MIRACULOUS HEALINGS: “MARIUS BUNESCU” – REVELATIONS ABOUT PAINTERS AND THEIR WORK THROUGH THE PRISM OF RESTORATION

The exhibition “Marius Bunescu”, the fourteenth in the Miraculous Healings series, is open since December 2017 and aims to show the public nine paintings belonging to the Bucharest Municipality Pinacotheque, brought to their initial looks after a process of restauration As the project Miraculous Healings has already accustomed the public, this exhibition is an opportunity to see, next to paintings, images of the most relevant moments during the research and restauration process, and also to understand the technical steps of the painter beyond the perceived image, to find out data and information that only a professional interaction with the field of restauration can detect.

The exhibition opening event will take place on Thursday, December 14th 2017, 15.00, at the Suțu Palace.

Marius Bunescu was born in 1881 in Caracal, son of craftsman Ioniță Bunea. After a childhood and youth marked by the struggle to provide for himself and after finishing military service, Marius Bunescu arrives in Dobrogea on an assignment to draw trees. Here he meets painter Dimitrie Hîrlescu from Fălticeni, an art teacher in Constanța, who guides him toward fulfilling his artistic ambitions. During the same time he takes part in publishing “Cultura” magazine and in organizing art and literature festivals.

Influenced by his mentor and friend, a graduate of the Royal Academy in Mȕnchen, starting with 1906 he joins the classes of this same academy as well. At the beginning of this stage in his life he is marked by the German impressionist art of Herman Groeber. Bunescu himself describes his time as a student in Mȕnchen as a “fumbling of youth”.

From 1911, after taking part in the Official Salon in Bucharest, he starts his journey as a painter, drawer, manager and organizer of museums and collections. Some aspects of his biography scarcely reflect his vast activity in the service of arts and a professional acclaim that spans six decades of the past century: 1912 – he leaves Paris where he worked in the La grande chaumière workshops, 1919 – first solo show at Minerva bookstore, 1920 – becomes director of Anastase Simu Museum, 1921 – takes part in the founding of the Belle Arte Syndicate where he is elected secretary, 1923-1927 – he is elected president of the Syndicate, 1937 – draws up the Simu Museum catalog and is awarded a golden medal in Paris, 1939 – is awarded the grand prize and golden medal at the international exhbition in Barcelona, 1938 – is warded the National Prize for painting, 1940 – is offered the Romanian Order of Cultural Merit 1st class, 1944 – is named director on Simu Memorial House, 1949 – takes over management of P.R.R. (People’s Republic of Romania) National Museum of Art Pinacotheque, 1950 – is in charge with setting up the National Gallery, 1953 – is awarded the title of emeritus artist, 1961 – at 80 yers old is awarded the title of Master Emeritus Artist, 1966 – is awarded the high distinction of People’s Artist.

In 1956 a retrospective Marius Bunescu exhibition at the National gallery showcases works from his entire artistic journey; and opportunity to meditate and decant his accomplishments “and, possibly, to make new plans for the future” as he declared in 1965 in Notes of a Painter. He dies in 1971 in Bucharest. In 1982 a deferential “Marius Bunescu” exhibition is organized at the S.R.R. (Socialist Republic of Romania) Art Museum and itinerated at the Art Museum in Târgu Mureș.

Throughout his career he approached diverse themes, from landscapes to still natures, from portraits to compositions, enriching the modern Romanian art scene of the 20th century with his special works of a distinct, personal touch.

With an inclination for landscapes in general and urban scenes in particular, he transposes the idea of an all-encompsing outlook in balanced compositions, using a broad palette of colors where reds and yellow ochres are juxtaposed on ultra-marine, cobalt or manganese blues, and chrome green or temperate viridian are juxtaposed with whites, structured through and on the sketch painted in black oil, a sketch that is highlighted after the chromatic structuring and that emerges from underneath patches of color in some places.

The paintings displayed in our exhbition are focused on the city of Bucharest as the meaning and purpose of the painter’s concerns. The winter scenes in “Street in Bucharest”, “Bucharest”, “Cișmigiu” or the autumn scenes in “Oteteleșeanu Caffee”, “The Courthouse in Bucharest”, are some aspects of the inter-war Bucharest captured by the painter. Bucharest is also beautifully reflected in works such as “Ruins of the National Theatre” painted after August 26th 1944, “Rahova Bridge” painted after 1947, “Sports Area in Herăstrău” painted after the ‘50s and “Izvor Street” painted in 1966.

Simona Predescu