26. Laundresses [ca. 1920]

Through his works, Nicolae Vermont showed a particular concern for the fate of rural people, but he also often illustrated the urban world, artisans and workers. He portrayed with the same intensity both the joy of festive days and the lively village dances, as well as scenes depicting work. In his work, he aimed to obtain psychological effects using composition organisation and he successively embraced the particularities of the German and the French Impressionism. In portraits, Vermont particularly directs attention to delineating a psychological profile of his subjects, while also revealing social order specific characteristics. The simple, but confident line accurately records the protagonists’ feelings and expressions. The props the artist proposes for his models is strongly related to their psychology. Through the artistic inheritance from the master from Câmpina, Nicolae Vermont elaborates a long series of portraits dedicated to women from the countryside and gipsy women. With delicate and lively silhouettes, his gipsy women are depicted in almost choreographic poses, with overflowing grace and adorned in picturesque attire. If in the case of the latter we encounter almost statuesque poses, colourful clothes and the unmistakable baskets of flowers, in the peasant compositions, we notice that the artist abandons the strictly decorative function of painting and sketches his characters in the midst of household activities. In this work, Vermont captures the two female characters in a work scene. We see, therefore, that his models no longer pose, but are seen by the objective eye of the painter who synthesises everyday activities in a plastic way. Leaning over a wooden covat, the protagonists dressed in shirts with rolled-up sleeves, long skirts and beanies on their heads, are busy with laundry and household chores. The smile sketched by the character in the right-hand indicates the possibility of a frugal conversation that animates and drives the activity he is undertaking. This time, the artist places his models against a dark backdrop, which enhances the colourful sketches of his music. Like the other subjects that have served as his pictorial motifs, the rural world is a recurring theme in the artist's work. The serial nature of his creations, harmonized in a genuine manner, gives coherence to his work and remarkably mirrors everyday platitude.

References

VRANCEA, Angela, 'N. Vermont', State Publishing House for Literature and Art, Bucharest, 1956. IONESCU, Radu; PAVEL, Amelia, 'Nicolae Vermont', Publishing House of the Academy of the Romanian People's Republic, Bucharest, 1958. DEAC, Mircea, 'Nicolae Vermont', Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1973.

Dimensions

width 34 cm, height 46 cm

Description

oil on wood, signed bottom right, in black, 'N. Vermont'

Dating

ca. 1920

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