Tartu Circle and Ülo Sooster" at the KUMU Art Museum (05.12.2014 - 22.03.2015).
The exhibition is dedicated to the relationships between Ülo Sooster and his Tartu friends from his student years, and the exchange of ideas in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It features works from the collections of the art museums in Tallinn and Tartu, as well as from the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art in New Jersey.
A book has been published.
Exhibition "Ülo Sooster. The Artist's Mythology," Open Club Gallery, Moscow (June 10 - June 24, 2014).
Dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the artist, it includes more than 40 works.
Exhibition of Ülo Sooster's works at the Literary Museum, Moscow, February 2010.
From private collections and the collections of the "Memorial" society.
The exhibition "Contemporary Art of the USSR: Ilya Kabakov and Underground Artists of the 60s-70s," Rome, Gallery of Contemporary Art (May 20 - September 30, 2009).
Works by eleven artists are presented, including Ülo Sooster.
The exhibition "Ülo Sooster and the Russian Underground." From the private collections of Rene Koolmann and Mart Lepp. Tartu Art Museum, 2008.
Exhibition of works by Ülo Sooster and Tenno Sooster at the "Romanov" gallery, Moscow (28.09 - 31.10.2006).
"… the 'Romanov' gallery, opening the exhibition of Ülo Ilmar and Tenno Pent Sooster, reminds us of our duty. A duty to the living - to help and love. A duty to the departed - to remember." Boris Zhutovsky, artist.
A book has been published.
"Ülo Sooster. 1924-1970. Memorial Exhibition" at the KUMU Art Museum (September 28, 2001 - January 20, 2002).
In several rooms of the museum, works by Ülo Sooster were gathered. "... this exhibition is a triumph of its curators. And it shows that Ülo Sooster is indeed a great artist," said his close friend, artist Yuri Sobolev, about the exhibition.
A book has been published.
Exhibition "Tallinn-Moscow. Moscow-Tallinn. 1956 - 1985." Tallinn House of Arts. 10.12.1996 - 19.01.1997.
"In these years - according to the organizers' dating, 1956-1985 - an active dialogue took place between independent creative individuals from Moscow and Tallinn, despite the officially canonized cultural policy." Jaak Tamme, Mayor of Tallinn.
A book has been published.
Exhibition of Ülo Sooster and Ilya Kabakov "Illustration as a Means of Survival." The exhibition took place in Kortrijk (Belgium), Birmingham (United Kingdom), Glasgow (Scotland), Ramat Gan (Israel), and Vancouver (Canada) from 1992 to 1994.
"Children's illustration became not only the only way to earn a living but also a means of legitimizing one's status as an artist."
"Ülo Sooster. 1924/1970. Exhibition of Works." Moscow, September 1-20, 1979.
The preparation of the exhibition involved the Moscow Union of Artists, the Tartu State Art Museum, and the artist Ilya Kabakov.
"The attendees witnessed the second birth of the artist—spiritual and metaphysical."
Exhibition "Progressive Movements in Moscow. 1957 - 1970," Bochum (12.01 - 10.02.1974). Nine works by Ülo Sooster were presented.
Nine works by Ülo Sooster were presented.
Exhibition "Russian Contemporary Art, Avant-Garde Graphics," Ostwall Museum, Dortmund (12.08 - 30.09.1973).
Nine works by Ülo Sooster were presented.
Ülo Sooster's first solo exhibition, Tartu Art Museum (April-May 1971).
Exhibition after death.
Exhibition "Russian Avant-Garde in Moscow Today," Cologne (30.01 - 25.03. 1970), at the "Gmurzhinska" gallery.
"One of the most important representatives of contemporary avant-garde art in Moscow, whose imagination is akin to late European surrealism," - this is how it was written in a small exhibition catalog, where two works by Ülo were published.
In total, there were 19 works by Sooster presented at the exhibition in Cologne.
Exhibition "Alternative attuali 2", in the city of L'Aquila, Italy. (7.08 - 30.09.1965)
“All artists were divided into groups, as if united by a common direction in their creativity. From the perspective of the exhibition organizers, we fit quite well into the ranks that had formed in contemporary world art by that time. Thus, Sooster ended up in the section 'Symbolic Magic'…” (From the recollections of artist Anatoly Brusilovsky).
Exhibition of works by eight young artists, Ústí nad Orlicí (12-27.09 1965).
"Sooster's work is truly perceived in two ways: as an immediate impression, where the viewer is influenced by the suggestive charm of form and painterly structure, and as contemplative knowledge that reveals the artist's deeper intention. Both components form an indivisible unity," wrote Czech art historian Dušan Konečný.
The exhibition featured 4 works by Ülo Sooster.