1920s was the period when professional art was starting to be established in Estonia. Professional art – what is it? Does it mean that Konrad Mägi, Ants Laikmaa and Kristjan Raud were amateurs? Of course not. Professional in this context means that the emerged not by a random turn of fate or a lucky coincidence – the founded art school “Pallas” was an establishment, where very good artists started to educate young students. During its starting years already, some of the Pallas attendants became genuine crown jewels of the Estonian art history, for instance among the first students there were Aleksander Vardi and Eduard Wiiralt. Professionalism meant that the interval between major art exhibitions was not 3 years any more; the exhibitions were carried out regularly and under the keen eye of press. Professionalism also meant that the first artists’ groups were formed and one could start talking about art trends and movements, for the first time free graphics appeared on the art spotlight (mostly thanks to Eduard Wiiralt, but he was not the only one), the artists started to get organized into trade associations, etc. In conclusion: the 1920s secured the home front for the Estonian art history. After this decade it was clear that Estonian art was there to stay and could now peacefully focus on the fundamental issues. By the way, an interesting fact is that the first half of the 1920s remains the biggest avant-garde period in the Estonian art history. During the 1930s, when the social guarantees and other such matters were clearly more established than ten years earlier, the artists ended up turning to realist art.
During the 1920s the social status of an artist was not secure by any means. First efforts were made by the state, Estonia Culture fund was established and with the help of government grants many Estonian artists got a chance to go to Paris: the importance of such an opportunity was hard to overestimate.  At the same time, tuition in “Pallas” was not free and a few had to suspend their studies in order to help their father at the mill or in the farm (without giving up art on their part).  The young Estonian state made some strange moves, for example they gave permission to take the Baltic-German art collections out of the country – in order to be auctioned off in Germany.  In 1929 the young Estonian Art Museum was evicted from the Kadriorg Palace in order to set up an official government residence there, and the museum had to move into a... restaurant. Today nobody could even imagine anything of the sort and the status of art has become so much more secure, but these examples are very revealing. During certain eras the importance of art has not been taken for granted: on the contrary, it was considered a frivolous, incomprehensible, inept and useless vanity without clear purpose. The Estonian state was not yet ready for its art.
We could bring other examples. Although Eduard Wiiralt was only 24 years old in 1922, he had already made a name for himself. His linocut portfolio, completed a few years earlier, could be considered one of the cornerstones of free graphics in the Estonian art history. It is unlikely that Wiiralt, who went to study in Dresden in 1922, would look back to the days when the pages of the same portfolio were used by the fishmongers of Tartu market to wrap up their goods for customers. Now he was in a metropolis and his artist nature craving grotesque, eroticism and thirst for life, found lots of worthy material. The rare prints on this auction are only first steps on the road to the legendary works depicting all the human vices of life. You can sense already here, why Wiiralt was not a favourite among the fish merchants: With their intricacy, filigree, and an inexplicable foreign aspect – the works of Wiiralt were difficult to set into the context of the early 1920s Estonian everyday life.
Or let’s take Konstantin Süvalo. Already during the previous decade, he had started to participate in exhibitions, but only in the 1920s he had a chance to move to Paris. Being a student of Purvitis and a bright neo-impressionist, he writes: Why would Estonia need several art schools, when the real learning can be carried out only here, living and working in Paris? It is interesting that Süvalo’s most cheerful, pointillist and brightest works reamain in the period when Paris was just a dream for Süvalo and he had to settle for the local landscapes, trees and snow, working as a schoolteacher right here in Pärnu.
Truth be told – the 1920s had its glorious moments as well. When we look at the list of Konrad Mägi’s paintings, we can find judges, doctors (let’s remember Dr. von Kügelgen’s supportive and “collecting” attitude towards his patient at a mental hospital, Paul Burman!), lawyers and other prominent public figures of the time as owners of his works. Their passion for collecting art was not random – people who assumed a greater responsibility in front of the society and understood the necessity of acting as role models, arrived rapidly to the conclusion that supporting the country’s art and culture was an important duty brought upon them. True enough: 1930s show that the attitude of the society was starting to change. There was a need for people willing to show direction.

In our auction selection this period is represented by the following works:

EDUARD WIIRALT (1898–1954)
Naise portree ornamentide taustal. 1922
Portrait of a Woman in an Ornamental Background.

EDUARD WIIRALT (1898–1954)
Daam sohval. 1922
Lady on a Sofa.

KONSTANTIN SÜVALO (1884–1964)
Varakevad. 1920ndate algus
Early Spring. Beginning of 1920s.

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