Karin Luts (29 April 1904 – 14 May 1993) was a Estonian female painter and a graphic artist.

Biography

Karin Luts was born in Riidaja in

Valga County Valga County ( et, Valga maakond or ''Valgamaa'') is a first-level administrative unit and one of 15 counties of Estonia. It comprises the former area of Valga District. The present-day county was created on 1 January 1990. The capital and lar ...

to parents Andres and Juuli Mari Luts (''née'' Gentalen) in April 1904 where she was one of three sisters, Lonny, Meta and Karin, and a brother Elmar. Her father was a teacher. She completed her studies in

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet o ...

Estonian School Society Progymnasium in 1922. She had studied under artist . Luts then went to the Art College in Pallas, Tartu to study with

Konrad Mägi Konrad Vilhelm Mägi (1 November 1878 – 15 August 1925) was an Estonian painter, primarily known for his landscape work. He was one of the most colour-sensitive Estonian painters of the first decades of the 20th century, and Mägi's works on m ...

. When Mägi died she continued with Ado Vabbe. Luts learned etching and lithography from

Magnus Zeller Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained w ...

. Luts graduated in 1928. In 1928 Luts spent a year at the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Académ ...

with

André Lhote André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art. Early life and education Lhote was born ...

before returning to Estonia to work as an artist in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

. Luts worked as a costume designer and illustrator. One of her works was the illustrations for 's children's book "Loomade talu" in 1933. She began to work with textile designs in 1935. The Ministry of Economy commissioned her to complete a tapestry design to be displayed in the Estonia pavilion of the

Paris World's Fair The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) sanctions world expositions. Some have been recognised retrospectively because they took place before the BIE came into existence. The designation "World Exposition" refers to a class of the largest, ...

in 1937. The work won a gold medal. She traveled to

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

with Andrus Johani before she published her first article. Luts article was a critic of an exhibition of Italian women artists held in Tallinn in 1937. By 1939 Luts was part of the group of artists known as Pallas. In 1939 Luts traveled through Rome with the Tallinn Women's Club where she took the opportunity to work in the studio of the artist Countess Mola. She had planned to return to Rome but the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

prevented it. She began working for the

College of Art in 1940 as a lecturer. She married fellow professor Peter Arumaa and in 1944 they fled the soviet occupation of Estonia and went to Sweden. They both became citizens in the 1950s. In Sweden Luts took up graphic design and gained recognition in painting and graphics internationally though she died relatively unknown having left Estonia as one of her best known women artists. She studied graphics from 1960 to 1968 in Stockholm and went on to study in Salzburg. She died in Stockholm in 1993. She left her art to the

Tartu Art Museum Tartu Art Museum (Estonian: ''Tartu Kunstimuuseum'') is a state-owned museum of art located in Tartu, Estonia. It was founded in 1940 on a private initiative by the members of local art school Pallas. This is the largest art museum in Southern E ...

and her writings to the

Estonian Literary Museum The Estonian Literary Museum (ELM; et, Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum), is a national research institute of the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Estonia. Its mission is to improve the cultural heritage of Estonia, to collect, preser ...

. Luts was married to linguist Peeter Arumaa. Her sister was the actress Meta Luts and her cousin was artist Julius Gentalen.

Works

Karin Luts "Kompositsioon. Õnnesaar", 1927. Tartmus.jpg, ''Kompositsioon. Õnnesaar'', 1927 Karin Luts "Aednik", 1928. Tartmus.tif, ''Aednik'', 1928 Karin Luts "Süüta laste tapmine", 1928. Tartmus.tif, ''Süüta laste tapmine'', 1928 Karin Luts "Leerilapsed", 1936. Tartmus.tif, ''Leerilapsed'', 1936 Karin Luts "Kaluritüdruk rannal", 1943. Tartmus.tif, ''Kaluritüdruk rannal'', 1943 Karin Luts Autoportree,1943. Tartmus.jpg, ''Self-portrait'', 1943

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luts, Karin 1904 births 1993 deaths Estonian women painters Estonian printmakers 20th-century Estonian painters Estonian World War II refugees Estonian emigrants to Sweden People from Tõrva Parish