Nicolae Tonitza (1886-1940): "study Of Male Nude" Romanian. Nud De Barbat

Nicolae Tonitza (1886-1940): Romanian. "Nud de barbat" "Study of a male nude, 1912", gouache, signed lower right, dated 1912, size: 48.5 x 30.5 cm, Romanian painter Nicolae Tonitza (wikipedia) Born April 13, 1886 in Bârlad in Romania, he is the first of five children of Anastasiei and Neculai Toniță. In 1902 he left Bârlad to enroll at the National School of Fine Arts in Iași, with Gheorghe Popovici and Emanoil Bardasare as teachers. The following year, he visited Italy, as part of an excursion by Archeology students from Bucharest, led by Professor Grigore Tocilescu. He spent his next vacation in Romania, where, together with other colleagues, he painted the village church of Grozești. In 1908, he moved to Germany, to Munich, where he was admitted to the Royal Bavarian Academy of Arts in Training in the class of Professor Hugo von Habermann. He exhibited at Kunstverein, published caricatures in the journal Furnica and the article "Importance of art criticism" in the journal Arta română de Iași. He left Germany, without completing his studies, and traveled to Italy and France, where he stayed two years in Paris. He then frequented the studio of Pierre Laprade and studied after renowned painters. The influence of the concerns of the time did not take long to put its mark on the work of the young artist, who through his qualities as a colorist and the freshness of his emotions made him quickly discover the path to originality. The problems of Impressionism, the discoveries of Post-Impressionism, but much more, the decorative mode of thought of the composition and the Belle Epoque style will determine his future aesthetic options. He paints landscapes, portraits and compositions, which he exhibits in his studio in Montparnasse. Balance, hedonism - this unrestrained joy in the face of the apparent charms of reality -, tempered sensuality, are already reflected in these first works, full of light, overflowing with tones and perfect welds between shapes and colors. In 1911, he returned to the country and took part in the exhibition “Artistic Youth”. In 1912 he finished his studies at the National School of Fine Arts in Iași and obtained the certificate of "church painter" by competition. He will paint the churches of Scorțeni, Siliște, Poeni, Vălenii de Munte and others. In 1916, he exhibited 94 paintings and drawings in Bucharest, together with Ștefan Dimitrescu. Mobilized and sent to the front, he was taken prisoner during the battle of Turtucaia. After the war, he stabilized in Bucharest, where - in addition to his participation in exhibitions and book illustrations - he collaborated in socialist-oriented publications with drawings and artistic chronicles. In 1924, he exhibited at the Venice Biennale but a year later withdrew from the "Arta Română" association and - with Francisc Șirato, Oscar Han and Ștefan Dimitrescu - he founded the "Group of Four". The following years and until 1934, various exhibitions of the "Group of four" took place. Tonitza, meanwhile considered “the most important” Romanian painter alive, also exhibited abroad: Barcelona (1929), Amsterdam (1930), Brussels (1935). In 1933, he held the chair of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Iași, left vacant following the death of Ștefan Dimitrescu but in 1937 became rector of the Academy. In 1933 and 1934 he painted with Francisc Șirato in the Dobrogea region, producing a series of paintings and drawings with Balcic landscapes. In 1939 he fell seriously ill and died on February 26, 1940. Works were then exhibited in his homage at the “Official Salon” and at the “Modern Romanian Art Exhibition”. The Forester's Daughter (1924-1926) - Collection of Doctor Dona, National Museum of Art of Romania A retrospective look at the works of Tonitza reveals to us an early period of academic painting bearing the mark of the Munich school, and as a corollary, a major interest in drawing, to the detriment of painting. During his short stay in Paris, he made timid attempts to appropriate Impressionist visions, but his preference for graphic expression led his attention to the creations of Daumier. His chromatic reversal, which the elite of French painting failed to bring about, was triggered by Ștefan Luchian. After this period, his paintings made between 1930 and 1935 show full artistic autonomy, freeing themselves from all influence. Graphic, full of mischief and often dramatic - he collaborated with many cultural and social magazines of the moment: Rampa, Flacăra, Clopotul, Hiena etc. - his works bear witness to his intense participation in the life of his time. His painting, far from the daily bustle and contemporary commitment, remains serene, speaking of a classical aesthetic ideal, of a cult of beauty, of an art understood as the expression of the permanence of spiritual values. . This autonomous vision is highlighted in the portraits of children. “Tonitza's eyes” look at us today with an innocent nostalgia, with a bitter and candid melancholy. These large round and expressive eyes are the mark of his unique style in the history of Romanian art. From a sober pictorial musicality woven with poetry and reality, Tonitza passed in the last years of his life to a painting with oriental reminiscences, undoubtedly due to the charms of the landscapes of the Dobrogea region.