110. Hay Gathering [cca. 1942]

Teodor Harșia enrolled at the School of Fine Arts in Cluj at just 15 years old. He would study under the guidance of the artist Catul Bogdan, who would encourage and support his talent. However, financial difficulties would force him to integrate into the labor market early, so the young man would get a job at Gratz, a company specializing in the sale of art objects, antiques and furniture. The same company also employed for a while the painter Francisc Gall. Initially, the artist signs as "Harșa", then converges towards "Harja", and finally, at the suggestion of Raoul Șorban (along with the publication of his monograph in 1942) he settles on the well-known "Harșia". From his very first personal exhibition, held in 1935, Teodor Harșia will demonstrate a remarkable sense of color. His recurring themes include rural life, with daily work, construction sites and households; but we will also find a series of compositions and cityscapes, especially dedicated to the Cluj area; and a significant number of works in which the protagonists are members of his own family. We notice a synthesis of the pictorial language in which strong nuances predominate in many depictions of rural life. The illusion of perspective and the broad tonalities, ingeniously orchestrated on the surface of the board often reveal to us the forests of Stana or in the surroundings of Cluj. The eurythmy of the strokes laid out in a fairy-tale picturesque, but also the agitated lines that describe the contours of the elements, lead to the perfection of complex compositions.

References

LĂPTOIU, Negoiță, ”Teodor Harșia”, Meridiane Publishing House, 1980.

Dimensions

width 70.5 cm, height 50.5 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed lower left, in brown, "T. Harșia"

Dating

cca. 1942

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