Ion Alin Gheorghiu

Background

Gheorghiu was born in Bucharest, Romania, on September 29, 1929, to a family of workers.

Education

Initially, Ion Alin Gheorghiu studied painting under the supervision of Professor Camil Ressu. In 1954 he finished the Nicolae Grigorescu Art Institute (now Bucharest National University of Arts) without graduating. His final degree piece, Creanga si Eminescu la Iasi, was considered to be both formalist and nationalist, which was unacceptable during the period of Soviet-inspired Socialist Realism.

Career

Until 1958 Gheorghiu's works were not accepted to official exhibitions. To make a living he had to unload potato vans at train stations. At that time he had no studio to work in. However, after 1958, when Ion Gheorghiu was offered to join national and international group shows, he exhibited widely in Memphis, London, Prague, Moscow, Paris, Warsaw, etc. Gheorghiu had very few solo exhibitions.

The themes of Hanging Gardens and Chimeras were two significant poles in Ion Gheorghiu’s art and reveal his fascination with fantasy and mythology. Many of his abstract sculptures in cast metal are entitled "chimeras". He was influenced by Dimitrie Paciurea’s elemental chimeras of earth, water, and fire. However, in Gheorghiu’s paintings, they all seem to stem his own imagination, reflecting his personal exploration in the use of chromatic rhythm and simplification of form.

Achievements

• Ion Gheorghiu was a prominent painter of the 20th century, who left a significant mark in the world of art. The painter was awarded many national and international prizes, including the First Prize of the National Youth Exhibition, Bucharest in 1961; the First Prize granted by the Union of Fine Artists, Bucharest, in 1965; the Yoniuri Shimbun Award, Tokyo, in 1971; the Gold Medal awarded by Academia del Lavoro, Italy, in 1981; the Homage to Picasso Award in Italy in 1983, among others.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Composition

  • Composition

  • Composition

  • Hanging Garden

  • Hanging Garden

  • Hanging Garden

  • Hanging Garden

  • unknown title

  • Composition

  • Hanging Garden

  • Hanging Garden

  • Composition

  • Composition

  • Hanging Garden

  • Hanging Garden

  • Hanging Garden

  • Composition

  • Hanging Garden

  • Hanging Garden

  • Composition

  • Hanging Garden

  • Composition II

  • Gardens III

  • Hanging Garden

  • Hanging Garden

  • Composition

  • Composition

  • unknown title

  • Composition

  • Composition

  • Composition

  • Composition

  • unknown title

  • Hanging Garden

  • Hanging Garden

  • Woman Nude Lying

  • Hanging Garden

  • Suspended Garden

  • Chimera

  • Suspended Garden

  • Suspended Garden

  • Hanging Garden

  • Hanging Garden II

  • Madonă verde

  • Madona

  • Madonă violet

  • Madonă roz

  • Fleurs du Mal

  • Red Landscape

  • Madona albastră

• sculpture

  • Chimera

Membership

Gheorghiu was elected a member of the Romanian Academy in 1999.

• Romanian Academy , Romania

  1999