On the Bench, Diptych (Pe bancă)*
Description
Medium: oil on cardboard
Size: 48.5 x 33 cm (62 x 46 cm with frame) each
Provenance
Private Collection, Romania
Location
Bucharest, Romania
Description
Romanian-Jewish painter and draughtswoman, Medi Wechsler Dinu graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Bucharest in 1932, from the class of Jean Al. Steriadi and Ipolit Strâmbu. In parallel she attended courses in Mathematics under Dan Barbilian and in Philosophy under Nae Ionescu and Dimitrie Gusti — a breadth of intellectual formation that reflects the cultural density of interwar Bucharest. Married to the avant-garde poet Ștefan Roll and close to the family of Victor Brauner, she moved within the Romanian avant-garde milieu and knew most of its principal figures, while maintaining in her own practice a consistently classical orientation.
She debuted in 1932 at the Official Salon of Black and White. Between 1934 and 1939 she worked at Balchik, participating in 1939 in a group exhibition of interwar painters organized by Octavian Moșescu. In 1937 a working trip to Greece resulted in a solo exhibition at the Sala Mozart in Bucharest. From 1940 onward she traveled and worked extensively across Romania — from the Danube Delta and Dobrogea to Moldavia, Transylvania, and the Carpathians — as well as in Bulgaria and France, producing landscapes, still lifes, and portraits across five decades of sustained practice.
Her work is noted for its capacity to register the ephemeral and the momentary, with spatial distortions and bright chromatic accents that introduce a sense of fragility into both her plein-air compositions and her portraiture. Throughout her youth she was also subject to the antisemitic violence that marked Romanian political life of the period, a biographical dimension explored in fictionalized form in the 2016 animated short The Blissful Accidental Death.
In 2003 she returned to public exhibition life through participation in Seniori ai picturii românești contemporane (Seniors of Contemporary Romanian Painting) at the Apollo Gallery in Bucharest, as part of the Restituiri (Restitutions) program initiated by the HAR Foundation. Her works are held in private collections in Romania, Bulgaria, France, and the United States, as well as in public institutions including the Art Museum in Constanța, the Metropolitan Library in Bucharest, and the Eminescu Memorial in Ipotești.
The works of art which are subject to artist resale royalty rights ('droit de suite') are marked with an * in the description of the work of art. The amount of the royalties is calculated using a sliding scale of percentages of the Hammer Price.
Lots featured on Ans Azura’s platform may be subject to export regulations in the country where they are located and import regulations in the country where they will be shipped to. The location of each Lot is marked in its description.You are responsible for ensuring that you understand and comply with all relevant laws or regulations applicable in relation to the export or import of any Lot that you intend to purchase.
By registering to bid in auctions and by bidding on the Ans Azura platform you agree to the Bidder’s and Buyer’s Terms and Conditions which you may consult here. Please read these Terms and Conditions carefully. By bidding you accept personal liability to pay the Purchase Price consisting of the Hammer Price and the Buyer’s Premium plus the applicable Buyer's Expenses. Please note that the Total Cost Calculator will display the amount including the estimated Buyer’s Premium, exclusive of related artist resale royalties and any shipping expenses and all duties, taxes, VAT, and/or custom processing fees payable by the Buyer.






