43. Balchik Landscape [1935-1938]

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43. Balchik Landscape [1935-1938]

Samuel Mützner

1884, Bucureşti - 1959, Bucureşti

Estimate:

EUR 12.000 - 18.000

Not sold

References

ANDREESCU, Viorica, "Samuel Mützner", Ed. Meridiane, Bucureşti, 1974
MARIAN, Rodica, "Samuel Mützner", Ed. Antet, Bucuresti, 2005

oil on canvas glued on cardboard, 50 x 61 cm, 61x50, signed lower right, in black, "S. Mutzner"

The period during which Samuel Mützner worked in Balchik overlapped with the stage of maturity of his artistic creation, characterised by the return to some of the aspects of the Impressionist practice learned in Giverny and especially to the spirit it had instilled. In the paintings the aquatic element returns frequently, either as a sea shore, the shore of a lake, surrounded by vegetation, or as a harbour crowded by boats and peopled by fishermen or as the water surface in an Oriental idyllic garden. A solar spirit, he paints the Loire River in bright colours, as well ponds in Japanese gardens, beaches in Venezuela and Margarita island, the expanse of the Mediterranean and especially the gulfs of Balchik, where he made the most representative paintings during his maturity period. The sea is always calm and it appears as a smooth surface, in delicate tones or intense colours, mirroring the warm and quiet atmosphere. Mützner painted in Balchik for years on end, until 1940 (when Romania lost Balchik), making a series of canvases that established him as a painter of this place. Together with his wife, Rodica Maniu, Mützner built a house that had a terrace with petunias, returning every summer to the South Dobrogea coast. They joined the artistic bohemians that settled in Balchik in the warm season, drawn by the shining light, the picturesque relief and architecture and the Oriental exoticism of the locals. The almond tree gulf, the Tatar neighbourhoods, the chalky hills and the sun-kissed bay were to become a centre of artistic interest for Mützner, this canvas being one of those extraordinary feats, typical of the style of the Colony.

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