Iconic historical collections that formed the basis of the formation of the art market are presented in a wonderful selection at the most important auction of the season: the Spring Auction. We present to you an impressive palette of six works by Nikolaj Tonica, including his two controversial paintings of female bodies in Eva’s costume – Nude from 1927, which comes from the collection of the great interwar art collector Dr. Josip Dona, and Nude in a Red Chair, which dates back to 1933-1934, comes from the collection of Gen.

Vasile Parizeescu (former founder and president of the Society of Art Collectors from Romania), who is believed to represent one of the artist’s daughters – either Katrina, believed by some to be his first child, or Irina, his eldest daughter. prices are 60,000 and 80,000 euros, respectively.

“This is the subtlest twin between color and light”, as it collects “all the surrounding light and then spreads it like a small sun”, – this is how Nicolae Tonica described the nude in the painting. And the story of this “Nude in a red chair” captivated from the first moment more than the famous “definition”. Especially since it is believed to depict his eldest daughter. Katrina would deny this, according to the records of the time, and would point to her younger sister, Irina. The mystery remains, but this is not the only thing that particularly attracted attention…

Naked Tonitsa caused several “waves” in the press of the time, also because the artist was very demanding about the choice of muses. Having tried his hand at the School of Belle-Arte, where he painted the first nudes from plaster models, he wanted to move away from the influence of academicism and began to organize a real pre-selection to find women for the role who would or to his taste. He placed advertisements in newspapers, indicating the desired physical qualities: “white complexion, fair or natural red hair.” If girls who did not meet these requirements appeared for the casting, he was not afraid to refuse them.

According to the late art critic Mircea Deak, Tonica belongs to those artists who “dominated the first half of the 20th century and made the nude painting an independent genre of painting.” In her works, Tonica raises the question of the reception of the nude in local art, referring to the reluctance and puritanism shown by some viewers. “He who submits himself to the naked lust of the flesh, and not to the lust of painting, will fail,” the artist would have remarked.

The “Tonytsia Collection” also includes other representative works: “Young Woman from Fegerash” (1926) – with a starting price of 35,000 euros, “Child’s Head” (1924-1926) – 15,000 euros, “Gladioli” (painted in the 1930s) – 9,000 euros, but also a landscape of youth, a walk “Saturday from above” (1910) – 5,000 euros.

Another joy of the spring auction is a mini-collection of three oils signed by Ion Tzuculescu – “Green Macaw” (1939-1943), “Red Flowers” (1941) and “Flower pot” (1937), all with exhibition precedents in various national retrospectives.

Paintings by outstanding masters Nicolae Grigorescu, Teodora Aman, Stefan Lucian, Nicolae Vermont, Gheorghe Petrascu, Camilo Ressa, Josip Iser, Samuel Mutzner, Octave Bensile or Ion Teodorescu-Sion, as well as more contemporaries Alexander Cukurenko, Corneliu Baba, Konstantin Pilutse or Horia Damian . All this can be found in the exhibition, which will open from March 5 in the Palace of Cesianu-Rakovice, this “museum-gallery” with free admission every day. Every day, from Monday to Sunday, from 10.00 to 20.00, visitors have free access to Artmark Galleries. Where we are also often invited to seasonal exhibitions dedicated to important holidays of the cultural calendar and not only.

On the occasion of March, we organized an exhibition dedicated to the muses of Romanian artists, called “muse”. The event starts today, March 1, and offers to your attention a gallery of works illustrating the most famous muses of the world of fine arts, companions in the lives of great classical and modern artists. Whether it is about the beloved model Nicolae Grigorescu, or about the wife of Nicolae Tonica or about Gheorghe Petraska, all of them are “windows” into romantic stories or real cancans of the time in which they were created.

Nicolae Grigorescu, for example, had a very discreet love life. Therefore, there is very little information about the women who were close to him. Only the love story with Maria Dancu, who was by his side and took care of him during the last 18 years of his life, was determined. Considered to be her “favorite muse”, she modeled for the artist in many of his works depicting shepherdesses, and sometimes in those depicting shepherds, as he also dressed her in men’s clothing if he needed to… She also gave he has a son, Gheorghe, and it seems that she would become his wife only on the last day of her life.

Another founder of the Romanian school of painting, Stefan Lucian, also painted himself in his youth with visible adoration, the chosen one of his heart, as he also did in a work entitled “Spring (Two Muses)”awarded in April 2013 for €100,000.

Gheorghe Petrasca’s wife can also often be seen in the painting, as it happens in the work entitled “Internal works in Tirgovishte”, which is sold in the “Art Addict” store. It seems that in this case we are talking about an “imposed muse”, because, according to special literature, it was Lucretsia Petrascu who wished to appear in as many pictures as possible…

We are waiting for you at the Palace to find out what other stories the “Muses” hide. That’s all we can tell you: this time, all visitors can take part in the competition for a surprise prize.

Article supported by A10 by Artmark