190. Nude Study

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190. Nude Study

Camil Ressu

1880, Galaţi - 1962, Bucureşti

Estimate:

EUR 1.000 - 1.800

Sold

EUR 1.000

pencil on paper, 48 x 25 cm, 25x48, signed lower right, in pencil, "C. Ressu"

One of the most significant achievements of the artist Camil Ressu, particularly after 1920, is the series of nudes, a field in which the artist excelled, showing a permanent inclination toward the depiction of human figures. Related to the father of Renaissance, Michelangelo, concept-wise, particularly as regards the female beauty ideal, Ressu's nudes depict some form of splendour blending robust, vigorous shapes, specific to the Renaissance view, with the voluptuousness of the Baroque. The artist's predilection for the heroic image of woman, "robuste et nourissante comme l'amour antique" - as Baudelaire said - is perhaps supported by his Mediterranean origins, an inner drive to deal with nudes, otherwise a fundamental theme of classical art of all times. Ressu's nudes lack grace, in perfect opposition to the academic canon of the noble beauty ideal of the time, but the "grace" of the depicted figures consists of their awareness of their own sensuality, a natural, primeval, pure one. Ressu is temperamentally attracted to the plasticity of concupiscent female bodies. Sensuality, plasticity, well-built drawing are some of the characteristics of this "Nude Study". The slightly frowning face of the woman, aware of her own sexual energy, reminds us of the image of Michelangelo's sculptural nudes in the Sistine Chapel. The "contrapposto" position of the body highlights even more the tension of the muscles and the fullness of the joints, releasing a strong bout of concrete sensuality of a sensible world. (M.N.)

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