Evald Okas
(1915–2011)
Ships on the Tallinn Skyline Background. 1985
Lithography. Km 23 x 35 cm (framed)
price 900
Above all, as an excellent artist, Evald Okas can basically draw or paint anything, because the result will be professional and good. Knowing that this was not a sailor artist, one would still like to know the origin of the motif. The fact that Pirita was visited in the 1980s and still serves as a sailing place today is widely known. This is where a larger sailing ship that has arrived at the Port of Tallinn appears. However, the background – the silhouette of Tallinn – is unique to Tallinn. In the 1980s, there was a big debate about the skyline. How to protect the silhouette of Tallinn so that it remains visible to the sea and is not hidden by new buildings? Thus, the port area of Tallinn was kept as a wasteland for a very long time, until recently, only now construction activities are underway there, whereas buildings are not allowed to rise above a certain limit. So, here Evald Okas depicts a dramatic view of the port area of Tallinn, but the skyline is so important that it is mentioned in the title of the graphic sheet. An investigation of the media of that time would perhaps provide an answer about what was happening in the foreground.