Library & archive

Tartu Art Museum Library is located at Rüütli 21, Tartu and its opening hours are Wed-Fri 10–16. To visit the Library please contact the librarian and set a meeting time in advance by telephone or email.

Tartu Art Museum library is one of the best collections of art-related literature in Southern Estonia. It consists of 28 000 items that form an overview of art literature published in Estonia and has a wide variety of books that cover different periods in art history as well as art theory and museology, a collection of catalogues of art exhibitions held in Estonia and subscribe to various art-related journals. Thanks to donations made by Estonian exiles, the library gives a good overview of art books published in the West during the Soviet times. All items can be borrowed except for media publications that can only be consulted on site.

The following magazines are available:

• Artforum
• Art in Estonia
• ARTnews
• Flash Art
• Frieze
• Kunst.ee
• Maja
• Mousse

Tartu Art Museum’s library has been partially entered into a searchable digital database that can be found at www.lugeja.ee.

The Art Museum’s archive is divided into a photo archive and research archive. The former consists of more than 23 000 photos that cover most of Estonian art history. They mainly deal with Tartu Art Museum’s history and the art school Pallas that is the cornerstone of Estonian art history. The process of digitising the photo archive as well as the museum’s collections is ongoing.

Most of the research archive is about the museum’s history. In addition, we have materials about different artists. In 2012 the museum acquired the personal archive of Endel Kõks offering researchers a great overview of the art life of Estonian exiles.

Librarian and Registrar of Archive contact:

Saara Sion

Email: saara.sion@tartmus.ee

Phone: +372 58817806