93. Transylvanian Village [ca. 1921]

Camil Ressu did not idealise rustic life, but he painted it with all its difficulties and obstacles. One of the major influences on his work was the meeting with the small village from Olt County - Vlaici. He came here at the start of the past century, invited by collector Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești. Initially, he studies and creates drawings which he will then transpose in oil, on canvas. He went beyond the academic precepts acquired in the two months in Munich and built his own visual, eloquent and well well-rounded semantics. He often came to Vlaici, so his existence was divided, over time, between the uniformity of urban life and the prolific experiences that village life offers him. He used the direct contact with the peasants, in order to develop a deeply subjective vision. The artist insists to go deeper in the psychology of the represented characters, so he will provoke discussion and insist on knowing their models. He thus identified the true aspects of rural life. The expressive power of the characters' psychology is revealed even when they do not take on monumental, foreground dimensions. He organizes his compositions horizontally and realizes authentic frescoes of the villages from Olt, Moldova and Vrancea. His compositions are balanced and he retained the real proportions; he thoroughly constructed his drawings, subduing the colour. The artist's works exemplifies life, work, and rural life's traditions, but they sometimes reveal peaceful moments. Ressu's lapidary realism is revealed especially in the cold tones, in the ample light and shadow areas and in the truthful rendering of volumes and rhythms. (D.C.)

References

TEODORU, Rada, "Camil Ressu", Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1962. COSMA, Gheorghe, "Camil Ressu", Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1967. SCHOBEL, Doina, Catalogue of the retrospective exhibition "Camil Ressu", Bucharest, 1981.

Dimensions

width 64 cm, height 50 cm, custom 50 × 64 cm

Description

oil on cardboard, signed bottom right, with pencil, "C. Ressu"

Research information

The work participated in the retrospective Camil Ressu exhibition, catalogue by Doina Schobel, The R.S.R. Museum of Art, Bucharest, 1982 , and it is mentioned and reproduced under category 70., page 75, respectively 139.

Dating

ca. 1921

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