72. Child's Head [1919-1920]

The human universe became a primary subject in Nicolae Tonitza's work immediately after the end of the First World War. The traumatic experience of imprisonment and the subsequent life of financial hardship were to provide him with the basis for a reinterpretation of man, sometimes through the socialist perspective, to which he often felt ideological attractions. But Tonitza's struggle was to create a coherent painting around the people in his life. The children thus became the main source of inspiration, both his four children and those in the painter's entourage, from relatives, friends or artistic associates. The portrait here, created around 1920, is reminiscent of the series of characters Tonitza created for "Coada la pâine" ("In line for bread"), particularly due to the style and brushwork. The face, so distinctively specific to Tonitza, easily describes the painter's way of interpreting and reinterpreting portraits of children and adolescents. Sometimes he ages them on purpose, or vice versa, they are androgenized or cross-dressed, the play and ludic spirit transferring from the model to the painter. Nelu - a name mentioned by Tonitza both on the back of the work and in the exhibition of the Art Association in 1921 - reminds us of Ionel Mohor, the son of his friend and former schoolmate Dimitrie Mohor, whom he was to paint years later in an unusual portrait. The type of cross-dressing we see in this painting was to be used by Tonitza throughout the 1920s, especially in compositions in which children or adolescents are costumed or integrated into sometimes antithetical scenes.

References

Tonitza, Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1965 Tonitza, Nicolae, Scrieri despre artă (Writings about art), Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1964 Șorban, Raoul, Nicolae Tonitza, Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1965

Dimensions

width 34.5 cm, height 44 cm, custom 44 × 34,5 cm

Description

oil on cardboard, signed upper right, with grey, "Tonitza"

Research information

The artwork was part of the third exhibition of the "Arta Română" Association, Bucharest, March 1921, cat. 141, under the title "Nelu (studiu)" ("Nelu (study)"). The artwork is entitled by handwriting on the reverse, "Nelu (Studiu)". The artwork is accompanied by a certificate of origin, signed by Mircea Oprean, Zoia Ceaușescu's husband.

Dating

1919-1920

PROVENANCE

until 1986, the historical collection of the Dr. Leontescu family; 1986-1990, the collection Nicu Ceaușescu, the eldest son of the couple Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu; 1990-2009, in the custody of the National Museum of Art of Romania; after 2009, the collection of Nicu Ceaușescu's heirs.

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.