Ștefan Luchian was a Romanian painter. He painted landscapes and portraits as well as compositions and still life, especially flowers.
Background
Mr. Luchian was born in Stefanesti, Romania, on February 1, 1868. He was the first child to Elena (Chiriacescu) and Dumitru Luchian, who served as the Commander of the 3rd Battalion of Frontier Guards at the Garrison of Stefanesti, near Botosani, Romania. The Luchian family moved to Bucharest in 1873. Artistic talent was a family characteristic. One of Luchian's ancestors on his father's side, boyar Andrei, painted several village churches in Moldavia.
Education
Ștefan Luchian's mother wanted her son to follow his father's path and join the Military School. However, Luchian decided to attend painting classes at the Fine Arts School in 1885, where he met Nicolae Grigorescu, whose work had a major effect on Ștefan Luchian's entire creative life. He encouraged Luchian to pursue a career in art.
Since autumn 1889 he studied for two semesters at the Munich Fine Arts Academy. There he made copies of the works by Correggio and Rembrandt. When he returned to Romania, he participated in the first exhibition of the Cercul Artistic art group. The following year, he went to Paris, where he studied at the Académie Julian. There he was taught under the guidance of the academic artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau and also became acquainted with impressionist works of art.
In spring 1893 Luchian returned to Bucharest and participated with four his paintings at the exhibition of the "Artistic Round". In May 1984 he became a member of the jury of the Annual exhibition of living artists, exhibition which was organized after an interruption of 13 years. Luchian exhibited eight paintings at the Annual exhibition of living artists which was organized at the Romanian Athenaeum, among them were "Ultima cursa de toamna" (Last autumn ride). The same year in November he presented 10 paintings at the exhibition of the "Cercului artistic de la Ateneu".
In 1896, together with Nicolae Vermont, Constantin Artachino, and the art collector, Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești, Stefan Luchian co-founded Bucharest's Salonul Independenţilor. In autumn 1897 he signed a contract, together with C. Artachino, for the painting of the church-cathedral in Tulcea, Romania. Stefan Luchian organized an exhibition with N. Vermont at the Romanian Atheneum in Bucharest in spring 1899. In 1900 Luchian contributed his two pastels to Romania's Pavilion at the World Fair. The same year he suffered the first symptoms of multiple sclerosis, the disease which, after some initial improvements, was to haunt him for the rest of his life.
His eleven pieces were presented at the Painting and sculpture exhibition at the Romanian Athenaeum in 1901. It was the period when he painted his masterpiece, "Safta Florareasa" (Safta the florist). However, by the end of the year, badly ill and paralyzed, he was delivered in the Pantelimon hospital in Bucharest. By the end of March 1902 Ștefan Luchian was finally allowed to leave the hospital, walking with difficulty. He spent the summer in the Govora Spa and later in Poiana-Ialomita. In February 1903 Luchian opened a personal exhibition at the Assan House (39 pieces) all of them pastels and aquarelle. In September he was among the participants of the International Art Exhibition in Athens.
Paralysed from 1909, he had to live the rest of his life in an armchair. But it didn't stop his artistic career, as he continued to paint and exhibit his works. He had begun to create landscape and flower paintings quite early in his career, but starting from 1908 he fully concentrated into the subject. He showed his works at the exhibition of the Artistic Youth (1910, 1912, 1913, 1914) and the Official Exhibition (1915).
Toward the end of his life, Luchian was no longer able to hold the painter's brush with his fingers, and was instead helped to tie it to his wrist in order to continue work. One of the last crucial events in Luchian's life was a visit of a composer and violinist George Enescu, who played his instrument as a personal tribute to the dying artist.