Eduard Wiiralt

Eduard Wiiralt (born 8 Märzjul / March 20 1898greg on the estate Kalitino at Wolossowo, Russia, .. † January 8, 1954 in Paris, France) was an Estonian graphic artist and painter.

Life

Eduard Wiiralt ( notation according to the introduced in the 1920s orthography also Viiralt ) was born as the son of Estonian parents in the government of Petersburg. The family moved in 1909 by Russia in the Estonian county Järva to the farm Varangu. From 1915 to 1918 studied Wiiralt at the School of Applied Arts (Estonian Kunstitööstuskool ) in Tallinn.

1918/19, took part in the Wiiralt as a soldier Estonian War of Independence against Soviet Russia. In 1919 he continued his studies at the prestigious school of artists Pallas in South-Estonian Tartu continue with Anton Star head. 1922/23, he was awarded a scholarship at the Art Academy in Dresden with Professor Selmar Werner. In 1924, he joined the school of artists from Pallas as a graphic artist and sculptor.

In 1924/25 Eduard Wiiralt was briefly in Tartu a lecturer in graphic before he got a scholarship from the Estonian State Art Foundation for a one-year stay in Paris. From 1925 to 1939 he lived in France. 1938/39, leaving behind a Morocco travel deep impressions.

From 1939 to 1944 Wirralt lived again in the Estonian capital. In the chaos of war he came over Sweden in the autumn of 1946 in Paris. There he died in 1954 at the age of 55 years. Eduard Wiiralt he is only Este, who is buried in the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Artistic work

Eduard Wiiralt presented in 1916 before his first woodcuts and linocuts, and a year later his first drawings. In his early days he was attached to the Art Nouveau style. Early sculptures represent the artist Konrad Mägi and Kristjan Teder (1922 ) dar. From 1923 to 1925 illustrated Wiiralt numerous book editions as the Võrumaa jutud of Juhan Yaik, the fairy tale ( Muinasjutud ) by Jakob Kõrv and a religion textbook by Eduard Tennmann.

In his work Wiiralt became more and more influenced by German Expressionism. He repeatedly thematized the urban life of that time. His often ironic or sarcastic illustrations showing also early influences of surrealism were quickly known. In Paris, illustrated Wiiralt 1928 two bibliophile French language editions of Pushkin ( Gabrielade ) and François Mauriac ( the Supplement au traité de la concupiscence de Bossuet ). A year earlier Wiiralts illustrations for Marie Unders collection of poems Rõõm Been ühest ilusast päevast in Estonia published.

From 1933 Wiiralt the realism turned to increasingly. Children, women, exotic animals, the shenanigans of nature become the center of his graphic work. From this period, a number of its striking psychological portraits. During his trip to Morocco he portrayed Berbers and Arabs.

Wiiralt was from 1927 a member of the Paris Salon d' Automne. He organized in 1929 numerous solo exhibitions throughout Europe, in 1936 in his native Estonia.