Corneliu Baba is a Romanian artist who managed to overcome hostility from the authorities

Corneliu Baba is a famous Romanian artist of the 20th century, an outstanding portrait painter of his era. He also painted many everyday paintings depicting scenes from the life of ordinary peasants, still lifes and landscapes. The best masterpieces of the painter’s work are now kept in the museums of Romania.

Corneliu Baba was a prominent representative of realism in Russian painting, although the official authorities of his native country initially accused him of formalism.

Biography

He was the third child in the artist’s family and loved to draw from early childhood. It was his father who became Corneliu’s first teacher. In 1926, Baba entered the Higher School of Fine Arts in Bucharest, but dropped out at the end of his first year.

Nevertheless, the young artist did not leave his favorite occupation, but, on the contrary, enthusiastically continued to create paintings, gradually developing his own style. He tried his hand at different genres.

In 1934, the first personal exhibition of the works of the young master took place in the resort town of Baile-Yerkulan, which brought him wide fame. Then Corneliu decided to continue his studies and he was admitted to the second year of the School of Fine Arts in Iasi.

Having received a diploma as a professional artist, Baba stayed to work at the university. And at the end of World War II, he was awarded the title of professor of this institution. Unfortunately, by that time a totalitarian regime had already been established in Romania, which did not recognize the painter’s right to free creativity.

For Corneliu, the coming of the communists to power had sad consequences.

In 1948, after presenting his paintings at a salon in Bucharest, the artist was accused of formalism and went to prison on suspicion of political unreliability. After several months in a cell, he was released, but fired from his teaching job.

Baba was forced to leave Iasi and moved to Bucharest, where he had to prove his loyalty to the authorities. Corneliu began to paint in the spirit of socialist realism, most of which described the life of the Romanian peasants. This approach to solving the problem of relations with the ruling regime proved to be extremely effective. And already in 1955, the artist was sent to Moscow as part of the Romanian delegation to an exhibition of works of socialist realism.

Awards and exhibitions

A few months later, at a similar event in Warsaw, the paintings of Croneliu Baba were awarded the highest award. This event was the beginning of the international recognition of the author and finally removed from him the accusations of political unreliability. On the contrary, the artist acquired the full support of the authorities, and his works have become the hallmark of modern Romanian painting.

Since the late 1950s, Baba’s work has been constantly featured in international exhibitions around the world. In his native Romania, Corneliu was again appointed to the post of professor of the school of painting, but this time in Bucharest. He was awarded the title of Honorary Master of Arts, and later the People’s Artist of the SRR.

By the end of his life, the master became a recognized classic of the domestic fine arts, received many national and foreign awards. The establishment of a democratic regime in Romania in 1989 did not affect the reputation of the artist. Having lived for more than 90 years, Corneliu Baba died on December 28, 1997 in Bucharest and was buried with great honors in the central cemetery of the capital.