44. Maricel (Artist's Wife) [cca. 1910]

Constantin Artachino

1870, Giurgiu - 1954, Bucureşti

Estimate

EUR 2.500 - 3.500

Sold

EUR 4.750

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Session

Tue, 22 October 2024 19:00

As a portraitist, Constantin Artachino focuses on the expressiveness of his model and chromatic contrasts. His travels through Dobrogea and along the Black Sea coast end up transposed into a remarkable number of works, in which the artist conveys the beauty of the places and the diversity of the faces met. Frequently, among his works, we come across portraits of Turks caught in meditative poses, thoughtful, portrayed in traditional outfits, with strongly individualized features. In the present work, the artist stops however on a character who served as his muse in many of his works. We find her then in the one called "Maricel "in the pages of the Tinerimii Artistice catalogue in 1913, in a long series of works produced during the same period. The work appears, also, reproduced in one of the trendy periodicals of the time: Calendarul Minervei, in 1914, on page 59. We are dealing therefore with a recurring character in Artachino's creation. The protagonist of the present work was caught in an elegant pose, in a patterned dress to which she adds a belt with a massive buckle and a shawl loosely draped over her shoulders. The hair pinned back is decorated with a flower in a warm shade of yellow that blends in with the background; the flower thus becomes a splash of color that highlights the face. The background appears to subtly take on the pattern of the dress, and the details of the clothing and face (the nostalgic expression and the concentrated gaze) betray the artist's focus on meticulousness. We can discuss works like "Reverie" (we find the same hairstyle and flower), "Profile" which repeats the flower motif, although this time the muse brings her face closer to the delicate stem of the plant and admires its fragrance, "Head of expression" presented to the public at Tinerimea Artistică in 1912, captured this time in profile, in which, unmistakably, the muse's face is reused and subjected to changes in decor and author's vision. Constantin Artachino, in the end, manages to capture the mood of his character.

References

The exhibition catalogue "Constantin Artachino (1870-1954)", National Art Museum of Romania, Bucharest, 2004.

Dimensions

width 52 cm, height 77 cm

Description

ulei pe pânză, signed bottom right, in black, "C. Artachino"

Research information

The work participated in the "Artistic Youth" exhibition, 1913, and is reproduced in the exhibition catalog under the name "Maricel". The work is reproduced in the "Minerva Calendar", 1914, on page 59.

Dating

cca. 1910

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