187. Young Woman from Făgăraș [ca. 1927]
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187. Young Woman from Făgăraș [ca. 1927]
1886, Botoşani - 1936, București
Estimate:
EUR 900 - 1.500
Sold post auction
EUR 900
oil on cardboard, 50.5 x 35 cm, 50,5 Ã 35 cm, signed bottom right, in black, 'L. Viorescu'
Leon Viorescu adopts the impressionist pictorial manner as his primary style of artistic expression and consistently adjusts it to his own needs. He was a classmate of Stefan Dimitrescu and Nicolae Tonitza, with whom he would form friendships. The latter was also an admirer of his and often wrote highly of his work. Viorescu will combine his daily work as a civil servant in the Ministry of Religious Affairs with his passion for fine art. Although he adopts the pointillist manner proposed by his forerunners, he will no longer stumble in his interrogations of light, but will propose charged backgrounds - either by the models he himself imagined, or by illustrating rooms with an impressive accumulation of elements. He divides his work between local landscapes, frescoes of Balkan and portraits of human psychology, especially female portraits. He therefore turns to the traditional aspect and repeats the motif over and over again. He captures popular ports from different parts of the country (especially the Făgăraș area) and proposes various poses to its models. He stops at studying the hands and gestures of his models, but will also be concerned to some extent with chiaroscuro effects which he will introduce directly into the colour. In this work, the contrasts are evident and enhance the value of the work as a whole. The raw green in the background, applied in broad, quickly juxtaposed strokes, amplifies the intensity of the red in Viorescu's muse's attire; the white shirt and the flowers attached to the hat become focal points; while the blonde hair, pinned up according to the fashion of the time, is slightly glimpsed from under the narrow brim of the hat. Vegetation also becomes a primary motif and joins the compositional harmony proposed by the artist, adding new meanings to the traditional segment transposed by Leon Viorescu in his canvases.
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