16. The Road Home [1923]

Nicolae Vermont's artistic mastery reveals itself especially in portraits and genre scenes. The social character of the subjects he chooses is mediated by the balance of his plastic language. He is concerned with the fate of people in rural areas, but also illustrates the city world, craftsmen or workers. He renders the joy of holidays and dances in the village, but also captures the aspects of work. Excellent draftsman, he will find the aesthetic ideal towards which to create and will masterfully render the gestures and attitudes of his models. In 1912, at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, a personal exhibition of Nicolae Vermont is organized. A large number of works dedicated to maids, with their specific occupations, presented in the posture of a florist or in contemplative attitudes, are displayed. The props that the artist proposes to his models are in close accordance with their psychology. Especially in portraits, Vermont will focus on outlining a psychological profile of his characters, but also on revealing social characteristics. The simple, but sure line, registers with precision the emotional states and expressions of the protagonists. Through the artistic heritage passed on from his master, Nicolae Vermont elaborates a long series of portraits intended for village women and maids. This time, we have before us a protagonist caught on the country road, furrowed by the strong rays of the sun. Dressed in traditional clothes, in shades of white, with a girdle in the middle and carrying a water jug, Vermont's character carves his path on the country lane, in the middle of summer, among the leafy trees and blue sky. By providing such details, the artist indicates the specificity of an entire social category. Thus, his protagonist becomes the representative of the rural man, who walks the village lanes on his way to work the land, to pasture, to the village council or to the Sunday dances. The seriality of the creations, truly homogenized, provides coherence to the work of Nicolae Vermont and remarkably reflects the flatness of daily life.

References

VRANCEA, Angela, "N. Vermont", State Publishing House for Literature and Art, Bucharest, 1956. IONESCU, Radu; PAVEL, Amelia, "Nicolae Vermont", Publishing House of the Popular Romanian Academy, Bucharest, 1958.

Dimensions

width 23 cm, height 31 cm

Description

oil on cardboard, signed and dated lower right, in brown, "Nicolae Vermont, 1923"

Dating

1923

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