Eduard Ole (20 May 1898 – 24 November 1995) was an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n painter. Some of his most representative works are on permanent exhibition at the Kumu Art Museum of Estonia. In 1973, Ole published in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

his two-volume illustrated memoirs ' ("On the Big Highway") I and II. A new edition of these books were published in Estonia in 2010.

Expressionism, Cubism

Ole was the seventh child in a farmer's family with eight children. Very young, Ole came in contact with modern western art by means of reproductions in the art school library and by visiting galleries and museums in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. He studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

between 1914 and 1918, where he became particularly influenced by

German Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...

. Ole returned to Estonia in 1918, when his country became independent, and worked as a theatre designer, teacher of drawing, art critic and as of 1923, as a professional artist. That year, together with Friedrich Hist (1900–1941) and Felix Randel (1901–1977, named Johansen until 1936) he formed the Group of Estonian Artists in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

. This group was able to organize a whole series of exhibitions dedicated to

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

experimentation, although Ole himself never became totally non-figurative, retaining a strong link with the material world. Their work was primarily distinguished by modest geometricized abstraction and decorative colourism suggested by Synthetic Cubism, rather than by explorations of simultaneity or collage. A good example of this phase is the wor
Natüürmort kitarriga
(') of 1925. Ole's cubist period lasted only until 1926. That year he began to draw with

India ink India ink (British English: Indian ink; also Chinese ink) is a simple black or coloured ink once widely used for writing and printing and now more commonly used for drawing and outlining, especially when inking comic books and comic strips. In ...

. Some examples of this phase are the work
Rannal
() of 1926
Jalgpallurid
() of between 1926 and 1927
Seltskond
() an
Fokstrott
() both of 1927.

Trips to Paris and Portraits

In 1925 Ole had his works exhibited in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants organized by the

Société des Artistes Indépendants The Société des Artistes Indépendants (, ''Society of Independent Artists'') or Salon des Indépendants was formed in Paris on 29 July 1884. The association began with the organization of massive exhibitions in Paris, choosing the slogan "''sa ...

, to which followed a study trip to Paris in 1927, a trip that gave him fresh impulses. During this trip Ole painted motives inspired in the city such a
Pariisi motiiv
()
Pariis, Eiffeli torn
(), an
Pariis
(). As a consequence to Ole's first study trip to Paris, the cubist severity of form vanished and he preferred to depict large figurative compositions, dramatically staged, with soft planes and colours and nuanced pastel tones. It was during this time (1929) tha
Reisijad
() an
Hobuseujutajad. Pannoo kavand
() were composed. Along these, with the watercolours in soft tones that Ole brought from Paris, he also made colourful gouaches of Estonian landscapes, such a
Lõuna-Eesti maastik
() of 1932–1933. In the beginning of the 1930s Ole started painting portraits of Estonian cultural personalities of international standing. The series started wit
Dirigent Simmi portree
() in 1931, which won the first prize of a national portrait contest. Others followed such a
H. Visnapuu portree
() an
Kirjanik August Gailiti portree
() in 1932
Fr. Tuglase portree
() of between 1935 and 1942, an
Konstantin Pätsi portree
() of 1936. In 1937 Ole made a second study trip to Paris and after the trip he continued to paint landscapes, though it can be noticed, entwined with pastel colours, an increasing drama, as if sensing the new challenges that would face him in the near future. In 1941 Ole painte
Narva Hermani kindlus
(). The 1942 painting
Maastik rahutu taevaga
() an
Maastik tuulikuga
() seem to close this phase of his work.

North Scandinavian Landscapes

In 1939 Ole married the philologist Helmi Metsvahi. As a consequence to the

German occupation of Estonia during World War II In the course of Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany invaded Estonia in July–December 1941, and occupied the country until 1944. Estonia had gained Estonian War of Independence, independence in 1918 from the then-warring German Empire, German ...

(1941–1944) and fleeing the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

occupation of Estonia (1944), Ole left as a refugee to

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

in 1943, where he continued to paint portraits of personalities of Finnish cultural life, such as the ones of the linguist Lauri Kettunen and of Viljo Tarkiainen, biographer of

Aleksis Kivi Aleksis Kivi (; born Alexis Stenvall; 10 October 1834 – 31 December 1872) was a Finnish writer who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, '' Seitsemän veljestä'' (''Seven Brothers''), published in 1870. He is also known ...

, and landscapes. His wife stayed in Estonia. However, fleeing the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

between Finland and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1944, Ole moved to neutral

and became a Swedish citizen in 1951. He was able to visit Estonia once again only in 1990, shortly before the restoration of Estonian independence. In Sweden Ole started working as illustrator for the

Nordic Museum The Nordic Museum () is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (in Swedish history, it is said to begin in 1520) to the ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, taking part in a project to catalogue cultural monuments of Sweden, as well as some works of scientific nature. However, as he settled down and particularly after travelling to Lapland and

northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

his style began to radically change. During those trips Ole's sensibility experienced a new type of light, powerful natural forms, contrasts of colour and structure, of rocks and water found on

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

s. In fact, his next creative period is entirely centered in North Scandinavian landscape. Ole left his earlier calm and transcending planes of restrained colours to scintillating, vibrating, and dramatic compositions.

Post-impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

Pointillism Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism ...

became strong although never dominant. Ole's style evolution can be clearly noticed in his 1948 painting
Motiiv Stockholmi saarestikust I
()
Motiiv Stockholmi saarestikust II
(), an
Kodusadamasse saabumine
(). Further evolution with loss of clear contours and increasing vibrant colours is clear in the 195
Teekond Jotunheimi mägedesse
() and 196
Maastik Lofootidelt
(). Such works, particularly their expressionist dynamism of colour, have a definite influence of other Nordic artists, such as

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( ; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work ''The Scream'' has become one of Western art's most acclaimed images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inher ...

Ernst Josephson Ernst Abraham Josephson (1851–1906) was a Swedish painter and poet. He specialized in portraits, Genre art, genre scenes of folklife and folklore. Background He was born to a middle-class family of merchants of Jewish ancestry. His uncle Lud ...

, and

Akseli Gallen-Kallela Akseli Gallen-Kallela (born Axel Waldemar Gallén; 26 April 1865 – 7 March 1931) was a Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the ''Kalevala'', the Finnish national epic poetry, epic. His work is considered a very importa ...

. During the late 1960s and early 1970s Ole's style underwent a new and unexpected metamorphosis, returning to a cubist simplification of forms and gentle planes and motives, moving from landscape painting towards figurative compositions. These figures, almost naturalistic but simplified in a classical manner, attain a synthesis of Cubism-Naïvism. The result of this last change can be noticed on Ole's self-portrait of 197
Autoportree
on the 198
Motiiv Stockholmist
(), and on the 199
Uue pesa ehitamine. Eskiis
(). In 1981 Ole was granted the Culture Award of Estonians in Sweden. Ole was buried at the Metsakalmistu (Forest Cemetery) in Tallinn.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ole, Eduard 1898 births 1995 deaths People from Valga Parish People from Kreis Werro 20th-century Estonian illustrators 20th-century Estonian painters 20th-century Estonian male artists Estonian World War II refugees Estonian emigrants to Sweden Burials at Metsakalmistu