A Trip To Another Century

There's an exhibition that I had my eyes on for more than a month, but because it's open till the first week of next year, I've been procrastinating the visit. Till today. The truth is, Christmas is coming, then New Year and the holidays mean closing time for galleries. So today I got myself together and visited the exhibition.

This time the organizers have opted for these huge banners on the wall.

I've seen posters on those walls, but those were verticals, of a different size and looked different. These on the other hand look like incorporating the windows too and I love the idea quite a lot.

The exhibition was called Masterpieces of Baia Mare Art. The beauty of this exhibition was that these wonderful artworks have been brought to the fortress gallery from different museums and private art collections. This means it's a privilege to see them as once they are taken away, you may not see them ever. Those that are property of a gallery may be available to visit, but taking photos? That may not be allowed.

Sándor Ziffer - Self Portrait With The Calvinist Church Of Baia Mare In The Background - 1941

This was the first painting I saw after entering the gallery and the minute I saw it, remembered that this was not the first time I saw the painting. There was another exhibition this year and this canvas was part of it. Funny thing, I remembered the exact spot where it was exhibited. This happens to me a lot lately and honestly I'm glad because after so many exhibitions, it's easy to forget what you have seen, in time. Most likely I remember the interesting ones and this one was one of them. Why? For some unexplained reason, I thought the paining would be more recent and not from 1941. Looks too modern to me, so to speak, but that's just my imagination.

Károly Ferenczy - Portrait Of Pál Merse Szinyei - 1910

Pál Merse Szinyei was a Hungarian painter, who lived between 1845 and 1920, which means this painting was done a decade before the painter's passing. To be honest, I've heard about Pál Merse Szinyei, but knew very little about his life and work. With this occasion at least I had the opportunity to learn who he was.

András Mikola - Self Portrait - 1908

I'm not entirely sure but I think I've seen this one before too. What surprised me was the colors used for the face. If you have a close look, you can see how many colors and shades are used, among which green and yellow. This is all new and interesting to me as I've never worked with oil.

Yes, oil! All the paintings (except one) were oil paintings. It's not a surprise as back in those days (we're talking about the first half of the 20th century, mostly) the most common paint used was oil. This is why for me oil represents the past (in my head, obviously).

Sándor Ziffer - Self Portrait In Blue - 1925

When I got to this painting, I was already smiling. I know I've seen this one and also remembered that it seemed to me like I'm seeing Jonny Lee Miller in Elementary. Crazy things :) I loved the dominating blue on this back then and now as well.

There are a few galleries I really like and this is one of them, for several reasons. One is that the walls are not white. Most likely I'm getting tired of the boring white walls and the dirt on them that always needs editing. Here the walls are gray and the light comes from above, which makes it more interesting and maybe easier to photograph. Another reason why I love this gallery is the wooden floor and the wooden beams in the ceiling. This gallery is called fortress gallery and not without a reason. These rooms are part of the fortress wall, which is from medieval times.

At the time of my visit, the were two humidifiers working in each room as humidity has to be kept at a constant level, which was 42% if I'm not mistaken. This is not the first time I saw these humidifiers, but the others were not so obvious.

The photo above can show you these paintings were not of usual, or normal size you see these days. Most of them were quite big.

Csaba Vilmos Perlrott - Ice Skater in Baia Mare - 1934

This painting brought back nice memories. Although I've never skated on a lake, there was a time when I was at the skating rink three times per week, even if the fog was so thick we couldn't see the other side of the rink. Those were fun times. Back in 1934, when this painting was painted, life was much simpler, there were no skating rinks and lakes served as rinks. Skates were nothing like we have today and kids were happy to have a pair of blades that was strapped on their boots.

István Boldizsár - Sunlit Baia Mare - Mid 1920

This canvas was a bit too bright and colorful to my taste, but the tranquility that the painting conveys is to be appreciated. Sometimes, looking at these hundred years old paintings I'm thinking life was much more simple and calm. But was it? Or I'm just imagining it?

Aurél Papp - Woodcutters - 1928

This was a particular one for me and I love it. The main reason is the colors and if you have a closer look, you can see the black outlines. I've rarely seen such style, but totally love it. Would be happy to own it, but it's out of the question. This lovely canvas was brought to us from the Ernst Gallery from Budapest and it's almost 100 years old.

One thing I was afraid of, when I saw almost all the paintings were oil, was the reflections. Oil can be extremely shiny and there's no way on earth to stop reflections. But apart from a painting or two, I had no problem caused by the reflection. I need to say thank you as i think I deserve a break. I'm fighting with reflection every single time, I had enough.

I can honestly say, today was fun. These paintings took me to a world that does not exist anymore. Even though the trip was just imaginary, it was totally worth it. Did I mention it was free as well? Courtesy of the municipality. Culture must be supported and financed, or how else you want to educate people, right?

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