87. Sunday at Antim Monastery [1935]

In 1927, the artist permanently settles in Bucharest, after his residence fluctuated between Pitești, Argeș, Berlin and Paris. Once settled in the capital, this does not prevent him from making several study trips abroad, to Macedonia, Greece and Turkey, in 1929, and to France, in 1931-1932. Works from these trips will be featured in future personal exhibitions at Ileana Hall and the Dalles Hall. Nevertheless, Bucharest remains an important source of inspiration for Cumpăna. The current painting captures a moment of the day in the Antim Monastery area of the capital's 4th district. Created in 1935, the piece fits into the artist's first creative phase. The technique of watercolor on paper, so adored by the French painters of the late 19th century, is used by Cumpăna to convey an impression, but not one that is ephemeral and fleeting, rather one that is enduring and stable. As with his oil paintings, we notice here a kind of feeling of solidity, of concreteness. The landscape is rendered predominantly in dark shades of ochre, with slight variations in intensity, with the white of the paper being the thing that most firmly delineates one silhouette from another. By eliminating intermediate tones as much as possible and retaining only what is essential, the artist achieves a clear yet expressive painting in which concreteness takes precedence.

References

APOSTOLACHE-STOICESCU, Zoe, ZIELINSCKI, Maximilian, "The Painter Schweitzer-Cumpăna, Fragments of Life", Ed. Cumpăna Foundation, Bucharest, 2014.

Dimensions

width 48.5 cm, height 38.5 cm

Description

watercolor on paper, signed centrally below, in black, "Schweitzer-Cumpăna"; located and dated left below, in black, "Bucharest, 1935, Mr. Antim"

Dating

1935

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