Tolli, Vive

Born July 28,1928, in Tallinn. Soviet graphic artist. Honored Artist of the Estonian SSR (1965).

Tolli studied at the Art Institute of the Estonian SSR in Tallinn from 1947 to 1953. Some of her prints poetically interpret folk legends, such as The Lake Near the Town (1967) and The Old Ballad (1970), while others are devoted to the life of Estonian fishermen, for example, The Large Juniper (1965). Tolli also does landscapes, for example, The Garden Beyond the Walls (1974), and illustrates works of Estonian writers, such as A. Haava’s The Wild Flower (1964) and A. Annist’s The Storyteller Mari (1967). In these works she employs complex etching techniques.

Tolli’s works, distinguished by restrained lyricism, express emotion by means of a variety of tonal, textural, and rhythmic effects.