Anita Paegle: Illustrator – Latvia

The sense of miracle has to be present all the time.

A. Paegle

anita paegle’s (1956) wonderful book illustrations have been captivating children’s attention for more than thirty years. She is a graduate from the Janis Rozentals Art School of Riga and the Graphic Art Department of the Latvian Academy of Arts. She has been illustrating solely children’s books. Ever since 1981, when Paegle began to collaborate with the publishers Liesma and later with the publishers Sprīdītis, she has consistently developed her special, inimitable style of illustration. She has illustrated over thirty-five books, among them many original works by outstanding Latvian writers. One of the main indicators of quality in children’s books is the harmony of text and illustration, and Anita Paegle can certainly be called a co-author of Jānis Baltvilks’, Māra Cielēna’s, and Juris Zvirgdiņš’ books. She has regularly contributes illustrations to the children’s magazines Zilite (Titmouse; since 1986) and Ezis (Hedgehog; since 1990).

Paegle only works in watercolor, layering the paintings to obtain great color saturation and brilliance. Reminiscent of ancient miniatures, her illustrations of plants and animals, antique objects and musical instruments, architecture and history embody a style that can be characterized as hyperrealistic romanticism. She usually depicts the characteristic architecture of Riga as the backdrop for the events of the fairytales. Attention to detail evokes childhood memories, a time when things were seen in a different light and perspective from what they seem when living in the world of the grownups. She is an artist-observer who knows how to stop a child dragged along by the frantic pace of the contemporary lifestyle, drawing their attention to subtle nuances. In Paegle’s pictures, everything is tiny and small; even the background is special and important. She says, “I only work with especially tiny brushes, just a zero, number 1 and number 2. These are special, very important brushes! I like it if the color is not flat. For example, the blue background is made up of tiny brushstrokes, and it becomes vibrant, it comes alive and moves.”

This artist has received much recognition in Latvia and abroad, and her artwork has been featured in several national and international group and solo exhibitions. She has taken part in the International Artist’s Book Triennial in Vilnius, Lithuania (1987, 1990); the Biennial of Illustrations in Bratislava, Slovakia (1999, 2001, 2015); and Tallinn (Estonia) Illustration Triennial “The Power of Pictures.”