Jean Alexandru Steriadi was a Romanian painter, graphic artist and educator. He was associated with the style of Impressionism. The artist created portraits and compositions based on a strong, expressive drawing; and then he evaluated towards impressionistic landscapes.
Background
Ethnicity:
Jean Alexandru Steriadi's mother was of French origin.
Steriadi was born in Bucharest, Romania, on October 29, 1880. He was the grandson of Constantin Steriade, a prominent Romanian politician and the finance minister from March 27 to June 7, 1859. Jean Alexandru Steriadi was the son of Alexandru Steriadi. His father showed artistic inclinations in his childhood, qualities that were neglected by his parents. Nevertheless, Alexandru Steriade connected his life with art and received plenty of commissions. Alexandru Steriadi married Alexandrine Houel, who became Jean Alexandru Steriadi's mother.
Education
Jean Alexandru Steriadi's father gave his son a typical education for the big bourgeois families, including reading, playing a musical instrument, learning French, as well as drawing and watercolour painting. From childhood, Steriadi became particularly interested in music and drawing. His father helped to cut the dilemma, advising his son to choose the career of an artist.
Steriadi received his primary education at Schewitz-Thierin private school. Then he enrolled in the Cantemir Vodă National College where studied under Victorian Georgescu, who was his drawing teacher. There he studied along with Apar Baltazar, Camil Ressu, Ion Theodorescu-Sion and Pan Ioanid.
Jean Alexandru Steriadi was so fond of painting that he painted everywhere, in his classmates' books, exercise books, and school tables. In order to protect their stuff, Steriadi's classmates always provided him with drawing paper.
At the age of 16, Steriadi suffered from a serious illness followed by anaemia. The doctor forbade him to study for one year. However, the young man didn't want to lose a year of his life. As a result, Steriadi entered the National School of Fine Arts (now the Bucharest National University of Arts) in 1896, which was the centre of artistic education in Romania. The level of teaching was quite high in the school. Jean Alexandru Steriadi studied there for four years. Among his teachers were George Demetrescu Mirea, Eugeniu Voinescu and the famous Constantine I. Stancescu.
In 1901 Jean Alexandru Steriadi received a scholarship which enabled him to become a student of the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. However, it was rather difficult to enter the academy, that's why he attended Moritz Weinholdt's classes for two years. Moritz Weinholdt was a German painter, a student of Wilhelm von Diez, who specialized in nudes. His students had separate lecture halls depending on their gender, and discipline was very severe.
After leaving Moritz Weinhold's studio, Steriadi became a student of the Academy of Fine Arts, located in the heart of Munich. Jean Alexandru Steriadi attended the workshops of Wilhelm von Diez, who in those years was the leading painter and the most demanded teacher of art. Another Steriadi's teacher was Gabriel von Hackl, who was a German historicist painter and former student of Karl von Piloty. Among his other teachers were Heinrich Wolff and Ernst Neumann-Neander.
All in all, Jean Alexandru Steriadi spent over a year and a half in Munich, where he met Lascar Viorel and Stefan Octavian Joseph, a prominent poet and translator.
In 1903, Steriadi left Munich for Paris and joined the Académie Julian (today it's a part of ESAG Penninghen), studying under the direction of Jean-Paul Laurens and then under Lucien Simon.
At the beginning of Steriadi's artistic career, he went to Brittany to paint plein-air, accompanied by Ştefan Popescu, Cecilia Cuţescu-Storck or Gheorghe Petraşcu. Then, Jean Alexandru Steriadi presented the works that he created during his trip at the Autumn Salon. After the Salon in Paris, the painter began his work more on paintings, including Chivuțele din Piața Mare. The artwork was apparently influenced by Lucien Simon.
On December 3, 1901, Steriadi became a co-founder of the artistic group called Tinerimea artistică. Among its members were Constantin Artachino, Kimon Loghi, Stefan Luchian, Arthur Verona, Frederic Storck, Ipolit Strâmbulescu, and Gheorghe Petraşcu. Marie of Romania, the last Queen of the country, became an honorary president of the society starting from the year it was established. As a founder of the artistic society, Jean Alexandru Steriadi helped young artists organize their exhibitions.
In 1905 Jean Alexandre Steriadi became friends with Camil Ressu and later with Stefan Popescu (Popicu). After a six-year absence, during which Steriadi lived in Munich and then in Paris, as well as made trips to Spain and Italy, the artist eventually returned to his native Romania, settling in Bucharest. Around 1906, Steriadi produced portraits of Ilarie Chendi, Alexandru Vlahuta, Stefan Octavian Joseph and some others.
