Ülo Õun
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Ülo Õun (30 April 1940 – 7 March 1988) was an Estonian sculptor whose career began in the late 1960s and came to prominence in the 1970s. Õun mainly worked as a portrait and figural sculptor and was known for his works in colored plaster and bronze.


Early life and education

Ülo Õun was born and raised in Tartu, one of two children of Ado and Alma Õun (''née'' Lellep). He graduated from Tartu Secondary School No. 2 (now, the Miina Härma Gymnasium) in 1958. Afterward, he studied mathematics at Tartu State University (now, the
University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.
) for a year, before enrolling at the State Art Institute of the Estonian SSR (now, the
Estonian Academy of Arts The Estonian Academy of Arts (Estonian language, Estonian: ''Eesti Kunstiakadeemia'', EKA) is the only public university in Estonia providing higher education in art, design, architecture, Media (communication), media, art history and conservation ...
) to study
visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...
, with an emphasis on
sculpting Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
. He graduated from the institution in 1966.


Career

After graduating, Õun worked as a
taxidermist Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body by mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the process ...
at the Estonian Museum of Natural History. His first exhibition was held at the Tallinn Art Hall gallery, with artists Ellen Koll and Aili Vint in 1970. In 1971, he became a freelance artist and began sculpting, mainly portraits and figural sculptures. He rose to national prominence in the 1970s, with a style that art critics have described as "friendly grotesque"; Õun's sculptures could not easily be associated with any art movement known in Estonia at that time or compared with any "significant work". He distinguished himself from the generation of Estonian sculptural innovators of the 1960s by his characteristic deformation of form. Õun was fascinated by color, fluidity, and the variability of forms in his work and addressed the subjective spiritual nature of man. His early exhibitions aroused passionate support and admiration from the public and critics, but was not without detractors. One of Õun's most notable sculptures is ''Isa ja poeg'' (English: ''Father and Son''), created in plaster in 1977. The sculpture depicts Õun and his 18-month-old son Kristjan nude, holding hands and standing at the same height. The work symbolizes the relationship between different generations, and the ephemeral period of childhood. The sculpture caused a furor when it was initially exhibited at the Tallinn Art Hall in 1977. In 1987, it was cast in bronze and originally installed in Tallinn. In the autumn of 2001, the Tartu City Government bought the sculpture and intended to install it on the slope of Toomemägi next to the Inglisild (Angel's Bridge). A granite base for the sculpture was made, but an ordinance was brought to light that only artwork and monuments related to the University of Tartu could be installed on Toomemägi. The sculpture was later unveiled for permanent display on Küüni Street on Child Protection Day, 1 June 2004, in Tartu central park, facing Town Hall Square. ''Isa ja poeg'' has become a well-known landmark of Tartu. In 1978, Õun created portrait sculptures of Estonian cultural figures: painter Tiit Pääsuke, artist
Kaljo Põllu Kaljo Põllu (28 November 1934 in Kopa, Hiiumaa – 23 March 2010) was an Estonian artist. In 1962 he received a diploma in glass art, and became director of art cabinet of Tartu State University; he founded the contemporary artist's group V ...
, and actor and theater pedagogue Voldemar Panso, for which he won the Kristjan Raud Art Award the following year. Other portrait sculptures by Õun include those of composers
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and
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, author
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, actor and poet
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, actress Elle Kull, zoologist Harald Haberman, artists
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and Villu Jõgeva, and actors and theater pedagogues
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,
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,
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, and
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. His monument to
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physiologist Alexander Schmidt was opened in Kassitoome park on the grounds of the University of Tartu in 1982. In 1981 and 1984, he completed two monuments titled ''Monument to the Lives Lost in the Second World War'' (). The first, in the town of
Kallaste Kallaste is a town in Peipsiääre Parish, Tartu County, in eastern Estonia. It is located on the western shore of Lake Peipus. History Kallaste was founded in the 18th century as a village of Russian Old Believers. It became a small borough ...
in Tartu County on the shore of
Lake Peipus Lake Peipus is the largest trans-boundary lake in Europe, lying on the international border between Estonia and Russia. The lake is the fifth-largest in Europe after Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega (in Russia), Lake Vänern (in Sweden), and Lake ...
was a bronze sculpture of the nude torso of a nude young man with residual limb stumps which was erected on a high granite socle designed by architect Ike Volkov. Following the public unveiling of the sculpture on 8 May 1981, there was an immediate backlash from the mostly Russian-speaking religious locals, who found the nudity and the posed figure’s similarity to the
crucifixion of Christ The crucifixion of Jesus was the death of Jesus by being nailed to a cross.The instrument of crucifixion is taken to be an upright wooden beam to which was added a transverse wooden beam, thus forming a "cruciform" or T-shaped structure. ...
objectionable. Local complaints eventually reached high ranking Communist Party officials in
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 ...
and Soviet authorities had the sculpture's nudity covered by a pair of specially cast bronze "
briefs Briefs (or a brief) are a type of short, form-fitting Undergarment, underwear and swimsuit, swimwear, as opposed to styles where material extends down the thighs. Briefs have various different styles, usually with a waistband attached to fabric ...
". The second ''Monument to the Lives Lost in the Second World War'' was opened in 1984, in the Tornimäe cemetery on the island of
Saaremaa Saaremaa (; ) is the largest and most populous island in Estonia. Measuring , its population is 31,435 (as of January 2020). The main island of the West Estonian archipelago (Moonsund archipelago), it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hi ...
. The central figure is a bronze sculpture of a nude woman holding a broken rose in her outstretched hands standing on a massive raised grey marble platform, which is ensconced by a geometric structure of four concrete pillars which connect above into a pyramid-like shape, symbolizing a chapel. Õun's artistic output was prolific during his twenty-year career. He held numerous solo and shared exhibitions, and his world can be found in several institutions and public installations throughout the country, including the
Tartu Art Museum The Tartu Art Museum (Estonian language, Estonian: ''Tartu Kunstimuuseum'') is a state-owned museum of art located in Tartu, Estonia. It was founded in 1940 on a private initiative by the members of local art school Pallas. This is the largest ar ...
and the
Art Museum of Estonia The Art Museum of Estonia () was established in 1919. Originally based in Kadriorg Palace, the museum has expanded across several sites and today exhibits both international and local art works. At the end of the 1970s, in the 1980s the first br ...
.


