Introduction
Do you remember what you first learned to draw in kindergarten? Maybe a flower with a yellow core and 7 petals? Something so practiced, natural and beautiful. Beautiful things that have no special meaning.
Various flowers have been drawn, painted or photographed for centuries. This was one way to make a living as a woman artist or photographer at the beginning of the 20th century, for example by photographing and selling postcards with flowers and other compositions. Malle Leis’ flower paintings from the 1970s and 1980s brought a completely new approach to depicting flowers, and flowers suddenly had meaning (given by others) and seriousness behind them. Leis also loved depicting horses.
The work was on display at Ann Pajuväli’s solo exhibition Act I, Pause, Act II at the Kuressaare Cultural Centre in 2024.