22. Shepherd on the Field

Ştefan Luchian

1868, Ştefăneşti - 1916, Bucureşti

Estimate

EUR 20.000 - 30.000

Sold

EUR 22.000

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Session

Tue, 19 June 2018 19:00

Even if the few oil paintings and pictures that remain from Ștefan Luchian’s study period do not clearly show an attachment to the subjects and values of Nicolae Grigorescu, the later creation (1890-1904) undoubtedly breathes a Grigorescian air. Grigorescu’s work presented a different atmosphere, however, truly special compared to the other artistic manifestations in Bucharest in 1880-1900. Luchian's nature resembled Grigorescu's temperament, the teachings of his true master making their way naturally into his conscience. It was from him that he learned to base his observation directly on the aspects of reality, to get to know nature in its fundamental aspects, and to seek to become one with it, in order to be able to evoke it with sincerity. However, these precepts made Grigorescu disavowed among the Fine Arts professors and in the eyes of official critics, who considered the "endless" works of the painter, as well as his drawings, artistic limitations. But perhaps it is here that we can decipher Luchian's choice of letting himself influenced both by the style, and by the subjects made by Grigorescu in the country. The early years of his career depict a Luchian who was too little a master of technical means, his drawing suffered, and the painting of the human face was undoubtedly cumbersome and unfinished. Years later, in 1912, Luchian confessed about the school and what Grigorescu had meant in his youth: "I have never got along with school... I have learned more from Grigorescu and from museums and exhibitions abroad" ("What the painter Luchian says," Aslan, in "Rampa", 16 February 1912). As a capital experience for Ștefan Luchian's subsequent evolution, his contact with Nicolae Grigorescu’s art was felt in an interesting way even after the period spent by the former in Paris and Munich, where he studied, as he let the Grigorescian echoes die slowly, towards 1900. "Shepherd on the Field" reproduces precisely these later reinterpretations that Luchian decants in an absolutely personal palette and manner. Grigorescu's renowned imagery, created by approaching the shepherd's theme, awakens figurative affinities in Luchian's maturity creation, the compositions made after 1900 marking a completely different approach to Grigorescu's influence at the end of the 19th century.

References

CIOFLEC, Virgil, "Luchian", Ed. Cultura Naţională, Bucureşti, 1924
COMARNESCU, Petru, "Luchian", Ed. de Stat pentru Literatură şi Artă, Bucureşti, 1955
DRĂGUŢ , Vasile, "Luchian", Ed. Meridiane, Bucureşti, 1968
ENESCU, Theodor, "Ştefan Luchian şi spiritualul modern în pictura românească", Ed. Meridiane, Bucureşti, 2000
ENESCU, Theodor, "Ştefan Luchian: Pictură. Pastel. Acuarelă. Desen", Institutul Cultural Român, Bucureşti, 2007
JIANU, Ionel, "Luchian", Ed. Căminul Artei, Bucureşti, 1947

Dimensions

width 41.5 cm, height 27 cm, custom 41,5x27

Description

oil on canvas, signed lower right, in brown, "Luchian"

Research information

Opera este reprodusă în catalogul "Peisajul impresionist în pictura din România", Mircea Deac, Monitorul Oficial, 2009, la pag. 50. Opera a participat la expoziția "Luchian și Independenții", Artsafari 2017 și este reprodusă în catalogul expoziției la pag. 96.

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