Eesti Elu / Estonian Life No. 9 | Mar 6, 2020 by Eesti Elu / Estonian Life

EESTI ELU reedel, 6. märtsil 2020 — Friday, March 6, 2020

Nr. 9

Ilon Wikland is in the hearts of Estonians Silver Tambur, Estonian World, March 2020 Ilon Wikland, an EstonianSwedish artist and illustrator, renowned for her illustrations for the world-famous Swedish children author, Astrid Lind gren, celebrated her 90th birthday on 5 February. The hard-working and talent ed woman can look back with satisfaction at her life’s work – generations of children across the world have grown up with her vibrant illustrations. If they have not heard her name, they have surely seen Wikland’s drawings. “Karlsson-on-theRoof”, “The Bullerby Child ren”, “Ronia the Robber’s Daughter”, “Lotta on Trouble maker Street”, “Brothers Lion heart” – all these and many other characters from the stories of Swedish children’s author, Astrid Lindgren, have become even more alive and familiar through Wikland’s drawings. How did a young woman from Estonia come to work with Lindgren? The story of Wikland’s life is very inspiring. It is a story of a brave little girl who overcomes difficulties to become a dedicated, successful and beloved artist. Ilon Wikland (born MaireIlon Pääbo) was born on 5 February 1930 in Tartu, Esto nia. Her father was Max Pääbo, a civil engineer; her mother Vida Pääbo-Juse, a painter and textile artist. By the time Ilon started to attend school, the family had moved to Tallinn. After her parents’ divorce in 1939, however, Ilon was sent to live with her grandparents in Haapsalu. A tiny wooden house, next to the town’s St MaryMagdalen’s Orthodox Church, became here home (her grand father was a sacrist at the church). Wikland has later said

her most beautiful childhood memories are connected to the seaside town of Haapsalu. In the autumn of 1944, when approximately 80,000 Estonians fled the country in fear of the advancing Soviet troops, 14-year-old Ilon was sent to Sweden on a boat with her schoolmate’s family to get away from the war; her father’s family had also already fled there. Ilon has later recalled that the journey that took three days through rough seas, seemed endless and she was pretty ill by the end of it. Arriving in Sweden as a refugee, Ilon moved in with her artist aunt in Stockholm. She soon went to study at Akke Kumlien’s Book and Adver tising School for book illustra tors from 1945 to 1946, at the School of Applied Arts of Stockholm in 1949, and at Signe Barth’s school for paint ing from 1952 to 1953 and in 1956. She also gained more knowledge and skills in London and Paris. In 1951, Ilon married a Swede, Stig Wikland, with whom they have four daughters: Helen, Birgitta, Fredrika and Anna. In 1953, Wikland applied for a job as illustrator at Rabén & Sjögren, a Swedish publishing house that among others, pub lished Astrid Lindgren. As a lucky coincidence, Wikland met Lindgren, who had just finished writing the book, “Mio, my Son”, and who could see imme diately that Wikland was able to “draw fairytales”. Wikland did a test-drawing for the book and Lindgren liked what she saw – that was the beginning of a long collaboration that lasted for decades. Wikland later said that in the same way that Astrid Lindgren wrote for “the child within her”,

Coronavirus outbreak to impact Estonian tourism sector in 2020 BNS, March 2020 Travel agencies say that, due to the safety and quarantine measures implemented as a result of the coronavirus out break and the increasing sense of danger of passengers, the decrease in the flow of tourism from China may also have an impact on the Esto nian tourism sector. Sven Lõokene, manager of travel agency Reisiekspert, said that the company is most affect ed by the cancellations of incoming group tourists. In March alone, Reisiekspert will not be able to welcome 25 tour ist groups from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and elsewhere, which is more than 500 tourists in total. Age Põder, head of partner relations at travel agency Go Travel, estimated that a more significant impact on travel

o rganization may arrive for the Scandinavian and Baltic mar kets during the peak summer travel season, as groups from China may begin cancelling their planned trips to the region. “Although the number of Chinese tourists staying the night in Estonia is not very large yet, they make up less than 1 percent of all visits to Estonia, then as day tourists arriving from Helsinki or as tourists visiting in the frame work of tours, they can already make up an important source of income for several tourism sec tor companies in Estonia, too,” Põder told BNS. “So far, we have postponed one group trip to China, other trips have so far not needed changing pursuant to the recom mendations of the Health Board and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” she added. Travel cancellations by do

