Eduard Wiiralt – a collection of drawings

Eduard Wiiralt’s absurd figurative compositions and characteristic expressionist style are easily recognisable. The collection for auction was created during Wiiralt’s time in Tallinn and the numerous café visits he and his friends made. Wiiralt drew on whatever was at hand – cigarette packets, matchboxes, sketch paper, newspaper clippings, and more. The drawings are both ironic and playful, but also comment on the political events of the time. The material was gifted by Wiiralt to a friend, who then took the drawings as one of the few possessions when fleeing from Estonia to Sweden in 1944. They have since been passed down through the family to the current owner.

Feel free to explore the collection and place bids on your favourites.

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Eduard Wiiralt’s absurd figurative compositions and characteristic expressionist style are easily recognisable. The collection for auction was created during Wiiralt’s time in Tallinn and the numerous café visits he and his friends made. Wiiralt drew on whatever was at hand – cigarette packets, matchboxes, sketch paper, newspaper clippings, and more. The drawings are both ironic and playful, but also comment on the political events of the time. The material was gifted by Wiiralt to a friend, who then took the drawings as one of the few possessions when fleeing from Estonia to Sweden in 1944. They have since been passed down through the family to the current owner.

Feel free to explore the collection and place bids on your favourites.

Eduard Wiiralt began his artistic journey by studying graphics at the art school of Tallinn, where he remained from 1915–1918, after which in 1919 he studied under the tutorship of the sculptor Anton Starkopf at the Pallas Art School. Wiiralt continued to teach himself the art of graphics alongside his sculptural studies. In the beginning of the 1920s Wiiralt travelled to Dresden with the intention of continuing his sculptural studies at the Art Academy but discovered that his passion lay with graphics. Dresden also sparked his interest in erotic motifs which he explored in his studies at the zoological garden, deepening his studies in various graphic techniques. Wiiralt assumed a role as a teacher at the art school upon his return to Tartu in 1924 while also working as a book illustrator on the side.

In 1925 Wiiralt moved to Paris where he remained up until 1939. During this time Wiiralt solidified his identity as an internationally known graphic artist, having by this period perfected several graphic methods. His art during the 1920s and early 1930s was characterized by expressionism and surrealism, while his choice of motifs reflected the dark side of urban life, seen through a lens of post-war pessimism. There is also a certain kinship with the art of Hieronymus Bosch and 16th-century graphics. It was during this period that he created his most famous graphic work, "Põrgu" (Hell).

The 1930s saw a shift in Wiiralts style to a more classical expression which reached its peak after his trip to Marocco 1938-1939. The trip resulted in a series of emotionally charged depictions of people and nature. He returned to Estonia in 1939, but the production from this period was sparse, without any clear source of inspiration, leading him to travel further to Austria and Germany in 1943. At the end of the Second World War, Wiiralt devoted a period of his life in Sweden, in which he embarked upon several artistic trips to Lappland alongside Eduard Ole and participated in several exhibitions of Baltic art, including at Värmland's Museum in 1945, Liljevalchs Art Gallery in 1946, and in Malmö and Gothenburg in 1952. After his time in Sweden, he returned to Paris in 1946, where he lived until his death.