32. Still Life with Doll, Horse and Art Album [1930-1935]

Still life is a recurring theme in Theodor Pallady's work, and its message is usually encrypted in the juxtaposition of more or less conventional objects. Pallady creates intimate painting, inspired by daily life, in which he reveals himself to the public. He constructs true pictorial poems in which subjects are harmoniously decoded, through rhythms and colors. Whether they are cans with flowers, food, dishware, newspapers, or books; even if they take the usual form of his props: glasses or a cane, the subjects proposed by Pallady are most often inspired by immediate reality. In the artist's works, the incisive line of the drawing is paramount, and the importance of the graphic duct is taken from Degas. He used to constantly reiterate the primacy of form over brushwork and color. While in most of his still lifes floral elegies predominate, dedicated to chrysanthemums, roses, tulips or dahlias, this time we are dealing with a novel subject. The vase with flowers and the artist's props (the hat, the cane or the glasses) have been replaced here with a much more playful context. The author brings to the forefront the game and the elements dedicated to it. We notice the doll with yellow curls, propped on the table and leaning against the wall, the horse caught in a gallop, the playing cards scattered on the table, or the ball set on the book, a sign that playfulness has successfully dethroned the commandment of reading. We also distinguish an element borrowed from previous works - the book, which could be, this time, a storybook, given the context in which it was placed. The chromatic choices betray, equally, the playful and the playful spirit. Warm tones and shades of yellow, green or blue now predominate. The contrasts are subtle but manage to accentuate the key points of the work. The entire composition is concentrated, this time too, on the table, where the small conglomerate of elements invites us to penetrate the artist's imagination.

References

"Drawings by Theodor Pallady from the Collection of the Museum of the Crișiland", in "Biharea", 1980, pp. 291-322. Florin Rogneanu, "Theodor Pallady and the Temptation of the Absolute", in "Oltenia. Studies and Communications", no. V-VI, 1986, pp. 205-209. SORBAN, Raoul, "Theodor Pallady", Ed. Meridiane, Bucharest, 1975. CEBUC, Alexandru, "Pallady", Ed. Official Monitor R. A., Bucharest, 2008.

Dimensions

width 53 cm, height 69.5 cm

Description

oil on cardboard, signed at the top right, in black, "TP"; signed at the right side, in pencil, "T. Pallady"

Dating

1930-1935

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