Original photograph, Ion Jalea, circa 1970-80

Original photograph, Ion Jalea, circa 1970-80

Original black-and-white photograph showing Ion Jalea in old age, photographed in the company of an unidentified woman, probably in the yard or garden of his studio or his home. The image appears to have been taken in the 1970s or 1980s, by which time the artist already held the standing of patriarch of Romanian sculpture and was an emblematic figure in the cultural life of Romania.

Ion Jalea occupies a central place in the history of twentieth-century Romanian sculpture. Trained in Bucharest and Paris, he served in the First World War, in which he lost his left arm, and went on to produce some of the most important monuments and portraits in Romanian artistic heritage. His work is notable for combining academic tradition with a modern sensibility, and is represented in numerous museums and public collections.

The photograph is of documentary interest because it captures the artist in an informal setting, different from the official images published in albums, catalogues or the cultural press. Photographs of this kind are visual testimony to the last decades of Ion Jalea's life and are particularly valued by collectors of Romanian cultural photography, by art historians and by institutions interested in the iconography of artistic figures.

dimensions 9x14.5 cm.

The state of preservation

According to the image:

• photograph on glossy photographic paper;
• good contrast and detail;
• slight yellowing at the edges consistent with age;
• slight handling marks at the corners and along the left edge;
• without tears, losses or major visible degradation;