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.
A representative personality of the first generation of women who marked Romanian art, Olga Greceanu practiced both easel painting and mural art. She worked on the frescoes at the "Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urban Planning in Bucharest, as well as those at the "Nicolae Iorga" Institute of History of the Romanian Academy, and the mosaics of the Antim Monastery. She exhibited both on local stands, and in Barcelona, Paris or New York. Olga Greceanu also established herself as a writer and theorist, publishing novellas, novels, articles in the press of the time and studies of art theory ( "Mural Composition: Its Laws and technique", 1935; "The National Specific in Painting", 1939). She initiated the first Association of Women Painters and Sculptors (1914) and embraced biblical themes as the leitmotif of her creation. Arriving in Liège, at her Aunt Fulvia and her husband Achile Mouru de Lacotte, the young woman will unexpectedly enroll in the Faculty of Chemistry. Because the program allowed her to have three afternoons off, she decides to also apply for the Academy of Art, located opposite the faculty she was already attending. She studies easel painting here, and then moves to the class of monumental painting, a technique that attracts her more. She will come into contact with European art and will take from the works of foreign artists those stylistic characteristics that will help her perfect her own creation.
Her early work, especially that of the '20s, is marked by easel painting with religious, historical, or symbol-laden subjects. The artist delves into the depths of sacred images and presents to the audience consecrated biblical scenes. In her quest to unravel the mysteries of the scriptures, she will put together several ideas that will take the form of an "Orthodox Biblical Dictionary", later preserved by the Synod Church. We will notice in Olga Greceanu's work, recorded in the exhibition catalogues and periodicals of the time, a whole cycle dedicated to the life of Jesus. The divine subject will be marked by the insertion of halos, and the composition as a whole will reveal a tendency for geometry and a lean towards mural painting. The mathematical ordering of lines and color framed by serious, well-defined contours, will reveal a subject often revisited in history: Madonna and Child. In this work, we identify the cubist inspiration (the artist declared "I want to be honest and say that, to me, understanding cubism has benefited me"), but also a few notes of expressionism. We find the motif brought to the forefront of the works of artists such as Jan van Dyck, Titian or Adrian de Bie. They will all take the archetypal model of the Madonna holding her child in her arms and invite the viewer to reflect on the love of a divine nature. The present work can be deciphered symbolically, so the scene of maternal love will be divided between the image of the mother, the virgin with long, loose hair, and that of the divine child, whose body reiterates his human condition. The chromatics chosen by Olga Greceanu emphasizes her interest in mural painting and monumentalism reduced to the dimensions of the easel canvas. The chromatics is faded, in earthy tones with small accents of ochre, but the dusty white of the child's garments or the red of the Madonna's cover predominates. The small dimensions of the canvas will limit the unfolding of the action of the biblical scenes that the artist transcribes in her work. This limitation will result, consequently, in amplifying the visual impact and the creative force behind the work. The work becomes an iconographic testimony, and the subject is an allegory of pure, innocent love, which transcends towards the divine symbol.
References
NANU, Adina, IANCU-CIOVÂRNACHE, Ștefania, "Olga Greceanu", Publishing House of the Culture Centre of the Brâncovenești Palaces, Bucharest, 2004.
Dimensions
width 76.5 cm, height 111 cm
Description
oil on prefabricated chipboard, signed bottom left, in black, "O. Greceanu"
Dating
anii '30
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
A representative personality of the first generation of women who marked Romanian art, Olga Greceanu practiced both easel painting and mural art. She worked on the frescoes at the "Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urban Planning in Bucharest, as well as those at the "Nicolae Iorga" Institute of History of the Romanian Academy, and the mosaics of the Antim Monastery. She exhibited both on local stands, and in Barcelona, Paris or New York. Olga Greceanu also established herself as a writer and theorist, publishing novellas, novels, articles in the press of the time and studies of art theory ( "Mural Composition: Its Laws and technique", 1935; "The National Specific in Painting", 1939). She initiated the first Association of Women Painters and Sculptors (1914) and embraced biblical themes as the leitmotif of her creation. Arriving in Liège, at her Aunt Fulvia and her husband Achile Mouru de Lacotte, the young woman will unexpectedly enroll in the Faculty of Chemistry. Because the program allowed her to have three afternoons off, she decides to also apply for the Academy of Art, located opposite the faculty she was already attending. She studies easel painting here, and then moves to the class of monumental painting, a technique that attracts her more. She will come into contact with European art and will take from the works of foreign artists those stylistic characteristics that will help her perfect her own creation.
Her early work, especially that of the '20s, is marked by easel painting with religious, historical, or symbol-laden subjects. The artist delves into the depths of sacred images and presents to the audience consecrated biblical scenes. In her quest to unravel the mysteries of the scriptures, she will put together several ideas that will take the form of an "Orthodox Biblical Dictionary", later preserved by the Synod Church. We will notice in Olga Greceanu's work, recorded in the exhibition catalogues and periodicals of the time, a whole cycle dedicated to the life of Jesus. The divine subject will be marked by the insertion of halos, and the composition as a whole will reveal a tendency for geometry and a lean towards mural painting. The mathematical ordering of lines and color framed by serious, well-defined contours, will reveal a subject often revisited in history: Madonna and Child. In this work, we identify the cubist inspiration (the artist declared "I want to be honest and say that, to me, understanding cubism has benefited me"), but also a few notes of expressionism. We find the motif brought to the forefront of the works of artists such as Jan van Dyck, Titian or Adrian de Bie. They will all take the archetypal model of the Madonna holding her child in her arms and invite the viewer to reflect on the love of a divine nature. The present work can be deciphered symbolically, so the scene of maternal love will be divided between the image of the mother, the virgin with long, loose hair, and that of the divine child, whose body reiterates his human condition. The chromatics chosen by Olga Greceanu emphasizes her interest in mural painting and monumentalism reduced to the dimensions of the easel canvas. The chromatics is faded, in earthy tones with small accents of ochre, but the dusty white of the child's garments or the red of the Madonna's cover predominates. The small dimensions of the canvas will limit the unfolding of the action of the biblical scenes that the artist transcribes in her work. This limitation will result, consequently, in amplifying the visual impact and the creative force behind the work. The work becomes an iconographic testimony, and the subject is an allegory of pure, innocent love, which transcends towards the divine symbol.
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
NANU, Adina, IANCU-CIOVÂRNACHE, Ștefania, "Olga Greceanu", Publishing House of the Culture Centre of the Brâncovenești Palaces, Bucharest, 2004.
Dimensions
width 76.5 cm, height 111 cm
Description
oil on prefabricated chipboard, signed bottom left, in black, "O. Greceanu"
