Eesti kunsti ajaloo leiutamine. Kuidas loodi rahvuslikku kunstiajalugu ja -kaanonit?
The Invention of the History of Estonian Art. How was a National Art History and Canon Created?

Summary/Abstract: Even before Estonian statehood, the national elite realised that any true nation was defined by its history and a part of that history was its art and architecture legacy. Starting in 1918, the intelligentsia started to reflect on the historical Baltic German material heritage located in its territory in order to define its values: the newly independent state needed its own art history narrative to interweave into the process of national identity building. It was not easy to ‘invent’ an Estonian art history, since the Estonian authors were framed by two clashing internal needs: an ‘emotionally charged great narrative’ had to be created, one that would meet general national interests but, in doing so, it was important to abide by international disciplinary standards based on the works of ‘great masters’, and none of the local artists lived up to that standard. In the article, four approaches are discussed, all of which claimed to be the proper ‘national art history’: nation-based national art history, the sociocultural model of national art history, territorial-based national art history and theme-based national art history.

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