Erik Schmidt (artist, 1925)

Erik Schmidt (born August 15, 1925 in Naissaar , Estonia , † April 18, 2014 in Mallorca ) was an Estonian painter and writer . His uncle was the optician Bernhard Schmidt .

Erik Schmidt, self-portrait 1976

Life

Schmidt attended the local Swedish school, after the fourth year he switched to the Swedish high school in Haapsalu . When all of Estonia became Soviet in 1940 , Naissaar was declared a naval base. The population had to leave the island within ten days. A short time later, Captain Schmidt's ship was sunk by a German attack in the Atlantic. Captain Schmidt and the crew survived. In 1941 Estonia was conquered by the German troops and the Schmidt family was able to return to Naissaar.

At the age of 17, Erik Schmidt became a teacher at the elementary school that he had attended a few years earlier. This exempted him both from military service in the Estonian Legion and from compulsory service in the Reich Labor Service . At the end of October 1943, the Schmidt family fled the approaching Red Army to Sweden, where they were taken in by the Brodin family of shipping companies . Erik Schmidt became a seaman after the end of the war in 1945. He made his first voyages on the ships of the Brodin Cargo and Passenger Line , whose ships were considered the fastest ships in the world at the time. After a year Schmidt was drafted into service in the Swedish Navy.

While visiting New York City , he met the Armenian painter Ariel Agemian . After brief lessons with Agemian, Schmidt decided to become a painter himself. After a stay in Sweden in 1949, he studied at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris from 1950 to 1953 . In 1954 he went to Johannesburg , South Africa, for a year , where he created a series of portraits that established his reputation as a portrait painter . After a stay in Stockholm, Schmidt went to Palma in 1957 , where he lived and worked until his death. The Society for Estonia-Swedish Culture (Samfundet för Estlandssvensk Kultur) awarded him two awards.

Erik Schmidt described his philosophy of seeing and painting as follows:

“There is beauty all around us. It is the painter's task to discover and reproduce this beauty in order to please people with it. "

- Erik Schmidt

The subjects of his pictures were often people in rural surroundings. Erik Schmidt painted exclusively with a mixture of black oil and mastic that he had developed , whose drying properties he was able to influence. His color palette ranged from gray and ocher tones, inspired by the Nordic coastal landscapes of his youth, to the lively color changes of the sky and sea, to the lively tones that he had got to know on his visits to India and the Arab countries.

Exhibitions

• Salon de Printemps , Paris 1951.
• Stuttaford Galleries , Johannesburg 1954.
• Ekström Konstgalleri , Stockholm 1955.
• Ateneo de Santander , Santander 1956.
• Eesti Majandusühisu's product , Stockholm 1957.
• Galeria Rembrandt , Palma de Mallorca 1980.
• Eesti Maja , Stockholm 1988.
• Eesti Maja , Stockholm 1989.
• Claustre de Sant Antoniet , Palma de Mallorca 2009.

Literary works

Erik Schmidt has published a number of articles in Swedish and books in Estonian, English and Spanish. A selection:

• Tormised teekonnad . Perona, Parnu 1993.
• Optical Illusions: The Life Story of Bernhard Schmidt, the Great Stellar Optician of the Twentieth Century . Teaduste Akadeemia Kirjastus, 1995, ISBN 9985501020 .
• Naissaare põlised perekonnad (ed.). Teaduste Akadeemia Kirjastus, 1995, ISBN 9985501047 .
• Pagana eestlane . Eesti Raamat, 1996, ISBN 9985650603 .
• Tuultest tõugatud . Eesti Raamat, 1999, ISBN 9985652215 .
• Rännakud enne koitu . Virgela, 2001, ISBN 9985930010 .
• Minu onu Bernhard Schmidt . Ilmamaa, 2002, ISBN 9985770617 .
• Jumalaga, Naissaar! . Olion, Tallinn 2004, ISBN 9985663667 .
• Päevapilte Hispaaniast . Eesti Raamat, 2004, ISBN 9985654552 .
• Bernhard Schmidt 1879–1935 . 2004.

literature

• Einar Sanden: The Painter From Naissaar . Boreas, Cardiff 1985, ISBN 0-906967-45-7 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Erik Schmidt in the catalog of the German National Library
• Information and pictures in the Vaal Gallery, Tallinn [1]