85. Still life with carnations and coffee cup [anii '20]

Constantin Isachie Popescu often depicted in his works endless aquatic expanses, immersed in the morning mist, with the rays of the sun reflecting on the water's surface and the smoking baskets of the ships arriving in the port. Guided by his mother who wanted him to be a priest, he approached Greek-Catholicism and various prominent religious figures. He was also ordained. He initially began his career in law but left the Vlașca bar and dedicated himself to painting. His professional reorientation resulted in adopting the pseudonym "Isachie". He studied in Bucharest, under the guidance of G.D. Mirea, and then went on to study in Italy and France. He exhibited early at the Salon des Artistes Français and was rewarded with laudatory reviews in the Bucharest press. He was very appreciated during the interwar period - King Carol II himself purchased ten of his works following an exhibition. However, after the change of regime, the visibility of the artist decreased considerably, being almost completely excluded from the local exhibitions. The writer and priest Gala Galaction became the artist's protector and undertook, together with him and his wife, Letitia (formerly Mirea), numerous trips. They traveled together on various itineraries. They went on cruises together (on the boat "Dacia") and visited Serai-Burnu, the Golden Horn, Haifa or Mangalia. In Constantin Isachie Popescu's work, we often find a dialogue of nature and a clash of intense encounters of the clouds with the water. However, nature does not appear, in the artist's work, only in the form of the landscape, but it will also be taken up in the still lifes where he indicates, undoubtedly, his preferred thematic options. This time we find the vase with carnations, the blue mug and the glass bowl, but we undoubtedly notice the small yellow cup, strategically positioned in the left lower corner of the work, in stark contrast with the rest of the elements present. If the bottom of the work is dedicated to the accumulation of objects, at the top we are dealing with a much more subdued ambiance, dominated by the penetration of the natural frame (light, in this case), indoors.

References

The exhibition catalog "Constantin Isachie (1888-1967) Painter of Bucharest Mondanity", Maiko Publishing, Bucharest, 2014.

Dimensions

width 69.5 cm, height 80 cm

Description

oil on cardboard, signed bottom left, in gray, "C. Isachie"

Dating

anii '20

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