Eva Cerbu

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Eva Cerbu was a Romanian Jewish painter, born in Bucharest in 1924. She was the student of M. H. Maxy from whom she learned the modern principles of Avant-Garde art. Later in her career, in the 1950s, she was the disciple of the painter Al. Ciucurencu. Eva Cerbu was primarily a portraitist, creating a world filled with imaginative characters that were part of her own experiences. Her landscapes are closely tied to her portraits and cannot be judged separately. Her figures have a modern geometric structure, combined with unique personalities and emotional universes. She transitioned from oil painting to wood and linoleum engraving, characterised by abrupt, angular and synthetic contours reminiscent of German expressionist engraving. In her mature years, her drawings became more voluminous, integrating broader directions for more contemplative and richly nuanced portraits. Eva Cerbu used a unique blend of techniques including pastel, oil pastel, charcoal, gouache, tempera and others, to create an expressive pictorial mixture of rare originality, fully contributing to her personal universe. Her figures remain strong and indelible, with thoughts and emotions that are difficult to define, yet they have a great impact on the viewer. She debuted in 1947 at the Official Bucharest Salon and showcased her works in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Romania and abroad, including the Venice Biennale (1960), Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Vienna, Lisbon, Los Angeles, and Beirut. In 2005 she participated in the group exhibition "After 60 years" at Allianz-Ţiriac Gallery, together with her colleagues from Professor M. H. Maxy's class: Alma Redlinger, Maria Constantin, Yvonne Hasan, Lelia Zuaf David. Her works are part of museums and private collections in Romania, USA, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Germany, Mexico, Israel, France. She received the Plastic Fund Award in 1959, and the Silver Medal of the Tomaso Campanella Academy from Rome in 1970.