Tradition and Universality in Romanian Modern and Contemporary Portraiture

In Romanian art, portraiture evolved throughout a significant period, starting the medieval times until the present, and went through numerous changes in vision and technique. In this article, we will refer to a series of aspects specific to the modern and contemporary era of Romanian art, which are periods of maximum blossom of portraiture, when many artistic personalities distinguished themselves. We intend to analyse a series of remarkable works of art that have become true benchmarks of portraiture. We will refer to some of the most representative creators who stood out in this artistic genre, by evoking famous names of notable portraitists of the past two centuries. Touched by influences of western art but keeping, at the same time, an important genuineness mark due to our national cultural specificity, the evolution of Romanian portraiture aligned with the broader European trend of the genre, being recognized due to an individualized approach of features as well as to a careful speculation of the psychological depths of the represented models. In the current context, all these aspects concur in a character of integration of these works in the much more complex universal artistic phenomenon of portraiture.