22. Roses and Silks [1915]

Still life or flower painting did not always emerge in Nicolae Vermont's theme, but their appearance among exclusively humanist cycles always had a breath of elegance and delicacy. Flowers are much better represented, often treated especially for chromatic reasons. Vermont's roses and peonies exude a particular sensuality, probably incompatible with his character, hence he rarely transmits such personal, intimate feelings. Knowing, for example, Luchian's case and what flower painting meant for him, and how these emanated the artist's deeply personal feeling, we can interpret the absence or weak representation of flowers as a character trait, a gateway to Vermont's personality, much more cerebral or realistic compared to his generation colleague. But we cannot ignore the visceral chromatic qualities that the present “Roses” transmit. Painted in 1915, a prolific year for Vermont if we consider the considerable number of works presented at the Artistic Youth exhibition in 1916, namely no less than 35 oils, the work gives us clues about the technique and manner of those years in which he balanced outdoor painting and studio composition. The brushstroke thus responds to indications practiced in plein air painting, thus color is given a vaporous consistency, and light - even if it is still artificial - penetrates the epidermal layers of color and is no longer applied sterilely. Remembering the Artistic Youth catalog from 1916, we have to mention the presence at cat. 294 and 311 of works titled "Roses", so the place of the present oil can easily be integrated into the artist's profound activity of that period.

References

"Youth Artistic 1916" [exhibition catalog], Bucharest, March 27, 1916 IONESCU, Radu, PAVEL, Amelia, "Nicolae Vermont", Ed. Academy of People's Republic of Romania, Bucharest, 1958

Dimensions

width 49 cm, height 60 cm

Description

oil on cardboard, signed and dated lower right, in black, "N. Vermont, 1915"

Dating

1915

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