158. Marrakech [1929]

During his training to become a teacher, Ștefan Popescu studied drawing as a self-taught artist until 1893, when he enrolled at the Academy of Painting in Munich, under the guidance of Professor Nicolaos Gysis, with a neoclassical formation. For two years, he thoroughly mastered the study of drawing, but while moving to the colour part, he realized the limitations of the academic environment predominated by bituminous colour painting. In 1900, after graduating from the Academy, he arrived in Paris with the knowledge acquired in Munich, that he gradually succeeded in replacing with new theories of colour and light, and with the modern conceptions of the work of art. He soon found his vocation in the open-air landscape, he became acquainted with in 1903, when he settled in Brittany for a while. His preoccupation with the landscape is evident in his many works of painting and graphics, revealing an artistic vision based on reality and in line with his imagination and lyricism. Most of these are the Romanian landscapes, the artist wandering the Danube Delta, Balchik, Râmnicu and Bistrița Valley, the coast and several villages in Transylvania. Many landscapes are also made during his many trips, either during his years of education or during his study trips to Germany and France, then from Italy, Turkey and North Africa. As for the landscape, as an artistic genre under which he outlined his style and reached that maturity, Popescu immediately realized the need for travel. For almost 20 years, France has been the primary source of imagination; Brittany and Provence were fervently painted by one of the most appreciated Romanian impressionists, who was obviously looking for areas suitable for a practice typical of the style approached. In the ’20s Popescu discovered North Africa, which had already appeared in the Romanian painting, in various poses, in Samuel Mutzner (Tunisia, Morocco) or M.W.Arnold (Egypt). The most important campaign of our painter took place during 1929, when, together with Venice and Constantinople, he greedily painted and drew Morocco, Algiers and Tunisia. This series of paintings and graphics inspired from the life and the typical Arab architecture would become one of the most appreciated creations of Popescu, starting with 1930 when his last year's work was presented to the Bucharest audience. The drawings and paintings around Marrakech are excellently represented by this painting, which is undoubtedly one of the pinnacles of those creations. The entrance to the Great Gate of the old fortress, which captures a real procession of the merchants coming to the Moroccan capital is treated monumentally by Stefan Popescu, forced by instantaneous. The chromatic play is ensured by the picturesque occurrence of the reddish walls that occupy the horizon, by the desert that seems to creep up to the gates of the fortress with its sandy pallor, or by the tumultuous distant blue sky. (I.P.)

Literatura

OPRESCU, George, ”Ștefan Popescu”, Ed. de Stat pentru Literatură și Artă, București, 1958

Dimenzije

width 100.5 cm, height 70.5 cm

Opis

oil on canvas, signed and dated bottom left, with black, "St. Popescu, (19)29"

Informacije o istraživanju

Most likely, the painting participated in the private exhibition Ștefan Popescu, December 1930, open in the painting workshop in Dionisie Street no. 84, when he exhibited 95 paintings and 176 drawings. The painting participated in the Exhibition "Great landmarks of the Romanian art. Pinacoteca Bucharest visiting the Artsociety Gallery", Bucharest, 2009 and is reproduced in the exhibition catalogue on page. 44. The artwork is featured in "The Cart with Oxen. Painting in Romania", Tudor Octavian, the Official Gazette, Bucharest, 2012, at p. 156. The artwork is listed in the National Mobile Cultural Heritage, following the Order no. 2211 of the Ministry of Culture, from April 11, 2013.

Izlasci

1929

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