37. Oriental Landscape [1916-1919]

The outcome of Iosef Iser's encounter with the Dobrogea vein was transmuted, in 1913, to over two hundred paintings, drawings and pastels. The meeting with the Dobrogea vein thus remained a formative experience in the development of his work. Enchanted by the mystery of the Orient and seduced by the exotic abundance of the landscapes, he constantly travelled to Constanța, Mangalia, or Turtucaia, but also to Balchik or to the banks of the Bosphorus. He dedicated a long period of time to the study of traditions and customs of the Turkish minority from the Black Sea shores. From the same pictorial theme, the odalisque series emerged later down the line, and they remained ingrained in his public's collective memory. In Iser's artistic record, the Eastern world was a new-found paradise to which he would often return. Unlike his predecessors, the artist lent a darker and much more dramatic vision to his creations. In his paintings, he had the same precision as in his graphic work and he chose vivid, exuberant colours. He used Dobrogea’s quiet colour and its arid landscape, its characters are slightly geometrized and his palette brightens up gradually, often in shades of red, green, yellow, or orange. The artist chose, from what he saw around, the most representative frame to transpose in his pictorial narration. Iser thus succeeded to transpose the stories of the Orient in a series dedicated to odalisques, Ta tars, traditional houses, minarets or streets in the East. (D.C.)

References

MIHALACHE, Marin, "Iser", Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1982. The catalogue of the exhibition "Călătoriile lui Iser" ("Iser's Journeys"), Alina Petrescu, Publishing House of the National Museum of Art of Romania, Bucharest, 2021.

Dimensions

width 59.5 cm, height 39 cm, custom 39 × 59,5 cm

Description

oil on cardboard, signed bottom right, in black, "ISER"

Dating

1916-1919

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