56. Ancestor's Gaze [anii '60]

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56. Ancestor's Gaze [anii '60]

Ion Ţuculescu

1910, Craiova - 1962, Bucureşti

Estimate:

EUR 30.000 - 50.000

Sold

EUR 99.000

References

DAVIDESCU, Cătălin, ”Țuculescu”, Scrisul Românesc Publishing House, Craiova, 1988.

ulei pe pânză, 61 x 51.5 cm, signed bottom right, in black, "ȚUC"

Ion Țuculescu's inclination toward the act of painting would find its genesis, among other things, in a "photo session" where the young man observes in the studio of artist Eustațiu Stoenescu. In 1923, Țuculescu therefore witnessed the creation of the portrait of C.D. Fortunescu, his French language professor. Charmed and undermined by the artistic act, he stopped by a bookstore on his way home and purchased "all the paints that painters use". From here to his famous personal exhibition in 1939, his brush would be guided by different local personalities; intertwining now with ways of medical studies and scientific explorations and a continuously forming artistic language. At the early exhibition opened in 1925 with his brother and painter A.D. Hagiu, Țuculescu even received praises from the professor previously painted by Stoenescu. If his early engagements with the canvas are marked by melodious transcriptions of his journeys beyond borders (sunny Greek landscapes), we will gradually notice an evolution towards abstraction, especially in the transition from Oltenian barks to totems. Hence, this work fits into the so-called "totemic phase", framed by critics in his last creative period (1960-1962). We're now talking about a largely abstracted period, where we can still identify aspects aimed at reality. It is a stage where the artist generally relies on signs and symbols; but also focuses on a profoundly dramatic vision, where he approaches universal abstract art. Some critics will bring here into the conversation similarities with Vasily Kandinsky or Paul Klee. The painting reduced to essence through symbol, chromatic outbursts and the tendency towards abstraction become evident even from the end of the 50s. Works such as "Circuits", "Sun Bath", "Traces" or "Solar Totem" are made noticeable through a series of repetitions targeting both the plastic sign and the chromatic elements. Harmoniously organized, with the focal point centrally-left and symmetrically scattered patterns along what is left, this work reveals to us a totemic content encrypted by symbols.

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