Aleksander Mülber (29 December 1897,

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

– 19 May 1931,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was an Estonian painter and printmaker.

Biography

Aleksander Mülber began studying art in 1912, switching from a school of commerce where he had originally enrolled. He studied under

Ants Laikmaa Ants Laikmaa (5 May 1866 – 19 November 1942) was an Estonian painter.lla Rosenfeld, Norton T. Dodge, Jane Voorhees, ''Art of the Baltics: The Struggle for Freedom of Artistic Expression Under the Soviets, 1945-1991'', Rutgers University Press, ...

and at the . He participated in an exhibition of young artists in 1915, where his

pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

s in a

National Romantic style The National Romantic style was a Nordic architectural style that was part of the National Romantic movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is often considered to be a form of Art Nouveau. The National Romantic style spread ...

were appreciated by the critics. Together with his artist colleagues and friends

Oskar Kallis Oskar Kallis (Tallinn, November 23, 1892 – Yalta, 1 January 1918) was an Estonian artist, one of the main representatives of the Estonian national romanticism. Kallas studied in 1907 and 1913 to 1916 in the studio of the artist Ants Laikma ...

and

Välko Tuul Välko Tuul (born Alfred-Oscar Tuul, 1894, Tallinn – 1918, Tallinn) was an Estonian painter. Biography Välko Tuul was born in the present-day capital of Estonia, Tallinn, and started studying art in his free time. In 1913 he joined the art sch ...

, he joined the artists' colong ' on the

Pakri islands , image_name = , image_caption = , image_size = , map_image = Pakri location map.svg , map_caption = , native_name = Pakri saared , native_name_link = , sobriquet = , location = Baltic Sea , ...

, founded by

Balder Tomasberg Balder Tomasberg (1897, Paldiski – 1919, near Saint Petersburg) was an Estonian artist. Tomasberg was born in Paldiski and moved to Tallinn in 1913. He initially worked as a Drafter, draughtsman at a construction company and studied art in even ...

. He remained part of the group until 1918. At the end of this period his art took on a darker note, probably as a reaction to the death of his two friends Kallis and Tuul. During the

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence ( et, Vabadussõda, literally "Freedom War"), also known as the Estonian Liberation War, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Bolshevik westwa ...

he was together with six other artists sent to the front in order to rescue and preserve art and other objects of cultural heritage significance threatened with destruction by the fighting. Following the war, he moved to Paris in 1921 and spent the last years of his life there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulber, Aleksander 1897 births 1931 deaths Estonian painters Estonian printmakers Estonian illustrators Estonian graphic artists 20th-century Estonian painters 20th-century Estonian male artists Artists from Tallinn People from the Governorate of Estonia