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

Abstract

The main objective of the article is to introduce the matchbox picturecalled Girl Looking Up in Prayer created in Vienna on 24 December1944 and the bookplate based thereon that was produced in Estoniain 1960. In addition, based on archival sources, an explanation isprovided of the reception of Eduard Wiiralt’s work in occupiedEstonia until the end of the 1950s.Despite the common belief that Wiiralt was totally ignored duringthe Stalinist period in Estonia, he was still included in the art historycurricula of the official schools of higher education. Many of thestudents at that time were soon actively helping to restore publicrecognition to Wiiralt, which occurred after the artist’s death in1954. The introduction of Wiiralt’s oeuvre in Estonia was precededby an exhibition in Moscow in 1956. It is possible that the matchboxpicture that was sent to Estonia in a letter on 15 February 1959 wasnot the first original post-war work by Wiiralt to arrive here. Theowner had the picture made into a bookplate that was produced ina large run. Eduard Wiiralt himself is known to have made sevenbookplates between 1918 and 1936.It is also possible to document the changes that have occurred insociety and the moods of the times through art. From the matchboxpicture that Wiiralt drew on Vienna on Christmas Eve in 1944, theyear that Estonia lost its independence, one can surmise the artist’sbelief and hope that his beloved Estonia would someday becomefree again.