KOKS, ENDEL (1912-1983)

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"Night At The Circus" (1959)

oil on canvas laid on board

69 x 24cm

signed lower right

*private collection, Sydney
.
Kõks is regarded as one of the most important Scandinavian painters of the mid-20th century. He studied art at the Pallas College of Art in Tartu, graduating in 1940 under Ado Vabbe. In 1944, he fled to Germany as a wounded soldier. He was one of the organizers of the first art exhibition of refugees in 1945 and the first chairman of the Estonian Visual Artists Center formed in the Geislingen refugee camp. In 1951, Kõks moved to Sweden and settled in Örebro, where he found it difficult to establish himself as a Late-Cubist artist; abstraction was the leading National movement. His first abstract paintings after 1956 were constructed with a joyfully colourful palette and lines, and demonstrated a kinship with the works of Vassily Kandinsky. By 1963 he was working in pure abstraction, reminiscent of Jackson Pollock. He was inspired by experimental music, watching experimental films and thinking about nuclear physics. He participated in exhibitions in Europe, U.S.A., Canada and Australia, including one-man shows in Washington, New York, Stockholm, Munich, Brussels, Rome, Parmas, Helsinki, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. A winner of countless awards during his life, his works are represented in several major institutions including the State Museum of Art in Tallinn, the Tartu Art Museum in Tartu & the University of Toronto.