{"id":1241,"date":"2024-09-02T10:29:07","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T10:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soosterfoundation.org\/?page_id=1241"},"modified":"2026-06-04T14:23:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T14:23:03","slug":"the-story-of-one-picture","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/soosterfoundation.org\/en\/the-story-of-one-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of a Painting"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In the photos: that very work (1967, 37x52 cm), and the resonant \u201cComposition,\u201d (1965, 33\u00d748 cm).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Story of a Painting<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Three years ago, the 90-year-old artist Boris Zhutovsky passed away. Tenno Sooster, \u00dclo Sooster\u2019s son, called him \u201cBoba,\u201d as did other people close to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boris Zhutovsky connected people and eras not only through his memory and his gifts as an artist and memoirist. He always wanted to think freely; he was hungry for life, for people, for new impressions. And he was generous - he loved giving gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Tenno\u2019s recollections, about conversations in Boba\u2019s studio:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- Boba, you said that you and my father used to cook a compound for paintings together, but yours is pliable, while my father\u2019s is hard as stone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- Well, we were searching - each of us was cooking his own \u201cporridge\u201d\u2026 \u00dclo was searching for the eternal - he saw himself far ahead, as a classic\u2026 He wanted time to have no power over it. In the end, Lida suggested the compound to him. She was from the theatre - a set designer; something out of theatrical secrets\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Boba said, pulling out a board:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- Here! \u00dclo made this in \u201967, put it on the radiator to dry and forgot about it. The board lay behind the radiator for 50 YEARS! We were renovating and found it\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Landscape. 1970, <\/em><\/strong>
etching, drypoint<\/em><\/strong>.
(One of the last etchings by \u00dclo Sooster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Story of a Painting<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Almost 30 years ago, in 1996, in New York, the artist Leonid Lamm recalled \u00dclo Sooster. They were united by friendship, creativity, and a shared studio... But this time Leonid Lamm remembered a specific event \u2014 the exhibition of \u00dclo Sooster\u2019s works, which by some miracle was permitted, prepared, and held in Moscow in 1979 at the Gallery of the Union of Graphic Artists on Malaya Gruzinskaya Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"To mark the opening of the exhibition, 50 copies of one of \u00dclo Sooster\u2019s last etchings were printed. On each print I wrote by hand: 'In memory of the Exhibition of \u00dclo Sooster. August 31 \u2013 September 18, 1979.' These commemorative copies of the etching we distributed and sent to \u00dclo\u2019s friends. At the exhibition opening, there were many admirers of the remarkable artist. Artists and art critics came from Estonia. And Mari Pill gave a very interesting lecture about \u00dclo Sooster. It was our shared celebration, our shared victory over the machine of Soviet bureaucracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When leaving for the West in 1982, I donated, in memory of my friend \u00dclo Sooster, my illustrations to the short novels of Enn Vetemaa to the Art Museum in Tartu...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is wonderful that most of \u00dclo Sooster\u2019s works have been preserved and have found their home and care in his now independent homeland.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leonid Lamm. New York. 1996<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Self-Portrait \u2018Fear\u2019. 1954<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Story of a Painting<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

...From the memories of Lydia Sooster, the artist\u2019s wife: \u201cOn his thirtieth birthday, he painted a self-portrait, which was later kept by \u00dclo\u2019s sister in Tallinn. I begged for it after my husband\u2019s death. And when I flew from Tallinn to Moscow, I forgot the portrait on the bus. I raced back like an arrow and found two drivers chatting, who were examining the portrait. They gave it back to me with the words: \u2018My God! What a fright!\u2019 That\u2019s how the portrait got the name \u2018Fear.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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New Year postcard. 1957<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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This New Year's card was drawn by \u00dclo Sooster and sent to his wife Lidia in the maternity hospital at the end of December 1957. He was determined to give his son two names. But in the Soviet Union, a person could only have one name. What to do? \u00dclo found a solution: the two names on the letter were combined into one, so T\u00ebnno Pent was registered as T\u00ebnnopent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Egg in the Window\u2019. 1964<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u2018Egg in the Window\u2019. 1964 reverse side<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In 1964, \u00dclo Sooster created a painting titled \"Egg in the Window\" in Moscow and later gifted it to Czech art historian and collector Du\u0161an Kone\u010dn\u00fd. On the back of the painting, it is inscribed in Estonian, \"parimate soovidega\" (\"with best wishes\").<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1970, just two months after the artist's death, Du\u0161an Kone\u010dhn\u00fd donated the art work to the National Gallery in Prague. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many years, the painting remained in the silence of the Gallery storerooms until it caught the attention of the art historian Julia Tatiana Bailey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, those interested in \u00dclo Sooster's work were able to see it in Tartu at the exhibition \"Surrealism 100. Prague, Tartu and other stories\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u043e\u0447\u0435\u043d\u044c […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1241","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"trp-custom-language-flag":false,"woocommerce_thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_single":false,"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Sergei","author_link":"https:\/\/soosterfoundation.org\/en\/author\/sergei\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"\u0418\u0441\u0442\u043e\u0440\u0438\u044f \u043e\u0434\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u043a\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0438\u043d\u044b \u0422\u0440\u0438 \u0433\u043e\u0434\u0430 \u043d\u0430\u0437\u0430\u0434 \u0443\u043c\u0435\u0440 90-\u043b\u0435\u0442\u043d\u0438\u0439 \u0445\u0443\u0434\u043e\u0436\u043d\u0438\u043a \u0411\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0441 \u0416\u0443\u0442\u043e\u0432\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439. \u0422\u044d\u043d\u043d\u043e \u0421\u043e\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0435\u0440, \u0441\u044b\u043d \u042e\u043b\u043e \u0421\u043e\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0430, \u043d\u0430\u0437\u044b\u0432\u0430\u043b \u0435\u0433\u043e \u0411\u043e\u0431\u0430, \u043a\u0430\u043a \u0438 \u0434\u0440\u0443\u0433\u0438\u0435 \u0431\u043b\u0438\u0437\u043a\u0438\u0435 \u043b\u044e\u0434\u0438. \u0411\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0441 \u0416\u0443\u0442\u043e\u0432\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439 \u0441\u043e\u0435\u0434\u0438\u043d\u044f\u043b \u043b\u044e\u0434\u0435\u0439 \u0438 \u0432\u0440\u0435\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0430 \u043d\u0435 \u0442\u043e\u043b\u044c\u043a\u043e \u0431\u043b\u0430\u0433\u043e\u0434\u0430\u0440\u044f \u0441\u0432\u043e\u0435\u0439 \u043f\u0430\u043c\u044f\u0442\u0438, \u0442\u0430\u043b\u0430\u043d\u0442\u0443 \u0445\u0443\u0434\u043e\u0436\u043d\u0438\u043a\u0430 \u0438 \u043c\u0435\u043c\u0443\u0430\u0440\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0430. \u041e\u043d \u0432\u0441\u0435\u0433\u0434\u0430 \u0445\u043e\u0442\u0435\u043b \u0432\u043e\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e \u0434\u0443\u043c\u0430\u0442\u044c, \u0431\u044b\u043b \u0436\u0430\u0434\u0435\u043d \u0434\u043e \u0436\u0438\u0437\u043d\u0438, \u043b\u044e\u0434\u0435\u0439, \u043d\u043e\u0432\u044b\u0445 \u0432\u043f\u0435\u0447\u0430\u0442\u043b\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0439. \u0418 \u0449\u0435\u0434\u0440 - 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