(b Viru-Jaagupi, 23 Oct 1865; d Tallinn, 19 May 1943). Draughtsman. He studied at the St Petersburg Academy of Arts (1892-7), then, together with his close associate Ants Laikmaa (1866-1942), took up an anti-academic position. His early works were staunchly realist, as in Harvesting Potatoes (charcoal on paper, 1896; Tallinn, A. Mus. Estonia), and the ascetic quality of the black-and-white forms resembles that of the early Vincent van Gogh. He continued his studies at the Kunstakademie in D?sseldorf, then in Munich, at the Anton Azbe school and the Kunstakademie (1899-1903). Influenced by symbolism and mysticism, he imitated the work of Edvard Munch. From 1907 he lived in Tartu where he produced the Symbolist cycle Man and the Night (India ink and gouache, 1907-8; Tallinn, A. Mus. Estonia). Folkloric themes, as in the triptych Dead Bride (charcoal on canvas, 1919; Tallinn, A. Mus. Estonia), became a source of inspiration, while his collection of ethnographic material and his participation in the opening of the national museum of Estonia led to his artistic involvement with the national epic poem Kalevipoeg. Among the works he produced in this 1920s cycle is Kalevi's Courtship (charcoal on canvas, 1928; Tallinn, A. Mus. Estonia), which resembles the work of Ferdinand Hodler, Nicholas Roerich and Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The deeply nationalist and epic nature of these drawings is conveyed with a simplicity and expressiveness reminiscent of Estonian wood-carving. Subsequently, his combination of national romanticism with Art Nouveau was transformed into work in the spirit of Neue Sachlichkeit. His Harvest (charcoal on canvas, 1940; Tallinn, A. Mus. Estonia) is close to Zinaida Serebryakova's peasant cycle. Raud wrote on the theory of art in Estonian magazines, expressing views similar to those of Gauguin on the symbolism of colour, line and form.
Part of the Raud family
See the Abbreviations for further details.
