45. At the Window [anii '20]

It is said that the artist's ancestors lived in Artachi - a port in the Artachi Gulf, from the Sea of Marmara. His parents wanted to prepare him to work in the field of trade, so the young Artachino would attend the School of Commerce, but his path would be completely different. Constantin Artachino discovered his drawing talents while at school on Foisor Street. He would later study with Theodor Aman and become one of his best students, even earning medals in end-of-year competitions. Artachino skillfully combines two diametrically opposed features: rigor and freedom of expression. In constructing his works, like Brecht, he relies on the distancing effect. Immersion no longer has its place in the contemplation of a work, the viewer should not completely lose himself in the artist's imagined world, but should be more specifically a detached observer, a conscious observer, perhaps even a critical observer of the author's created universe. The present work brings to light an unusual subject, a subject that betrays the artist's academic preparation and the predilection for meticulous detail rendition. He transcribes the world around him with photographic precision: from characters and plants to inorganic and architectural elements. We are therefore dealing with a genre scene that brings his muse's portrait to the fore. With hair tied in a loose bun, wearing a long dress and a white shawl, which captures light in contre-jour, the protagonist is sitting at a table, focused on the pages of a book. The work has an intimate character, in a familiar space, the muse is surrounded by green plants, ascending on the large windows that outline the spatiality of the work and frame the character in profile. We see the muse in a warm palette, in fine and elegant strokes, the white gloves capture light in a central compositional triangle, with the face semi-shaded.

Dimensions

width 46 cm, height 62.5 cm

Description

ulei pe pânză, signed lower right, with ochre, "Artachino C."

Dating

anii '20

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