A breath of October on a Tuesday afternoon. Ștefan Boca (1920 to 2002), Paris-trained at the legendary Académie de la Grande Chaumière, painted this "Toamnă" (autumn) landscape in his unmistakable French Impressionist register. The brush moves like someone humming under their breath, copper and ochre on one side, that soft Romanian blue overhead, and a path that wanders off somewhere the viewer is rather welcome to follow.
The colours are finely modulated, the harmony almost musical, and the whole thing carries that particular melancholy that only autumn knows how to do properly. Signed lower right "Boca", with collection markings and an artist's atelier stamp verso. Acquired directly from the artist in the 1980s and held in one family ever since, which is precisely the provenance one hopes to find when one finds anything at all.
Presented in its original antique French carved and gessoed frame, ivory finish with gilded highlights peeking through, scrolling foliate corners, and the kind of honest patina that no factory has yet learned to fake.
Styling & Collectors Inspiration
Boca belongs in the company of objects with a soul. For collectors of Romanian and Eastern European modernism, this sits naturally beside the Jean Alexandru Steriadi portrait and the Blue Cornflowers by N. Alexandrescu, forming a small but serious Romanian wall that punches well above its postcode.
On a console below, place the 1920s French Art Déco bronze lamp with pâte de verre tulip shades to wash the canvas in honeyed evening light. Anchor the wall opposite with the Antique Oval Faceted Crystal Mirror in its hand-chiselled gilt frame so the autumn doubles back on itself.
Details
- Artist: Ștefan Boca (Romanian, 1920 to 2002)
- Title: "Toamnă" (Autumn)
- Style: French Impressionist landscape
- Medium: Oil on board
- Signature: Signed lower right "Boca", further inscribed and stamped verso
- Frame: Antique French carved wood frame with gesso and gilt-highlighted foliate scrollwork
- Dimensions framed: approx. 66 x 58 cm
- Dimensions unframed: 46.5 x 37 cm
- Weight: approx. 1.7 kg (packed up to 5 kg max.)
- Condition: Excellent original condition, frame with charming age-appropriate wear
- Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist in the 1980s, single-family ownership since
- Artist credentials: Pedagogic Institute of Art Cluj-Napoca (1966), University of Fine Arts Cluj-Napoca, Académie de la Grande Chaumière Paris. Member of the Union of Visual Artists of Romania. Works held in collections in Australia, Austria, Canada, and the Czech Republic.
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