Kai Stahl’s dissertation about Natalie Mei

On 7 October 2023, member of the project, Kai Stahl defended her doctoral thesis at the University of Turku titled Dualismit marginaaleissa: Naistekijyys ja modernisaatio Natalie Mein 1910–1920-lukujen tuotannossa (Dualisms in the Margins. Female Agency and Modernisation in Natalie Mei’s Artistic Production from the 1910s to the 1920s).

This doctoral dissertation explores the early works of Natalie Mei (1900–1975), an Estonian visual artist who has remained unknown internationally, and largely overlooked in her native country. The examined works, spanning nearly fifteen years starting in 1917, are set in an extensive Estonian and international context and studied by means of close analysis. In addition to Estonian art, this dissertation also draws on German and Russian art as material for comparative analysis, focusing on recurrent motifs depending on the thematic range and time period in question. The predominant ideologies in the fields of art and culture are considered, including those prevailing in Finland, which is where the artist’s eldest sister, Kristine Mei, pursued her art studies. Close attention is paid to the strongly gendered early 20th-century notion of the artist, which is primarily discussed from the perspective of feminist art and culture studies, while additionally employing the concepts of culture and non-culture of Lotman’s semiotics of culture.

Not always complying with the traditional gender divide, Mei’s art provides a multidimensional and critical reflection of society and the cultural sphere. Most of her works are small in size, and are either drawings, watercolour paintings or a mixture of both. Sometimes, her works contain explicit references to conventional iconographic canons. At other times, she opts for topics and figures which are seldom, if ever, displayed in art created by women, such as a female prostitute, an effeminate male or a footballer. The perspectives of otherness, non-normativity and border crossings, permeate this dissertation. Occasionally using a pseudonym, Mei herself can be considered to represent the figure of the modern “new woman”.

The comparative material and presented examples demonstrate that Natalie Mei, even if judged from an international point of view, produced unique works of art which enrich the conception of both the Estonian and European art fields in the 1910s and 1920s in particular.

The doctoral thesis can be found here.