she also drew for the child within her – although Wikland has also derived inspiration for her pictures from real life. In a 2015 interview with Estonian World, Wikland said her desire for a secure child hood reflected in her drawings – because her own childhood wasn’t an easy one at all. The divorce of her parents and the leaving of her mother, escaping to Sweden on a refugee ship and a serious illness were the challenges she had to live through as a child. Illustrations for Lindgren’s books are the ones Wikland is mostly known for, but she has also illustrated books of several other authors – for example, Ann Mari Falk, Marlen Haushofer, Hans Peterson – and even fairy tales from Hans Christian Andersen and brothers Grimm, as well as some non-fiction books. Wikland has also written books herself. In 1995, she wrote the book, “The Long Journey”, with Rose Lager crantz, that tells the story of the artist’s childhood in Haapsalu and fleeing to Sweden. The illustrations were naturally drawn by the artist herself. In 1997, Ilon wrote and illustrated a new children’s book, “Sam meli, Epp and I”, in which she tells about her first school day in Tallinn. In 2005, Wikland wrote the children’s book ,“My Grandmother’s House”, with Barbro Lindgren, about Ilon’s childhood in Haapsalu. Her latest book, “Darling”, was pub lished in 2012. Wikland only got to return to her childhood hometown, Haap salu, in 1989, when the Soviet Union had begun to crumble and there was some hope for Estonia for regaining indepen dence. Since she was often subconsciously inspired by the

Haap salu castle ruins, the town’s wooden buildings and the sea when drawing illustra tions for Lindgren’s books, she also brought along Lindgren when she revisited her home town for the first time since fleeing Estonia in 1944. The emotional event was so special that many people in Haapsalu still remember it fondly, over 30 years later. In 2004, Wikland decided to give the original copies of her book illustrations to Estonia as a gift. A good place for exhibit ing the works was found in Haapsalu, very close to the former home of Ilon’s grand parents. Subsequently, Ilon Wikland’s gallery was opened in town. In addition to opening the art gallery, an idea came up to create a child-friendly centre in Haapsalu which would offer numerous opportunities for spending time actively. That’s how the thematic centre of “Ilon’s Wonderland” was born, which was opened in Haapsalu in 2009. A three-storey building includes a gallery, a cinema auditorium and exhibition room, “Ilon’s kitchen” and a play room. The gallery introduces Wikland’s life and creation in six languages – Estonian, English, Russian, Finnish,

mestic tourists have also been registered. Airi Ilisson, head of marketing at travel agency Estravel, told BNS that custo mers have foremost cancelled trips taking place in the near future and foremost to countries where the virus has spread more widely. Lõokene, too, said that under fire are rather trips directed to the near future, but if the threat situation continues, blows could also be dealt to late spring and summer bookings. According to Lõokene, quite a high number of work trips are cancelled as several major international events, including the Geneva International Motor Show and international tourism fair ITB Berlin, have been cancelled this year, while several major cor porations also have travel bans in effect. “Private travelers are cancel ling trips to regions with a higher-than-average level of threat and where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not re commend travelling to. People

fear ending up in quarantine, that is that someone may end up falling ill at a vacation desti nation or on a cruise ship and this would result in healthy people also being unable to leave the location for 14 days,” Lõokene added. However, Põder said that, of all the trips sold by Go Travel, overwhelmingly in first place are package trips to warm countries like Greece, Turkey and Egypt as well as Cyprus, Bulgaria and Tunisia, which are not included among danger regions such as China, certain regions in northern Italy, Iran, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, which is why people are also not rushing to cancel those trips. Ilisson said that although their customers, too, are con tinuing to travel to countries away from the spread of the virus, the volume of trips has nevertheless slightly decreased. The average daily number of Estravel’s travel bookings has also declined somewhat. “The

Ilon Wikland’s illustration for Astrid Lindgren’s “The Bullerby Children”.

Ilon Wikland. Photo: Monica Schneider

Swedish and German. Once a year, “Ilon’s Wonderland” also organises a competition for a young artist’s award in cooperation with Wikland where Estonian youths aged 14-18 can test their skills in illustration and gain motiva tion for continuing to develop in this area. Can the illustrator herself explain why so many people find her style that touching? “All along, I’ve been trying to paint emotions,” Wikland told Estonian World in 2015, “So that a person, looking at my paintings, could see the feel ings.”

decrease can foremost be seen with regard to last minute trips, however, people are then all the more interested in trips taking place further in the future, for example, in the winter or next year. People are also asking more for trips with more flexible cancellation terms, for example, when it comes to plane tickets, people look and ask for more flexible options, which we will then accordingly find in such cases,” Ilisson added. A similar decline has also been noticed by Reisieks pert. Ilisson said the virus out break will also have an impact on the company’s financial results, but it is still too early to estimate the extent of that impact. “We hope that the situa tion will change and the virus retreat,” she added.

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