14. Spring at Kyoto [1913]

Endowed with a rich contemplative vision of reality and a perpetual thirst for knowledge of natural environments, the artist Samuel Mützner will be the author of a work of art based on description and chromatic sensitivity. He started out his artistic formation at the School of Fine Arts in Bucharest, under the guidance of teachers George Demetrescu Mirea, Vladimir Hegel and Eugen Voinescu; then attended the courses of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Anton Ažbe, Karl Raupp and Simion Hollosy. From Munich, he travelled to Giverny in France, where he worked for two years with the artist Claude Monet, developing a real belief in light and colour. He would keep the same belief during his Japanese period, which lasted three years (1912-1915), during which he was captivated by the unique beauty of Japan. During the three years he spent in Japan, he travelled through Tokyo, Kyoto and Nagasaki, and other remote localities. Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, seven-storeyed pagodas, teahouses, pontoons and shinto bridges, along with the street life will catch his eye - motifs he would transpose into sketches with sincerity and a remarkable freshness of impression. His attention would be drawn to the composition structure, alternating planes and rhythm of shapes, focused on the decorative effect. Strong contrasts are replaced by soft contrasts, the background light unfolds in silence and the pointilage diminishes, revealing the artist's growing interest in the luminescent paint. (GM)

References

Andreescu Viorica, „Samuel Mützner”, Ed. Meridiane, București, 1974. Marian Rodica, „Samuel Mützner”, Ed. Antet, București, 2005.

Dimensions

width 68 cm, height 59 cm, custom 59 × 68 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed and dated bottom right, with black, "S. Mützner, 1913"

Research information

The artwork was part of "Le Japon" Exhibition, Calea Victoriei 88, 1st floor, vis-à-vis Kretzulescu Church, January 17 – February 28, 1916, under cat. 78, under the title "Le Pont du Temple Shintoiste".

Dating

1913

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