Nikolai Kull 1894–1945 Self-Portrait. 1921

Extremely rare and masterful, Nikolai Kull’s self-portrait expands our knowledge of Kull’s paintings. Until now, we knew him mainly as a portrait of harbours and cities, but now we see him as a filigree portraitist. The self-portrait, vigorously and vividly painted, yet meticulously detailed and technically masterly, creates a composite portrait of the author that is both psychological and emotional, but becomes a generalisation thanks to a truly successful style of painting. We are no longer looking at it narrowly as a portrait of Nikolai Kull, but at the drive and determination of a young man in search. The work is even strikingly different in form from Kull’s later paintings, being realistically precise and emotionally powerful.
This is probably Nikolai Kull’s earliest self-portrait, painted while he was studying at Ants Laikmaa’s studio school in his late 20s. The interest in portraiture as well as the use of pastel techniques, which Kull later did not explore so actively, probably originated with Laikmaa. Another self-portrait created in the same pastel technique is in the collection of the Art Museum of Estonia. The work belonged to the private collection of the heirs of Elfriede Lender (1882–1974), the founder and head of the first Estonian-language girls’ grammar school.