165. Seated Turk [1920-1925]

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165. Seated Turk [1920-1925]

Adam Bălţatu

1899, Huşi, Vaslui - 1982, Bucureşti

Estimate:

EUR 1.200 - 1.800

Not sold

References

TEODORESCU, D.N., "Adam Bălțatu", Print "Mercury", Cliche "E. Mârvan", Bucharest, 1924.

ulei pe carton, 49.5 x 34 cm, illegibly signed bottom left, in black, "Bălțatu"

Adam Bălțatu's artistic debut will occur even in the midst of his parental home, between his father's sketchbooks. The little artist will delight in nature drawings and will reproduce in pages horses, carts or other creatures that paraded on the street of his childhood. He will then start to assimilate trees as a favorite pictorial motif and will paint them under various light effects determined by the time of day he executes the work. After several study trips to Italy, Adam Bălțatu returns in 1921 to Huși, where he will settle for a long period as a drawing teacher. Starting from this moment, he will have the opportunity to undertake numerous plastic exercises and will predominantly transcribe the beauty and nostalgia of the Romanian landscape. Streets of Husi, with oxen or horse-drawn carts, hills and houses, markets, birch trees or streets bathed in midday light will become recurring subjects in the artist's work starting from the 1920s. The middle of this decade will bring the artist closer to the Dobrogea landscapes, and the encounter with the unusual space will undoubtedly determine the adoption of brighter tones in his work. Adam Bălțatu follows the path of Balchik, like most artists of the time. He finds there landscapes and human typologies which he translates skillfully through the prism of his plastic language. We therefore find the portrait of the Tatar sitting on the porch, a vestige of his Dobrogea wanderings, in which the specific brush strokes predominate, beginning to accentuate, revealing clues for the brushwork that the artist will adopt later on. The colors of Dobrogea, the earthy nuances and the few more strident insertions, punctuated by green and cherry tones, successfully stand out from the branches of the painting. Built vertically, the composition rises proudly, highlighting the solemnity of the body and the expressiveness of the character's face. The same decade will prove to be a fruitful period of his creation, a period during which the artist enjoys numerous personal exhibitions in the capital.

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