Corneliu Baba

Born Nov. 18, 1906, in Craiova, Rumania. Painter and graphic artist. People’s Artist of the Rumanian Socialist Republic (1962). Corresponding member of the Rumanian Academy of Sciences (1963) and the German Academy of Arts (German Democratic Republic, 1964). Honorary member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1958).

From 1934 to 1938, Baba studied at the Fine Arts School in Iaşi under N. Tonitza. He painted monumental canvases devoted to the life of Rumanian peasants, portraits, still lifes, and landscapes and did illustrations for works by Rumanian writers. His pictures, painted with broad, heavy strokes, are marked by profound psychological insights, tenseness and richness of color, and an expressive simplicity of composition. His paintings include a portrait of the writer M. Sadoveanu (1953), Resting in the Field (1954), Peasants (1958), and The Family (1963); all of these paintings are in the Museum of Art of the RSR in Bucharest. He has won State Prizes of the RSR.