Portrait of Kristjan Teder

This work marks a pinnacle of the master’s early creative period. The purity and power of Wiiralt’s formal language are hard to overstate here. The portrait’s melodic flow, richly nuanced plasticity, lyricism, candid materiality, and inner tension combine to make it an undisputed gem in the history of Estonian sculpture. Kristjan Teder’s portrait, as rendered by Wiiralt, far surpasses the usual boundaries of the portrait genre. Through lifelike psychological depth and poetic empathy, it conveys a simple and profoundly human message: Ecce Homo.