Nicolae Tonitza

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Self-portrait (ca.1923)
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Self-portrait (ca.1923)

Nicolae Tonitza (April 13, 1886—February 27, 1940) was a Romanian painter, engraver, lithographer, journalist and art critic. Drawing inspiration from Post-impressionism and Expressionism,[1] he had a major role in introducing modernist guidelines to local art.

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[edit] Biography

Born in Bârlad, he left his home town in 1902 in order to attend the Iaşi National School of Fine Arts, where he had among his teachers Gheorghe Popovici and Emanoil Bardasare.[2] The following year he visited Italy together with University of Bucharest students of archaeology under the direction of Grigore Tocilescu.[3] During that period, together with some of his fellow students, Tonitza painted the walls of Grozeşti church.[4]

In 1908 he left for Munich, where he attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts; he began publishing political cartoons in Furnica, and contributing art criticism articles to Arta Română. Tonitza spent the following three years in Paris, where he visited artists' studios, and studied famous paintings.[5] Although the young artist's creation would initially conform to the prevalent style, his gift for colour and his personal touch would eventually lead him towards experiment.[6]

After his return, Tonitza painted frescos in several churches of Moldavia and worked as an art teacher, and then as a journalist for Iaşul.[7] He married Ecaterina Climescu in 1913.[8]

Coadă la pâine ("Queuing for Bread", 1920)
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Coadă la pâine ("Queuing for Bread", 1920)

In 1916, after Romania entered World War I, he was drafted and fell prisoner to the Bulgarians during the Battle of Turtucaia. Interned, he became ill with malaria and rheumatism, which would plague him until his death.[9] He was set free and returned in 1918.[10]

During the 1920s, he was a member of the Arta Română group (alongside Gheorghe Petraşcu and others).[11] His committement to social commentary is best perceivable in his graphic work, malitious and sometimes dramatical - he sketched for many contemporary, usually political and leftist, magazines: Adevărul, Rampa, Flacăra, Clopotul, Hiena, Socialismul -, and in his articles (including the ones in Viaţa Românească), which mainly discussed cultural and social events.[12] In 1921, Tonitza expanded his range, painting prototypes for a ceramics factory, and organizing a ceramics exhibition; the same year, he moved to Vălenii de Munte.[13] Later, he became the editor of the art magazine Artele Frumoase, and, in 1922, traveled to Transylvania, where he befriended Aurel Popp.[14] In 1926, Tonitza, Oscar Han, Francisc Şirato, and Ştefan Dimitrescu, organized themselves as Grupul celor patru ("The Group of Four").[15]

Upon Dimitrescu's death in 1933, Tonitza held his chair at the Fine Arts Academy in Iaşi.[16] A participant in several national exhibitions and World Fairs, he painted his last works around Balchik, and fell severely ill in 1937.[17] He died three years later.

[edit] Art

Owing much to the art of his predecessor Ştefan Luchian,[18] Tonitza was largely inspired by Impressionism,[19] but he equally admired the discoveries made by Post-impressionist artists (their revolution in composition and Belle Époque splendor).[20]

An admirer of both Frans Masereel and Käthe Kollwitz,[21] he also adapted Expressionist guidelines — ones especially present in his satirical drawings, but also manifested large works such as Coadă la pâine ("Queuing for Bread", 1920).[22] A more distant but no less direct influence was the graphic art of Honoré Daumier, which Tonitza had studied.[23]

Most of his works are serene in tones, in contrast with those expressing Tonitza's involvement in social issues. They proposed a classical aesthetical ideal, viewing art as a treasurer of spiritual values.[24] This message is most obvious in his Northern Dobruja landscapes, his still life studies, the portraits of clowns (celebrated for their way of sublimating the comic and grotesque elements in masks and makeup, in order to reveal a sad humanity)[25] young women and children.

Sf. Spiridon Square in Iaşi (1906)

1919 cartoon

1920 cartoon

The Man of a New World, portrait of Gala Galaction (1920)

1922 cartoon

The Forester's Daughter (1924)

Portrait of a Child (1926)

The Garden in Văleni (1926)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Drăguţ et al., p.191, 192, 193; Grigorescu, p.432; Şorban, p.14-26
  2. ^ Şorban, p.73
  3. ^ Şorban, p.73
  4. ^ Şorban, p.73
  5. ^ Şorban, p.73
  6. ^ Şorban, p.13-14, 30
  7. ^ Şorban, p.73-74
  8. ^ Şorban, p.73
  9. ^ Şorban, p.74
  10. ^ Şorban, p.74
  11. ^ Şorban, p.74-75
  12. ^ Drăguţ et al., p.192-196; Grigorescu, p.464; Şorban, p.15-30, 74
  13. ^ Şorban, p.35, 74
  14. ^ Şorban, p.75
  15. ^ Şorban, p.75
  16. ^ Şorban, p.76
  17. ^ Şorban, p.76-77
  18. ^ Drăguţ et al., p.193, 196; Şorban, p.32-33
  19. ^ Şorban, p.18-20
  20. ^ Şorban, p.20-21, 24
  21. ^ Drăguţ et al., p.193; Grigorescu, p.432
  22. ^ Drăguţ et al., p.193; Grigorescu, p.432
  23. ^ Drăguţ et al., p.192; Şorban, p.24, 26-28
  24. ^ Drăguţ et al., p.193-195, 196; Şorban, p.30, 66
  25. ^ Drăguţ et al., p.194-195; Grigorescu, p.110, 286, 432; Şorban, p.44-45

[edit] References

  • Vasile Drăguţ, Vasile Florea, Dan Grigorescu, Marin Mihalache, Pictura românească în imagini, Ed. Meridiane, Bucharest, 1970
  • Dan Grigorescu, Istoria unei generaţii pierdute: expresioniştii, Ed. Eminescu, Bucharest, 1980
  • Raul Şorban, Nicolae Tonitza, Ed. Meridiane, Bucharest, 1965

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