63. Portraits of Medea [1979]

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63. Portraits of Medea [1979]

Geta Brătescu

1926, Ploieşti - 2018, București

Estimate:

EUR 15.000 - 25.000

Not sold

chromolithography made on Letea stone, 55 x 44 cm, signed and dated bottom right, with pencil, "Geta Brătescu, (19)79"; numbered and noted bottom left, with pencil, "8/50, E.A" (each)

Research information

Copy no 2/50 of the series "Portraits of Medea" was displayed in the gallery of the Romanian Institute of Culture and Humanistic Research in Venice during the Venice Biennale of 2017 and it is replicated in the album "Geta BrÄtescu - the Studio", Alina Èerban, Sternberg Press, 2014.

Medea’s mythological image, who helps her lover Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, to get the Golden Fleece, but hen kills her two children in revenge, has not only been alive in world literature for over 2,400 years, but also on theatre stages, in music (opera, ballet, modern dance), in visual arts and, starting from the 20th century, also in films. Mythology and literature are the recurring sources of inspiration in Geta Brătescu's creation, with references from Samuel Beckett to Aesop. But the motif that most often revisits the artist's work is the figure and the name of the mythological character Medea, In the artist’s mental space, woman is a creator, and Medea’s personality is the one that is best suited to the artist’s convictions. "Medea represents the extremes, love and hatred. There is no middle ground with Medea. She is a special woman.", declared the artist. The anti-feminine character from Euripides' eponymous tragedy, Medea is the one that kills her own children to punish her husband’s betrayal. But Euripides’ tragedy is only half the story, after Medea is left by Jason, and thus the woman’s complex portrait is not delineated. Ștefan Augustin Doinaș notes, in the ten "Portraits of Medea" lipographies, a natural touch of warmth and transparency. The range of colours aims to list the inner states, the frame of mind, the sentiments reflected on the face of a person. The latter always becomes the changing mirror of an inner event.

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