160. Venice [1978]

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160. Venice [1978]

Corneliu Baba

1906, Craiova - 1997, Bucureşti

Estimate:

EUR 15.000 - 25.000

Not sold

References

Maria Muscalu Albani, 'Corneliu Baba', Romanian Cultural Institute Publishing House, Bucharest, 2008. ȘUȘARĂ, Paul, 'Corneliu Baba', Monitorul Oficial Publishing House, Bucharest, 2013.

oil on cardboard, 45 x 40 cm, 45 Ã 40 cm, signed and dated bottom right, in black, 'Baba, (19)78'

Research information

The work was part of the 'Corneliu Baba. The Artist of Deep Realism' exhibition, National Art Museum Chisinau, September-October 2023.

Corneliu Baba is part of the group of painters who have unhesitatingly recovered the indisputable power of the use of black in art. Together with the strong chromaticism, which abounds in red, yellow or green, it accentuates the whole work. His black is that of Manet or Velasquez, and by combining dark shades and preferring sunset moments framed by grey clouds, he amplifies the nocturnal aspect of his compositions. But the colour effects do not betray a supposed state of mind of anxiety or ataraxia, but reside, entirely, only in the reality of the moment of creation. For Corneliu Baba, the notion of realism takes on a much broader meaning and enjoys the artist's ability to use his imagination and the reserves of his psychological background. The present work is part of the landscape cycle of colourful, city-like Venetian landscapes, which enjoy the bustle of human typologies. The artist stated that 'Venice demands a particular understanding of its specific landscape. You need a great experience of her painterly beauty, like experiencing the grave beauty of a portrait in which the resources of the palette are forced to work magnificently together.' So he will revive the motif many times in his landscape creations. Buildings coloured in shades of bright red, yellow or green will follow one another in a continuous succession of snapshots that the artist dedicates to Italian channels. Landscape has been part of his interest since the beginning, with works such as 'Promenade', 'The Train Station of Caransebeș' or 'On the Banks of Teiuș', which date back to the 1920s and 1930s. We can therefore follow both the artist's peregrinations in foreign lands and his stops in Romanian towns and villages. The Venetian landscapes are part of the register of architectural profiles in which the terrestrial and aerial planes are presented rather summarily. Corneliu Baba takes his architectural space as a point of reference and then focuses his attention on prominent shapes and volumes, highlighted mainly by shades of grey or red. His canvases become, on closer inspection, veritable portraits of Venice. The present work is a recurring theme, the first of its kind dating from 1956. In his diaries, the artist states, and not infrequently, that he is considering reworking various pictorial motifs in order to add or underline certain elements. In this case, Baba adopts a dark palette and emphasises, with his typical mastery, the grandeur of the architectural element and the boundless force of nature.

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