186. The Art Album [1938]

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186. The Art Album [1938]

Alexandru Ciucurencu

1903, Ciucurova, Tulcea - 1977, Bucureşti

Estimate:

EUR 15.000 - 25.000

Sold

EUR 29.000

References

JIANU, Ionel, 'A. Ciucurencu', State Publishing House for Literature and Art, Bucharest, 1958. IONESCU, Radu, 'Ciucurencu', Semne Publishing House, Bucharest, 1994.

oil on cardboard, 68 x 56 cm, signed and dated upper left, in black, in monogram, 'AC, (1)938'

Research information

The work participated in the 1963 Warsaw Fine Art Exhibition. The work participated in the 'Al., Ciucurencu' retrospective exhibition, Bucharest, 1964.

PROVENANCE

D. St. RÄdulescu collection.

The '30s mark, in Alexandru Ciucurencu's itinerary, a moment of liberation from the reminiscences of academic rigour acquired while studying at Bucharest. The beginning period of his creation is represented by a discreet lyrism, with bright concordances which have a certain musical resonance. On top of the pure, vibrant tones, the artist intervenes with a few accents of black to highlight an outline. In this part, still life and interiors are predominant. Ciucurencu does not idylls everyday life aspects of his existence, but he paints according to his own perception. He captures his models in contemplative postures, on the armchair, lying on the couch or reading. He makes a few summary notations of the actual setting and focuses on making a simple, concise drawing. He uses the brush to emphasise the canvas and achieves games of light and transparency by drawing uneven strokes. Ciucurencu will impose himself, at his return in Paris, through his pictorial refinement which abounds in sensitive waves of artistic expression. This journey would prove to be a defining moment in Ciucurencu's training through his encounter with André Lhote. He will learn from him the three fundamental means of plastic expression: line, colour and value. France's capital city will be the perfect place for him to visit famous museums, where he will discover Boticelli, Hieronymus Bosch and Peter Brueghel the Elder. Ciucurencu will be inspired, however, by Matisse's way of combining cold and warm tones and his way of rendering luminosity, but also by the cubist techniques proposed by Cézanne. From the dark and monochrome palette from the study years, he gets a much brighter and more vivid colour chromatic. As we can see, the present work is representative of this chromatic transmutation. From the intense shades used to colour the flowers in the lower right (electric blue and solar yellow) the painter's palette opens up to the green tints of the protagonist's coat and the purple hues of the handkerchief, shades that gradually slide into the background of the canvas. Absorbed by the volume she is leafing through, Ciucurencu's muse rests her chin on her folded hands above the table and distances herself slightly from the real plane. We will notice, therefore, that the painter will assimilate from Romanian artists such as Pallady, Tonitza or Petrașcu the understanding of painting as a message of artistic emotion. Under the richness of pictorial techniques, he will study, Ciucurencu will succeed, at the middle of the last century, to define his personal style.

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