Eduard Wiiralt’s Unknown Matchbox Picture from Vienna, 24 December 1944

Abstract

The main objective of the article is to introduce the matchbox picture called Girl Looking Up in Prayer created in Vienna on 24 December 1944 and the bookplate based thereon that was produced in Estonia in 1960. In addition, based on archival sources, an explanation is provided of the reception of Eduard Wiiralt’s work in occupied Estonia until the end of the 1950s. Despite the common belief that Wiiralt was totally ignored during the Stalinist period in Estonia, he was still included in the art history curricula of the official schools of higher education. Many of the students at that time were soon actively helping to restore public recognition to Wiiralt, which occurred after the artist’s death in 1954. The introduction of Wiiralt’s oeuvre in Estonia was preceded by an exhibition in Moscow in 1956. It is possible that the matchbox picture that was sent to Estonia in a letter on 15 February 1959 was not the first original post-war work by Wiiralt to arrive here. The owner had the picture made into a bookplate that was produced in a large run. Eduard Wiiralt himself is known to have made seven bookplates between 1918 and 1936. It is also possible to document the changes that have occurred in society and the moods of the times through art. From the matchbox picture that Wiiralt drew on Vienna on Christmas Eve in 1944, the year that Estonia lost its independence, one can surmise the artist’s belief and hope that his beloved Estonia would someday become free again.