Lydia Nirk-Soosaar was born on 30 June 1908, in Viljandi, into a large family. Her father,\nPeter, a merchant, was very strict and demanding, while her mother, Maria, who was a\ngoverness to the children of the German barons, was gentle and tender.<\/p>\n
Lydia, one of four sisters, loved to draw. She spent her summers with her sister Nadiya near\nHolstre, painting the surrounding countryside. When Lydia Nirk was studying at the Viljandi\nTown Gymnasium for Girls, Ants Murakin, a drawing teacher, was a great role model for her.\nThe teacher\u2019s paintings were displayed on the walls of the school, captivating young Lydia\nwith their beautiful colours. After graduating from the gymnasium in 1926, she tried several\nprofessions in Viljandi and Tartu, but \u2018her heart was always with painting\u2019. In 1927, Lydia\nbegan to take private painting lessons from Ants Murakin, and then enrolled in the Pallas Art\nSchool, in Tartu. Lydia\u2019s tutors during her nine-year studies were Jaan Vahtra, in the\npreparatory class, Villem Ormisson, in the painting class, as well as Nikolai Triik and Ado\nVabbe. In Viljandi, Lydia Nirk-Soosaar often painted portraits together with Karl P\u00e4rsim\u00e4gi\nand Eduard Timbermann and participated in exhibitions organised by Timbermann. A longer\nperiod of silence came into the artist\u2019s life after she was expelled from the Artists\u2019 Union in\n1949, accused of bourgeois nationalism. For decades, the artist\u2019s days were filled with\nhousework, taking care of children and animals, and doing farm work, until the family moved\nto Tallinn in 1969.<\/p>\n
In her memoirs, Lydia Nirk-Soosaar has said that she had not been able to paint as much as\nshe would have liked to. She was only readmitted to the Artists\u2019 Union in 1990. She had\nalready participated in national annual exhibitions earlier, and her solo exhibitions were held\nin Tallinn and P\u00e4rnu in 1979, in Viljandi and Haapsalu in 1981, and in P\u00e4rnu and Viljandi in\n1993, which was her last exhibition.<\/p>\n
In her older years, Lydia Nirk-Soosaar painted some lush Viljandi motifs. One of the most\nimportant features of the artist\u2019s work was the translucent underpainting, done in red madder\nlake. One such work is a bush on \u00d5una Street, painted in early spring, which began to\nobscure the view of the lake. The artist used strong lines, often warm reds, never orange or\npurple. She preferred dark warm tones to light and cold ones, although she also liked grey.\nLydia Nirk-Soosaar has also been called a painter of children, and she liked to paint old trees\nand the sea. The creative process was often more important to the artist than the end result\nand the viewer\u2019s feedback. Lydia Nirk Soosaar died on 11 March 1995, in Tallinn.<\/p>\n
Viljandi motif, Vallikivi 2020. Bigger on the inside than on the outside, Mark Soosaar<\/p>\n
\u00d5una Street, Viljandi landscape, p 171<\/p>\n
Viljandi castle ruins, p 71<\/p>\n