Jean Alexandru Steriadi was obsessed with an idea to teach young painters. So, in 1908 he participated in a contest, trying to receive a desirable position of a drawing instructor at the National School of Fine Arts (today the Bucharest National University of Arts). However, he failed, as the post became occupied by V. Costin.
Jean Alexandru Steriadi was appointed a curator of the Theodor Aman Museum in Bucharest, succeeding Dimitrie Paciurea, in 1909. In 1912, Jean Alexandru Steriadi was elected president of the Tinerimea artistică, succeeding Arthur Verona. The style practised by the artist was totally opposed to Verona, that's why N. D. Cocea, a Romanian journalist, novelist, critic, qualified him as "more open spirit than his predecessors". The novelty that Steriadi brought to the society was a great cultural loyalty. Besides, Steriadi rejected his presidential salary preferring to spend that money on the needs of Tinerimea artistică.
Steriadi became the last director of the Kalinderu museum, occupying the post from 1915 until its closure in 1946. The museum acquired artworks by Constantin Artachino, Kimon Loghi, Ştefan Popescu, Gheorghe Petraşcu, Nicolae Vermont, Ipolit Strâmbu, George Mărculescu and Costin Petrescu. The traditional Romanian painting was represented by the works of Constantin Rosenthal, Mihail Lapati, Gheorghe Tattarescu, Sava Hentia. It also exhibited paintings of young representatives, including Nicolae Grigorescu and Ion Andreescu.
Jean Alexandru Steriadi, as the director of the museum, decided to use it as a platform for the organization of cultural events. Later on, Steriadi freed some of the rooms of the Kalinderu Museum and organized permanent graphics exhibitions there.
He took part in the Exhibition of Romanian Artists in 1917 that was organized at the Romanian Athenaeum, where he was not only an exhibitor but also an organizer together with H. Braune, the director of the Pinacoteca in Munich, and the German painter Dzialis. Fifty-five artists participated in the exhibition. Starting from 1918 Steriadi's work at Artistic Youth was sporadic, and he eventually ended his service there.
In 1919 he held his personal exhibition at the Romanian Athenaeum, it marked a new stage in his artistic career. It was followed by another solo show in 1921. Jean Alexandru Steriadi also actively contributed illustrations to Sămănătorului chroniclers, with his painting satisfying their taste and conception.
Meanwhile, Steriadi became a co-founder of the group called Studio, a kind of art school, in 1920. Its main goal was to educate the public through different conferences and practical courses. They taught not only visual arts but also ballet, music, etc. In 1921 Jean Alexandru Steriadi along with Gheorghe Petrascu and Arthur Verona founded the Academia liberă de pictură. Between 1924 and 1928 Steriadi became a professor of the Academy of Decorative Arts. Concurrently, he organized a private school that functioned in the form of workshops, held in the Kalinderu Museum Building.
In 1928 Jean Alexandru Steriadi became a professor of painting at the National School of Fine Arts in Bucharest. In 1933 Steriadi celebrated three decades since he had participated in an exhibition of Tinerimea artistică for the first time. So, he organized a personal exhibition at the Dalles Hall in November 1933. Jean Alexandru Steriadi curated Ștefan Luchian's retrospective in 1934 at the Kalinderu museum, and in 1938, in collaboration with Virgil Cioflec, Jean Alexandru Steriadi held big exhibition Centennial dedicated to Nicolae Grigorescu. The event was a real success, featuring 153 works in oil and 22 in graphics.
In 1937 Asociația Arta was established by Jean Alexandru Steriadi, Ştefan Popescu, Gheorghe Petrascu, Iosif Iser, Nicolae Dărăscu, Eustatie Stoenescu, etc. From 1944 until his retirement in 1949, he held the post of the rector of the National School of Fine Arts in Bucharest. After his retirement, he was asked to occupy the post of a professor of lithography in 1951.
In 1901 Steriadi co-founded and joined Tinerimea artistică. Around the 1920s, he received membership in the Arta română Society; and in 1937 he was among co-founders of Asociația Arta. Jean Alexandru Steriadi became a member of the Romanian Academy in 1948.
Tinerimea artistică
,
Romania
1901
Asociația Arta
,
Romania
1937
Romanian Academy
,
Romania
1948
Interests
Artists
Wilhelm Trübner, Heinrich Wolff, Lucien Simon, Ion Andreescu
Connections
Jean Alexandre Steriadi met Nora Condrus, a Romanian painter and his future wife, in 1905. On July 13, 1907, Steriadi became engaged to Nora Condrus, and their marriage was celebrated on September 13. In 1948, Nora died, and Steriadi subsequently remarried with Laetitia Constanţa Lucasievici.