Joonistatud dokumendid
Drawn Documents

Summary/Abstract: The article overviews drawings and characteristic features of documental drawing in the Estonian ethnographic material. This is an area that has been related to the activities of artists in collecting and recording folk culture. In recording the early visual material about Estonia in the 17th-18th century travelogues or reference books and the newer 19th century Balto-German agrarian culture, the line between works of arts and documentary illustrations is vague: the visual material is used as a source in studies into both art and ethnology. The enlivening of folklore collection in the late 19th century and early 20th century brought along the documenting of material culture in the form of drawings. A number of artists and art students partook in the collection work initiated in 1909 by the Estonian National Museum. Material relevant to folk art, that could not be stored in the museum, was recorded in the course of collection campaigns. Photographing technology of the time had limited technical resources and availability. At the beginning of the 20th century a separate archive of drawings was established at the Estonian National Museum; ethnographic drawings became a part of the systematised recording of material culture and were in concordance with the museum's collection principles. The criteria for the collected visual material of the time in recording information are, for the most part, valid even now. During the post-WWII period, the studying of ethnic material proved an alternative in counterbalancing the official ideology. Collection, recording and use of folk art in creative work clearly represented the spirit of national self-expression. Documenting folk art increasingly became a part of art instruction, as an important prerequisite of an ethnographic drawing is good knowledge of technological idiosyncrasies and details of construction of the represented object material. A detailed drawing of an object is the most important and effective way of exploring the nature of the object. Modern photography enables to record the material and spiritual context quickly and objectively, or so it seems, but similarly to drawing, it also entails the subjective aspect of the person taking the photo. A photograph does not provide sufficient parameters (such as, e.g. structures, cross-sections, scheme, fixed colour solutions, etc.) for describing/ documenting the object under study. Both ways of documenting may be considered separate forms of producing visual information, which cannot be considered conflicting.

• Details
• Contents