1
2
3
posed to provide artists with suitable conditions, popularise the results of their work and introduce samples to industry. The production of the Art Workshops was sold in special shops, which were called ‘salons’. The Art Workshops were subordinated to the Soviet Estonian Artists’ Association, which in turn was a branch of the Artists’ Association of the Soviet Union. The intermediate institution between these two was the Art Fund, which organised the Association’s economic matters and tried to market its output. The Art Fund did not pay income taxes, and part of the profit went to the Artists’ Association of the Soviet Union and the rest went to the local system. The Art Workshops and the publishing house Kunst (Art), which also belonged to the Artists’ Association, provided the majority of the Fund’s income. The Art Workshops were divided into studios based on art medium and material. With some rearrangements and changes in names, six studios had been established by 1968, all working on the principle of self-sufficiency: textiles, decorative knitting, metalwork, ceramics, leather and design. On the basis of the glass factory Tarbeklaas, glass art in limited amounts was produced for a short period of time. The ceramics studio also included a porcelain painting department and sculpture department, focusing on monumental works. The design studio differed from the others because it did not initiate products itself, but fulfilled commissions from the state and the whole Soviet
BE TW EE N ART AND I N D USTRY. THE A RT PRO DU CTS’ FACTORY
1. The shop of the Art Workshops. Early 1960s. 2. Art Council of the Art Workshops. 1962. 3. Art Workshops exhibition at the Tallinn Art Hall. 1984. Car trailer Caravan 375. Machine factory Opõt named after Tupolev. 1982. Designer Matti Õunapuu. Semiautomatic screen printing device. 1980–1982. Designer Heikki Zoova.
23