195. Florist [1924]

"… To Architect Dimitrie Mohor, whose ‘Gypsy Woman’ I have at home, is insured for Lei 40,000, and the receipt is to be entrusted to me..." 8 April 1925, to Virgil Cioflec. Having left Bucharest in 1921, with three young children and worried about the future, Tonitza settled in Văleni following the open invitation made by his former colleague from the years spent studying in Iași, the church painter Dumitru Pavlu. Tonitza installed his studio and house on 39 Berevoiești Street. Here's what Tonitza wrote to Dimitrescu, right after settling in his new house: "... I am indeed in Vălenii de Munte, where we moved to breathe - especially with the children – in a dwelling with no landlady at the ground floor. I have here an old house, consisting of a large salon, a respectable porch, a good-sized room, a winter kitchen, a summer one, a solid stoop, and many more: a stable, a storeroom, a grocery room, a cellar and another place that could be confused with the Romanian Parliament, if besides a certain smell - (specific to crossroads democracies) - it had a more imposing outline. In Văleni, Tonitza's painting gains deepening and enrichment of the themes, and the colours reach that vivid, resplendent brilliance, through which his painting occupies its well-deserved place in the Decalogue of Romanian art. It is the decisive stage of the artist's career, when the drawer and analytical Tonitza turned into a sensible painter, a skilful colourist, but especially a craftsman of the plastic construction. In the compositions of those years spent in the Wallachian town, Tonitza sought to amplify the pictorial instance until it reached a natural correspondence. Even though many of these beautiful portraits of children are made precisely in this period, they are not the most significant amount of the artist's work. The composition with a specific, wide-ranging theme, even if it did not impress by its numbers, stood out particularly due to the quality of its structural coagulation, being one of the best achievements of the moment. Tonitza is a colourist. This is perhaps the most conclusive and objective remark, and if we look at the works created in those two decades relevant to Tonitza's maturity, we can easily identify the causes. At an affective level, colour was for Tonitza the occasion to pay tribute to Ștefan Luchian, whose creation was the foundation of the body of work developed by Tonitza. The "Hair Washing", because this is the main plastic inspiration, is the source of many chromatic interrogations that our painter translates, especially in the works made in the early years of the third decade, until he discovered the iridescent and picturesque landscape of Dobruja. The primacy of volumes, the materiality of tones and the affective nuancing of the palette, as well as the floral arabesques are some of the techniques that Tonitza considers to be the continuation of Luchian's manner, all being accomplished in the design of that chromatic scenography that we can identify starting with 1921, in portraits, nudes or interior compositions. Composer Ion Dumitrescu: A student of Alfonso Castaldi and Mihail Jora, the composer and professor Ion Dumitrescu is a star in the constellation of the most representative Romanian artists. Awarded with the highest distinctions of the Romanian state, Dumitrescu received international recognition as a correspondent member of the "Institut de France" - "Académie des Beaux Arts" in Paris (1977) and "Tiberina Academy" in Rome (1981). He was conductor and composer at the Bucharest National Theatre, professor emeritus and dean of the Faculty of Composition at the Bucharest Conservatory, and secretary, prime secretary and president of the Union of Composers and Musicologists of Romania (1952-1977). In his memoirs, Ion Dumitrescu recalled the time when he bought Tonitza's "Florist". He bought it in the spring of 1951 - after receiving the State Prize - at the recommendation of Alexandrescu, the art merchant. The memories of Tonitza’s painting continued years later, when collector Krikor Zambaccian visited and rediscovered Tonitza's "Florist" in Dumitrescu's house, passionately stating his desire to have it: "Maestro, please give it to me. We’ll make an exchange ... take what you want from me! ... Oh, how much I wanted it, I would like to leave it in the collection ... I saw Tonitza painting her." We can assume that the event took place in 1955, when Zambaccian wrote the text of Tonitza monograph, published by the State Publishing House, volume in which the work was reproduced. The last appearance of the "Florist" in a public venue occurred in 1964, when the National Art Museum organized the great Tonitza retrospective.

References

BREZIANU, Barbu,”Nicolae Tonitza”, Ed. Arta Grafică, București, 1967 BREZIANU, Barbu, “Nicoale Tonitza”, Ed. Meridiane, București, 1986 CIUCĂ, Valentin, “Pe urmele lui Nicolae Tonitza”, Ed. Sport-Turism, București, 1984 COMARNESCU, Petru,”N.N.Tonitza”, Ed. Tineretului, București, 1962 PĂULEANU, Doina, „Grupul celor Patru”, Monitorul Oficial, 2012 Léon Plée, „Les Annales politiques et littéraires”, 14 iunie 1925, în „Exposition d’art Roumain” Louis de Meurville, „Le Gaulois : littéraire et politique”, 25 mai 1925

Dimensions

width 70 cm, height 79 cm, custom 70x79

Description

oil on cardboard, signed upper right, in brown, "Tonitza"

Research information

Opera a participat la "Exposition d'art roumain ancien et moderne au Musée du Jeu de Paume", Paris, 25 mai - 1 august 1925, la pag. 86, cat. 157, sub titlul "Paysanne".
Opera este menționată în scrisoarea trimisă de Nicolae Tonitza lui Virgil Cioflec pe 8 aprilie 1925 în care pictorul enumeră operele și colecționarii acestora pentru organizarea expoziției de la Paris.
Opera este inventariată în monografia "Tonitza", Ionel Jianu, Ed. Căminul Artei, București, 1945, la cat. 148, sub titlul "Țigancă cu flori".
Opera este reprodusă în revista "Lumina și culoare", nr. 2, anul I, 1946 în articolul "Coordonatele picturii lui Tonitza" de V. Beneș, la pag. 32-33.
Opera este reprodusă în monografia "N. Tonitza", Maeștrii Artei Românești, E.S.P.L.A., 1955 la cat. 33, sub titlul "Țărancă cu flori".
Opera a participat la expoziția retrospectivă N.N. Tonitza, Muzeul de Artă al R.P.R., București, 1964 și este reprodusă și inventariată la cat. 70, pag. 72.
Opera este menționată în "Nicolae Tonitza", Raul Șorban, Ed. Meridiane, București, 1965 la pag. 75 sub titlul "Țigancă cu flori".

Dating

1924

PROVENANCE

bought in 1924 from the workshop of Nicolae Tonitza by the architect Dimitrie Mohor (1883-?); 1942-1944, collection of the Nazi Air Force general Alfred Gerstenberg, commander of the German military forces in Romania during World War II. After 28 August 1944 (Gerstenberg's arrest), the work returned to Romanian collections; in 1946 the painting was in the collection of Puiu Bereșteanu, sponsor and associate of the director Sică Alexandrescu; since 1951, the collection of the composer Ion Dumitrescu (1913-1996); since 1994, an important collection in Bucharest.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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