The photos of the lot are informative and indicative, and cannot provide a highly detailed view of the object from all angles. We recommend a careful physical inspection of the lot before bidding.
The photos of the lot are informative and indicative, and cannot provide a highly detailed view of the object from all angles. We recommend a careful physical inspection of the lot before bidding.
Corneliu Baba's predilection for the human figure acquires an unpredictable and spectacular dynamism, especially in portraits. The realism specific to the artist's temperament will also extend to his work. The roots of his manifestations in the genre of portraiture are revealed to us early: in high school, Corneliu Baba was known as the "portraitist of the town": most notable personalities of Caransebeș posed for him. He gradually created self-portraits, portraits of acquaintances or well-known people such as Tonitza, Enescu, Sadoveanu and Arghezi, or he focused on particular subjects: the mad king, the peasants or the harlequin. At Baba, the physiognomy, the face and the inner traits of the characters stand out as a vehicle for human psychologies. The artist symbolically consecrates archetypes such as the harlequin or the mad king and transposes them, throughout his career, into a long series of pictorial motifs. For Corneliu Baba, the notion of realism takes on a much broader meaning and enjoys the artist's ability to use his imagination and psychic reserves. He thus heads toward the figure of the carnivalesque character, detached from the ranks of the Commedia dell’Arte. The harlequin received, over time, a central place in modern painting. We followed its trajectory in artworks from Picasso to Tonitza, and now, we see it in the posture of "anonymous friend" of Corneliu Baba, as the artist himself presents it. The harlequin rather appears in the incarnation of a sad comedy, disguised in colorful costumes. He is melancholic and tormented by disasters and disappointments, but he offers the artist a wide range of color interpretations and compositional alternations. The idea of the harlequin is no longer reduced to a specific character, as is the case with other portraits created by the artist, but refers to an entire typology. The model in this work thus becomes a moral compass and a meditation on the human condition. Caught standing, in his ochre costume with colored rhombuses, with his heels close together and his hands together, the protagonist of this work appears to us confused, devoid of strong facial features but with an exuberant air of an unfulfilled comedy. Baba's harlequin has long played his role and reveals himself to us in the intimate atmosphere behind the curtain, where he can freely express feelings of ataraxy and alienation. In the quiet before the show, his smile is no longer needed, giving way to spasms that transpose in the fallen corners of his mouth and then develop into a whole plethora of well-defined body languages. By adopting this theme, Corneliu Baba captures the ambiguity of existence, the dramatic dimension and the iconography of the mask that considerably attenuates the humanity of the characters.
References
ȘUȘARĂ, Pavel, ”Corneliu Baba”, Official Monitor Publishing House, Bucharest, 2013.
Dimensions
width 24 cm, height 41 cm
Description
ceracolor și acuarelă pe hârtie, signed and dated top right, in paste, "Baba, (19)79"
Dating
1979
PROVENANCE
Photographer Radu Braun's collection
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For clarifications regarding the bidding procedure, hammer price costs, guarantee, payment, and collection terms for the winning lot, we recommend carefully reading/re-reading the Bidding Regulations.
For additional information regarding the lot and the auction, please contact the Art Consultants Department.
Detalii
Corneliu Baba's predilection for the human figure acquires an unpredictable and spectacular dynamism, especially in portraits. The realism specific to the artist's temperament will also extend to his work. The roots of his manifestations in the genre of portraiture are revealed to us early: in high school, Corneliu Baba was known as the "portraitist of the town": most notable personalities of Caransebeș posed for him. He gradually created self-portraits, portraits of acquaintances or well-known people such as Tonitza, Enescu, Sadoveanu and Arghezi, or he focused on particular subjects: the mad king, the peasants or the harlequin. At Baba, the physiognomy, the face and the inner traits of the characters stand out as a vehicle for human psychologies. The artist symbolically consecrates archetypes such as the harlequin or the mad king and transposes them, throughout his career, into a long series of pictorial motifs. For Corneliu Baba, the notion of realism takes on a much broader meaning and enjoys the artist's ability to use his imagination and psychic reserves. He thus heads toward the figure of the carnivalesque character, detached from the ranks of the Commedia dell’Arte. The harlequin received, over time, a central place in modern painting. We followed its trajectory in artworks from Picasso to Tonitza, and now, we see it in the posture of "anonymous friend" of Corneliu Baba, as the artist himself presents it. The harlequin rather appears in the incarnation of a sad comedy, disguised in colorful costumes. He is melancholic and tormented by disasters and disappointments, but he offers the artist a wide range of color interpretations and compositional alternations. The idea of the harlequin is no longer reduced to a specific character, as is the case with other portraits created by the artist, but refers to an entire typology. The model in this work thus becomes a moral compass and a meditation on the human condition. Caught standing, in his ochre costume with colored rhombuses, with his heels close together and his hands together, the protagonist of this work appears to us confused, devoid of strong facial features but with an exuberant air of an unfulfilled comedy. Baba's harlequin has long played his role and reveals himself to us in the intimate atmosphere behind the curtain, where he can freely express feelings of ataraxy and alienation. In the quiet before the show, his smile is no longer needed, giving way to spasms that transpose in the fallen corners of his mouth and then develop into a whole plethora of well-defined body languages. By adopting this theme, Corneliu Baba captures the ambiguity of existence, the dramatic dimension and the iconography of the mask that considerably attenuates the humanity of the characters.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For clarifications regarding the bidding procedure, hammer price costs, guarantee, payment, and collection terms for the winning lot, we recommend carefully reading/re-reading the Bidding Regulations.
For additional information regarding the lot and the auction, please contact the Art Consultants Department.
References
ȘUȘARĂ, Pavel, ”Corneliu Baba”, Official Monitor Publishing House, Bucharest, 2013.
Dimensions
width 24 cm, height 41 cm
Description
ceracolor și acuarelă pe hârtie, signed and dated top right, in paste, "Baba, (19)79"
