98. Wildflowers [anii '30]

The artist does not replicate nature, but composes a long-studied ode dedicated to floral elegies, shaping carnations, mallows, chrysanthemums, roses, or wild flowers with energy in his use of a palette knife. The twilight of life catches Tonitza surrounded by canvases overflowing with bouquets or vases of flowers. His biography intertwines with the creative element, so we will identify for the first time painting dedicated to flowers at the joint exhibition "N. N. Tonitza - Ștefan Dimitrescu", from January-February 1920. However, the fervor of the elegies dedicated to nature will also be known around the years 1935-1937, when the painter will move his creative studio to Schitul Durău, in Neamț. Tonitza will spend three consecutive summers here, along with his students from the Academy of Fine Arts in Iași. Nature excites the artist's creative spirit and remains one of the main muses of his work throughout the years. The "landscape" outings imposed by the German school, in the surroundings of Munich, at Dachau, the creative camps in Durău or the discovery of Dobrogea and Balchik will materialize through a long series of works dedicated to nature and the exterior space, but also by adopting a different chromatic palette or by long hours dedicated to the representation of light. The artist dedicates this work to a spring bouquet, which he composes from bright tones and strident chromatic accents. Tonitza's flowers are the flowers that have recurrently appeared in the works of many Romanian artists over time. From Petrașcu's mallows to Aman's dianthus, the history of Romanian art is overflowing with floral themes transposed onto canvas, to which their authors attribute much deeper meanings. Most of the works resulting from the artist's incursions in Durău, Mangalia, or Balchik can be admired in the exhibitions of "The Group of Four", but also in personal exhibitions. Therefore, the realization of floral paintings is not a foreign practice for Tonitza, but becomes a recurring motif, developed and adored by the nature-loving painter.

References

ȘORBAN, Raoul, "Tonitza", Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1973. PELEANU, Georgeta, ”Exhibition N.N. Tonitza”, Bucharest, 1964.

Dimensions

width 34.5 cm, height 39.5 cm

Description

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

Dating

anii '30

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