23. At the Fountain [anii '20]

Her first exhibition, which brings together a series of rural frescoes in which the artist transcribes the harbors she knows in Brittany on Romanian lands will be praised in chronicles by personalities such as B. Brănișteanu or Tudor Arghezi. In 1916, Rodica Maniu exhibits in Bucharest alongside other female representatives of the native art and she is a participant in the genesis of the Women Painters and Sculptors movement. She will also assume the status of being a painter of rural life and will consistently create works inspired by village life. Her childhood spent at Şopârliţa, where the family had a holiday home, opens up the path towards her first encounters with rural life. She will rediscover the beauty of the Romanian village later on, when she will spend her summers in the small settlement in Olt County alongside her husband, Samuel Mützner. The rural theme will be introduced in her work since the time of the Breton travels, when she dedicates a series to the Breton laundresses (”Breton laundresses” (1920), ”Laundresses (Whitening of clothes)”). The work that is more similar to this piece will be the work ”Laundresses (Lipovan girls washing)” in the collection of the Craiova Art Museum. The silhouette's posing, here, no longer focuses on singularity and individualization, like in portraits, the artist rather betting on illustrating a social category and themes relevant to her audience. A piece from the same series, "Laundresses", was praised at the International Exhibition in Barcelona, where she was even awarded the grand prize.

References

ANDREESCU, Viorica, "Rodica Maniu", Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1987.

Dimensions

width 50 cm, height 40.5 cm

Description

ulei pe lemn, signed bottom right, in black, "R. Maniu"

Dating

anii '20

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