Constantin Lucaci (July 7, 1923 – July 20, 2014) was a

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania ** Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...

contemporary

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, best known for his monumentalist sculptures and his kinetic fountains (or decorative moving metal fountains) most made from stainless

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...

, among which those from the Romanian cities of

Reșița Reșița (; german: link=no, Reschitz; hu, Resicabánya; hr, Ričica; cz, Rešice; sr, Решица/Rešica; tr, Reşçe) is a city in western Romania and the capital of Caraș-Severin County. It is located in the Banat region. The city had ...

and

Constanța Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...

are best known. He was born in Bocșa Română, today a part of Bocșa,

Caraș-Severin County Caraș-Severin () is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Serbia. The majority of its territory lies within the historical region of Banat, with a few northeastern villages considered part of Transylvania. The county seat is Re� ...

. From 1993 up until his death Lucaci was a professor at The Sculpture Department of The Academy of Belle Arts,

Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. His works, both "regular" and monumental are to be found in various Romanian museums as well as abroad. Outside of Romania, Lucaci's kinetic sculpture ''Star'' is a part of the permanent exhibition "Fucina degli Angeli",

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, exposed among works of artists such

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

and

Mark Tobey Mark George Tobey (December 11, 1890 – April 24, 1976) was an American painter. His densely structured compositions, inspired by Asian calligraphy, resemble Abstract expressionism, although the motives for his compositions differ philosophi ...

. Other works by Lucaci are to be found in personal collections from cities such as

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and

. Lucaci was bestowed with numerous national and international prizes and awards. He is a recipient of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

prize for his entire career (1990), of

Herder Prize The Herder Prize (german: Gottfried-von-Herder-Preis), named after the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), was a prestigious international prize awarded every year from 1964 to 2006 to scholars and artists from Central and So ...

for his entire work (1984) and of ''Gold Medal'' at the ''International Biennale of Art dedicated to Dante - Ravenna'' (1999) for his monumental art. Lucaci died aged 91 on July 20, 2014.

Prizes and awards

* 1953 - "Medal of Toil" -

* 1968 - "Cultural Merit" Order - Romania * 1974 - The Romanian Union of Plastic Artists' Prize for Monumental Art * 1982 - "Knight of the Italian Republic" Order of Merit * 1984 - Prize of the Romanian weekly magazine "Flacăra" for his Romanian series of ''kinetic fountains'' displayed in various Romanian cities * 1984 - "Herder" Prize of the University of Vienna for his entire work * 1990 - Prize of the

for his entire work * 1999 - Gold Medal at the International Biennale of Art dedicated to Dante - Ravenna * 2000 - "Freeman" of the city of

* 2001 - Prize of "The Romanian Cultural Foundation"

Biography

*1923 - born in Bocsa Romana, Banat, Romania *1929 - 1945 - During his childhood and youth the artist developed three major interests : the study of the surrounding world through Mathematics and Physics lessons, as well as music and modelling. Hew studied drawing and modelling with T. Botlich, an artist educated in the artistic milieu of Paris at the turn of the century and a former colleague of Meštrović for two decades. *1945 - Attended the courses of the "Guguianu" Free Academy of Arts in Bucharest under Camil Ressu, Al. Ciucurencu and C. Medrea. *1948 - After his graduation of " Guguianu" Academy of Arts, he entered "Nicolae Grigorescu" Fine Arts Institute .Début at the Official Salon held in Bucharest where he exhibited " The Builders". Since then, he has participated in every annual and biannual art exhibition. *1950 - While a student, he displayed " The Swimmer" at the Official Salon in Bucharest, a sculpture piece that drew the attention of G. Oprescu. *1953 - Graduated " Nicolae Grigorescu" Fine Arts Institute. *- April 29 married Irina Tomescu. *- in April he participated to the Romanian Exhibition of Fine Arts held in Helsinki. *1954 - Works of sculpture displayed in the Romanian Art Exhibition presented at the Biannual di Venezia. *1958 - A participant in the Fine Arts Exhibition in Moscow. *1959 - Stainless steel works exhibited in the Romanian Fine Arts Exhibition in Budapest. *1961 - Participated in the Romanian Art Exhibition initiated in Damascus, Cairo, Alexandria. * He also took part in the Exhibition of Sculptors' Drawings in Moscow *1963 - Attended courses at the Fine Arts Academy "Pietro Vanuci", Peruggia. *1966- Scholarship in France where he studied French and European sculpture but was especially attracted by Egyptian sculpture made of granite and basalt. * Began a serie of monumental works made of stainless steel, later grouped by the artist in the serie "Space and Light". *1967 - Stainless steel monumental works in the Open- air Exhibition of Sculpture of Middelheim Park, Antwerpen. *1968 - Study trips to France, Belgium, Italy. *1972 - An exhibition of sculpture housed by the "French Library" in Bucharest ( 10–20 May). *1975 - Participated to the Romanian Art Exhibition of Contemporary Romanian Art in Belgrade, Damascus, Cairo and Alexandria. *Participant in the Romanian Art Exhibition "Plastik und Bulmen" in Berlin * A guest artist of " Fucina degli Angeli" Venice, he created the " Star", a kinetic sculpture made of stainless steel and glass, now part of the permanent display of " Fucina degli Angeli ", next to works by Mark Tobey, Picasso, Max Ernst, Chagall. * Study trip to France *1976 - Participated in the International Congress of AIAP in Baghdad. *1977 - September, invited to Havana as a participant i the founding Congress of the Artists' Union. *" Fucina degli Angeli" album published in Venice with a special chapter on the work of Constantin Lucaci. *Participated in the Exhibition of Romanian Fine Arts, Moscow. *1979 - A participant in the Exhibition of Small Sculpture - Romanian Contemporary Art, Damascus. *Participated in the AIAP Congress held in Stockholm. *1980 - Invited by the French Government to be present at the opening of the "Brâncuși" Museum within the Georges Pompidou Centre, Beaoubourg, Paris. *Participated in the international conference on the " Improvement of the Environment" held in Manila, Philippines. *1984 - February–March, solo exhibition at The Italian Cultural Institute in Bucharest. *Since 1988 - A member of the international jury of the Biannual of Art dedicated to Dante, Ravenna. *Since 1993- A professor of the Fine Arts Academy, the Sculpture Department, Cluj.

Works

* Works of Constantin Lucaci are in the custody of many museums in Romania. Collections of art abroad : Antwerp, Copenhagen, Venice, Rome, Milan, Ferrara.

References

External links

Constantin Lucaci
a brief presentation of Constantin Lucaci's biography and work on th
romania-on-line.net
web site

"Compoziție", ''Composition'', one of Constatin Lucaci's steel sculptures at ''Museum of Art'' (''Muzeul de Artă'') din

Târgu Jiu Târgu Jiu () is the capital of Gorj County in the Oltenia region of Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu. Eight localities are administered by the city: Bârsești, Drăgoieni, Iezureni, Polat ...

On Constatin Lucaci
and other personalities of the Romanian culture on th
www.funtrivia.com
web site

"The moving stailess steel fountains of Constantin Lucaci" {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucaci, Constantin 1923 births 2014 deaths People from Bocșa Romanian educators Romanian sculptors Herder Prize recipients