Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Charcoal on paper. 1939.
Signature: KR. RAUD. 7.39

One of the most important artists of the 20th century, Kristjan Raud (1865-1943) was one of the first to establish his career in his native Estonia. With his Kalevipoeg illustrations, powerful charcoal drawings and iconic paintings in art museums, he has forever planted himself in the Estonian art scene and in the hearts of Estonians.

The farm landscape captured in Pedaspea in July 1939 was exhibited at a major retrospective exhibition of Raud’s work at Kadriorg Palace in 1960 (no. 510 in the catalogue published in 1965). Raud made three more drawings of the farm, one of which has been destroyed, the other reproduced in the aforementioned book (p. 127). Art historian Lehti Viiroja has repeatedly mentioned the works created in Pedaspea and Riguldi in the late 1930s in Raud’s monograph (pp. 121-128). They represent a kind of drawing monument to the Estonian farm as the home of the people, their spirituality and culture, and a guarantee of survival. It is no coincidence that this collection of pieces was created on the eve of the World War.

“Villem farm” is also recorded in the catalogue section of Lehti Viiroja’s monograph “Kristjan Raud 1865 – 1943. Creation and Expressions” (1981, no. 1113, p. 203) and in the catalogue of the exhibition held at Kadriorg Palace, already mentioned above.

Text: Mai Levin