Background
Henri Catargi was born on December 6, 1894 in Bucharest, Romania.
Henri Catargi was born on December 6, 1894 in Bucharest, Romania.
Henri settled in Paris in 1919 and until 1922 he studied art at the Académie Julian and Academie Ranson, under several important teachers of his time such as Maurice Denis and Édouard Vuillard.
Henri worked in an intense manner by himself, and discovered at the Louvre Museum the works of Poussin, his main influence at that time, which he copied and discovered time and time again. At first, his themes were fairly limited, mainly landscapes, while his style was in no small part marked by the Romantic traditions. In time his style developed to a much more modern one, even creating an impression of three dimensions in his works. It was Catargi's way of adapting to the new art, in a much more realistic fashion.
During this time frame the main interest for Henri Catargi was color, with all of its nuances, although at first he mainly used brown, ochre, white, grey, green and dark red, with several variations. A rather limited palette of colors, but it made his works all the more interesting. Later, after 1930, he started incorporating more colors in his compositions and also began to emphasize important elements with thick, black lines - an interesting idea that built several "attention landmarks" in his paintings. By putting something in the front of the whole ensemble, Catargi managed to surprise and impress.
Henri also produced an impressive number of sketches and drawings, in ink or crayon, as well as in watercolor, mainly landscapes and female figures, at the same time becoming much more popular both in his country and in Europe. He died in 1976 in Bucharest.
Composition with lemons and poppy
1966Dobrudjan Landscape (Balcic)
Interior with girl
1949Landscape
1927Landscape from Arges Valley
1967Landscape from Arges Valley
1971Landscape from Caseres, Spain
1971Landscape in Arges Valley
1959Mediteraneean Landscape
1932Pansies
1974Provensal Landscape
1938Still Life
1972Still Life With Fruit
1965Still Life With Guitar and Fruit
1972Still Life With Guitar and Pipe
1959Still Life With Pipe and Fruit Basket
1967Still Life With Seashell
1972Still Life With Wine Bottle and Lemons
1926Street Corner Merchants
1959Summer Landscape
1966