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Illustration exhibition “The Stroll” by Viive Noor

The exhibition The Stroll by the illustrator Viive Noor will be open in the Estonian Children’s Literature Centre until October 31st, 2020. 

Viive Noor, the curator of the Estonian Children’s Literature Centre and the internationally renowned illustrator, opened an exhibition in the centre featuring her most recent work. Visitors will see pictures from books published both in Estonia and abroad. Like the title of the exhibition hints, it offers a stroll between works of the last decade that represent different stages of her works. You can view earlier watercolors from Milvi Pangas’s book Where Are You, Santa’s Elf?, as well as prints inspired by fiction. The main focus of the exhibition is on pictures in mixed media that represent the latest creative style of the illustrator. This style is evident in illustrations for Tiia Toomets’s book May Lily and Anemone, for Bianca Maria Tricarico’s Tamburopoli (Drum City) published in Italy, and for Tiziana Bruno’s silent book Princess Lara. 

Ulla Saar, an illustrator and the director of foreign relations in the Estonian Children’s Literature Centre, said that Noor’s exhibition is as polished as a diamond: “At points it creates a rainbow across the sky, at points the textures and patterns will make your head spin, then again it seems like the crisp Nordic ice that is intersected by darker, deeper, and nocturnal tones. One cannot stop looking at the exhibition. There is something new and exciting to discover each time. It is a celebration within the artist herself.”

Noor has studied fashion design in the State Art Institute of the Estonian SSR (Estonian Academy of Arts). She has said that she started studying art quite naturally even though she dreamed of becoming an explorer as a child. Her dissertation was in graphic art regarding the design and illustration of children’s books. Since university times Noor has persistently illustrated children’s books and her works has been noticed both in Estonia and abroad. She has also tirelessly promoted the art of illustration. She is the organizer of the Tallinn Illustration Triennial (TIT) Power of Pictures and the initiator, organizer and curator of several international traveling exhibitions.

 Illustration by Viive Noor.