Juhan Muks was born on 6 July 1899, in Viljandi County, into a farmer\u2019s family. From 1914,\nMuks\u2019 teacher at Viljandi Town School was the well-known artist Villem Ormisson. After\ngraduating from school in 1917, Muks enrolled in the Tallinn School of Arts and Crafts\nagainst his parents\u2019 wishes. Juhan\u2019s parents had hoped that he, as the eldest son, would\ncontinue homestead farming, but their hopes were dashed. His art studies lasted almost ten\nyears, involving various schools and studios and living in Paris. Studying at the Riga\nAcademy of Fine Arts was particularly difficult for Muks, as the food was meagre, and he\nreturned to Estonia for health reasons. Together with Aleksander Vard, Juhan Muks\ngraduated from the Pallas Art School in 1925. The same year, he went to France, where he\nlived intermittently until 1939. In the early 1930s, Muks worked in his homeland for a few\nyears. He organised a successful solo exhibition in Viljandi and the money from the sale of\nhis works enabled him to return to France in early 1933. Unfortunately, little is known about\nMuks\u2019 works painted in France, and there are only a few examples in Estonia from that\nperiod.<\/p>\n
From 1944 until his death in 1983, Juhan Muks lived in Viljandi in a house on the shore of\nthe lake (now on Pikk Street), the Rosenberg Villa. He is one of the few, perhaps the only\n\nEstonian artist who has created so many works with views of the windows of his home. The\nbeautiful views of Lake Viljandi from the windows of Muks\u2019 flat inspired him in every\nseason (Vallikivi, 2020).<\/p>\n
During the first years of the Soviet occupation, Juhan Muks and Juhan Kangilaski,\nprofessional painters living in the town, were forced to produce large-scale works of\npropaganda that would decorate Viljandi on state holidays. In 1945, under the leadership of\nMuks, a 12-member art circle began its work, although it soon ceased its activities. Muks\u2019\nopportunities for freelance work and participation in the Estonian art scene came to an end in\nthe late 1940s, when he was expelled from the Artists\u2019 Union and ostracised.<\/p>\n
Juhan Muks re-entered the world of art after the restoration of his membership in the Union\nof Artists of the Estonian SSR in 1960. At the time, he was the only professional painter in\nour small town. The artist had been badly affected by the forced hiatus and it took him a long\ntime to find himself again and start exhibiting his work. The best of Juhan Muks\u2019 landscapes\nwere painted in the 1970s, and many of them exude a French character, which is expressed in\na certain way in the transmission of air and colour perspective. In 1979, Juhan Muks was\nawarded the Konrad M\u00e4gi Medal, which is to this day the highest award for art in Estonia.\nJuhan Muks was the first medallist and also the only one on the list who knew M\u00e4gi\npersonally and was taught by him at the Pallas Art School.<\/p>\n