Personal life and death

Ülo Õun married Latvian leather artist Inara Õun (''née'' Zvaigzne; 1941–2012) in 1967. The couple had three children: two daughters and a son, Kristjan. Õun died in 1988, aged 47 and was interred in Tallinn's Forest Cemetery.


Legacy

Several documentaries were made profiling Ülo Õun during his lifetime, the first significant one being the 1984
Arvo Iho Arvo Iho (born 21 June 1949) is an Estonian film director, cinematographer, actor and photographer, who has worked in the areas of documentary and drama.Rollberg, Peter (2016) ''Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema'', Rowman & Litt ...
directed ', for
Tallinnfilm Tallinnfilm () is the oldest surviving film studio in Estonia. It was founded as Estonian Culture Film in 1931, and was nationalized in 1940 after Estonia was integrated into the Soviet Union. During the first year of Soviet occcupation (1940 ...
. In 1986, he was profiled in the Aime Kala directed documentary short ' for
Eesti Rahvusringhääling Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) – ''Estonian Public Broadcasting'' – is a publicly funded and owned radio and television organisation created in Estonia on 1 June 2007 to take over the functions of the formerly separate Eesti Raadio ...
. In 2009, an exhibition of a selection of Õun's work curated by Juta Kivimäe titled ' (English: ''Ülo Õun. Artist on an Intermittent Trail of Discovery'') was held at the Kumu museum in Tallinn. The exhibition was awarded the Best Exhibition of the Year by the Ministry of Culture of Estonia.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oun, Ulo 1940 births 1988 deaths Artists from Tartu Soviet sculptors Taxidermists 20th-century Estonian sculptors 20th-century Estonian male artists Miina Härma Gymnasium alumni University of Tartu alumni Estonian Academy of Arts alumni Burials at Metsakalmistu