Artist report or review
The long years of study in St.Petersburg, Dusseldorf and Munich ended in 1903 when Kristjan Raud settled at
home. A great part of K. Rauds work is based on Estonian folklore. his drawings have been the first to give visible
shape to strange and ancient creatures, ghosts, goblins and personificated natural forces and even to tales of
flying lakes etc. The magic world of Kristjan Rauds drawings charms the viewer with its epic poetry.
In 1935 many Estonian homws acquired a copy of their national epic Kalevipoeg illustrated by Kristjan Raud. This
made his name known to his fellow countrymen. Kalevipoeg with Rauds pictures was reissued in 1975. To an
average Estonian Kristjan Raud is primarily known as the illustrator of the national epic and as an advocate of
national romantic art ideas in the 1930s when quite different winds were already blowing even in the remote
European province of Estonia.