105. The Rabbi of Moinești [1909]

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105. The Rabbi of Moinești [1909]

Ştefan Luchian

1868, Ştefăneşti - 1916, Bucureşti

Estimate:

EUR 20.000 - 30.000

Not sold

References

COMARNESCU, Petru, "Luchian", Ed. Tineretului, Bucureşti, 1965
DRĂGUŢ, Vasile, "Luchian", Ed. Meridiane, Bucureşti, 1968
JIANU, Ionel, COMARNESCU, Petru, "Ştefan Luchian", Ed. de stat pentru Literatură şi Artă, Bucureşti, 1956
LASSAIGNE, Jacques, "Ştefan Luchian", Ed. Meridiane, Bucureşti, 1972

pastel on paper, 38 x 33 cm, 33x38, signed lower right "Luchian", in black

Research information

Opera este menționată și inventariată în catalogul "Luchian", Ionel Jianu, Petru Comarnescu, E.S.P.L.A., București, 1955 la pag. 188. Varianta în ulei a pastelului se regăsește în colecția Muzeului de Artă Iași, iar cea în desen în colecția Muzeului de Artă Cluj.

PROVENANCE

the historic collection of the jurist and professor Nicolae D. Ghimpa.

Ştefan Luchian is, together with Nicolae Grigorescu and Ion Andreescu, one of the founding fathers of the Romanian school of painting. At the border between the 19th and the 20th centuries, Ştefan Luchian, open to the renewal of European art, was one of the artists that opposed Academicism and salon art, refreshing Romanian art with a painting based on the traditions of the Romanian school, inspired by the life and art of Romanian peasants. He was considered, even during his lifetime, the representative of the modern spirit in art and the one whose work opened a new period in Romanian painting. The years 1908 and 1909 marked a peak in the aesthetic dimension of Luchian's work, with the paintings made in the summer months when he worked in Brebu and Moineşti illustrating in a sublime manner the sense of absolute beauty and eternity that Luchian felt before nature. In Moineşti, his enthusiasm for nature is boundless: "I have walked on hills, on mountains, on fields, but what can I say, none of this can mach the majesty and distinction of the landscapes in Moineşti. Blessed land and happy those who can, at least as much as a grain, paint a piece of this superb colossus on a canvas". (Letter...). This period gave Luchian confidence in the use of pastels, a technique he perfected during those years. He did not settle for landscapes and he also painted portraits, the best-known being those of the two Jews he met in August 1909 in Moineşti. One of them, the Hammam, was Luchian's favourite, and he made three versions of his portrait, in his three favourite techniques - oil, pastel and drawing. In the pastel of 1909, the old hammam with his white beard, with his eyes looking down, his hunched shoulders, seems lost in thoughts. He is a wise man who fully knew the bitter trials of life. And Luchian paints him with that warmth that defines his entire work. The wide, serene forehead, slightly illuminated in the upper side, interrupted by a few black hairs coming out of his cap, the slight humble tilt of his head, the swollen eyelids covering his eyes, the white beard, strongly illuminated, highlighted by the white shirt collar, his rounded, tight shoulders - all these elements show the inner focus of an old man who, despite adversity, has never lost his human dignity.

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