Anu Põder

1947–2013 · Estonian sculptor (1947-2013)
Eesti Kunstimuuseum; Eesti Rahva Muuseum; Tartu Kunstimuuseum

Anu Põder (1947–2013) was an Estonian sculptor and installation artist. Throughout her career, she experimented with new abstract forms and a variety of materials from plaster and wood, charcoal and textile, to light, scent and taste. Põder's work was inspired by her own experience as well as her surroundings and environment in the city and in countryside, at home and at work. Põder's pieces were time and site specific and created to be exhibited as such – the presence of the artwork relied on a performative effect, meaning the artworks disintegrate over time. Põder's work can be viewed in two chapters: the first, facing inward, looking at a young woman's journey to motherhood and being a middle aged woman at the very end of the Soviet period; the second chapter sees the artist slowly turning her gaze outward and commenting on social processes in the newly independent Estonia. Põder's early work did not fall in line with the principles of the so-called bronze age, when Estonian sculptors were casting an extraordinary number of monuments and portrait statues – she did not work with bronze, but followed the formal experimentation direction prevalent at the time, guiding her from Surrealism to depictions of pop culture and everyday life. Already during her studies, Põder began depicting people as dolls, created by using wire structures, plaster, cotton and textile. In the second half of the 1980s she added plastic to her selection of materials – one of the earliest examples of that decade by Põder is “Big doll which was made to sit” (1982). Additionally, in the 1980s Põder created a number of abstract sculptures made of burlap, plastic, paint, tar, textile filling and metal, such as “Composition with a net”, “Composition with strings”, “Composition with red gloves” (all 1983) and “Very old memories” (1985). The sharp tips in these compositions seem to symbolise a defensive position that protects what is held dear from the robustness of the outside. In the second half of the 1980s Põder began experimenting with pinkish plastic sheets, used in medicine at the time. These plastic sheets were sewn together to create compositions of female torsos, such as “On one foot from Lasnamäe” and “With a brass wind instrument from Lasnamäe” (1988) as well as her most know works “Figure which was made to walk” and “Man’s head with a flag” (both 1984). In the 1990s Anu Põder completed her series of dolls, including works like “Rolled-up figure” (1992), “Coiled” (1993), “Composition with a hanging head” (1994) and “Light Stuffed Figure” (2001). Põder's work went through a.

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Similar artists — same period, media and subjects: Edgar Viies · Ahti Seppet · Lembit Palm · Ülo Õun · Jaak Soans · Ants Mölder

Contemporaries in Eesti Kunstimuuseum: Andres Tolts · Edmund Valtman · Tiina Reinsalu · Aavo Ermel · Brigida Mrožek

By decade: 1960s · 1970s · 1980s · 1990s · 2000s
By medium: Sculpture · Installation
Where the works are: Art Museum of Estonia · Estonian National Museum · Tartu Art Museum

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Museum records from MuIS and the EKM Digital Collection; gallery stock from the galleries' own catalogues; auction results as Haus Galerii, Vernissage, Allee galerii, Vaal galerii, E-Kunstisalong, Eesti Kunsti Oksjonid and Kunstikoda published them, and the lots Osta Noort Kunsti offered (it publishes no results). Full catalogue · Corrections, removals, questions: info@museaal.ee · Privacy