106. Forest [1974]

Horia Bernea, considered one of the most significant artists who blends modernity with tradition, the abstract with the figurative, emphasizing texture and content in his paintings. Best known for being a member of the "Poiana Mărului" group during 1956-1977, where he started to paint alongside Teodor Moraru, Ion Dumitriu, and Theodor Russu. For Bernea, "Poiana Mărului" is of great importance as it is where he grew up, familiar with nature and the place itself. The Poiana Mărului group underwent several creative phases. Among the most important, we can mention the first creative and beginning stage of the group (1961-1969), where they familiarized themselves with the landscape and tackled simple themes from nature. This first stage differed from the following one (1970 -1980), not only with their group composition but also in their stylistic approaches, and partly in their thematic choices which became superior to the initial ones. Many of Horia Bernea's themes from the early years (1960-1970) focus on specific thematic cycles such as those dedicated to hills, food, portraiture, gardens, or church interiors ("Deal"), ("Food"), ("Mirror Garden"), ("Oval labyrinth"), ("Network") or ("Church Interior"). As for the representation of the current landscape, which can also be circumscribed during the 1970s, Bernea depicted nature as accurately and in as much detail as possible. He focused on creating a natural landscape, with a sky deep blue without clouds, blending with the massive stretch of vegetation in the distance that seemed to touch the sky, thus creating visually pleasant imagery. He perfectly combined colors creating a lively and fresh color palette, with strong and intense highlights, all merging perfectly with this extraordinary natural setting. These themes are more than just poetic landscapes of a beautiful region, but images that convey the materiality of the local spirit. Known for representing vibrant and colored forms of nature, other similar artworks where one can still observe this proximity to nature, attention and concern for the natural landscape from the 1960s and 1970s, are many works titled ”Poiana Mărului Landscape", (1965 and 1966), ”Hill”, ”Hill V” (1976), ”Landscape on the Tazlău Valley” (1980), ”Green and Wet” or ”Landscape at Măgura”. From the 1970s-1980s onwards, a new creative stage appears within the group characterized by more accomplished stylistic and thematic unity than before. The group's new trends will focus on themes of realism and conceptual expressionism. Thematically, during the 1970s, new topics of interest in the group such as haystacks, trees, gates, columns, windows, beam heads, tools, barns, or food cycles (sprouted potatoes, apples or bread) also emerged.

References

Alexandru Cebuc - Encyclopedia of contemporary Romanian artists, vol III, Arc Publishing House, Bucharest, 2000 Dan Grigorescu - Dictionary of the Avant-garde, Encyclopedic Publishing House, Bucharest, 2003. Radu Popica - "The School of Poiana Marului" - a fundamental experience of post-war Romanian painting, Brasov Museum. Mircea Oliv - The Bernea Horizon, drawing and painting from dr. Sorin Costina's collection, Mogosoaia, Publishing House of the Brâncovenești Cultural Center, 2014.

Dimensions

width 81 cm, height 60 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed and dated bottom left, in black, "HB, 9.(19)74"

Dating

1974

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