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Camil Ressu | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Camil Ressu in 1927 | |
| Born | (1880-01-28)28 January 1880 |
| Died | 1 April 1962(1962-04-01) (aged 82) |
| Alma mater | Bucharest National University of Arts George Enescu National University of Arts |
| Movement | Post-impressionism,realism |
Camil Ressu (Romanian pronunciation:[kaˈmilˈresu]; 28 January 1880 – 1 April 1962) was a Romanian painter and academic, one of the most significant art figures ofRomania.
Born inGalați, Ressu came from anAromanian family that migrated to Romania fromMacedonia at the start of the 19th century. His father, Constantin Ressu was a journalist and had studied law inBrussels. He was also an artist in his spare time. In 1887, Ressu was enrolled at the School of Fine Arts inBucharest. He continued his studies at theSchool of Fine Arts inIași, where he studied with paintersGheorghe Popovici andGheorghe Panaiteanu Bardasare. In 1902, he finished his studies in Iași, being awarded a silver medal, and left Romania forParis, seeking to further develop his artistic skills. In Paris, he studied at theAcadémie Julian.
In 1908, Ressu returned to Romania and became interested in social matters, contributing satirical drawings to several publications, includingFurnica,Facla, andAdevărul. In the same year, he became a member of theSocial Democratic Party of Romania (or, rather, its surviving Bucharest circle,Socialist Union of Romania, formed around the paperRomânia Muncitoare). In 1910, his works (landscapes and paintings with bucolic themes) were featured in theTinerimii Artistice ("Artistic Youth") exhibition. Ressu opened his first personal exhibition in 1914, in Bucharest.
In 1917, along with the paintersNicolae Dărăscu,Ștefan Dimitrescu,Iosif Iser,Marius Bunescu and the sculptorsDimitrie Paciurea,Cornel Medrea,Ion Jalea, andOscar Han, he founded theArt of Romania association in Iași. During these years, he further developed his style as a landscape painter, and frequently visited the countryside in summer to paint portraits of peasants working in the fields and views of villages. He also paintedstill life, portraits of various personalities, and nudes.
In 1921, he became the president of the Artists' Union of Romania. In 1925, after a prolonged stay in the village ofIlovăț,Mehedinți County, Ressu finished one of his best-known paintings,Ploughmen Resting, currently housed in the Iași Museum of Art.
Aside from his artistic pursuits, Camil Ressu was a professor at theAcademy of Fine Arts in Bucharest until 1941. From 1950, he was the honorary president of the Artists' Union and a professor at theNicolae Grigorescu Art Institute. In 1955,Romania's Communist regime awarded him the title of "People's Artist", and he later became amember of the Romanian Academy. He died in Bucharest in 1962, and was buried in the city'sBellu Cemetery.
