At the ASTRA Museum in Sibiu, the exhibition “Popular Culture in the Art of the Painter Viorel Mărginean” was recently opened.
The retrospective exhibition presents the main themes explored by the painter Viorel Mărginean: landscape, static nature and decorative composition, painted in detail on impressive surfaces.
“35 paintings painted by Viorel Mărginean are exhibited along with heritage objects from the collections of the ASTRA Museum. The Church of Cenade is the warm core of light, appealing through silence, simplicity, and beauty. The collection of rugs and Romanian traditional clothing ( cătrinţe, fote, vâlnice, oprege, marame) outlines scenographically and poetically illustrates the hills, mountains, plains, orchards, and gardens blooming in the artist’s landscapes. It is worth mentioning the collection of 19 forks, representing an ideational forest, descended both from painting and from the mountains. Soul-birds, tomb pillars, and headdress rhyme metaphorically with the images of the paintings,” the organizers describe.
The painter Viorel Mărginean died earlier this year, at the age of 89. Throughout his prestigious artistic career, the artist has received numerous national and international awards and distinctions and has held a number of positions in important institutions.
Viorel Mărginean was born on December 12, 1933, in the commune of Cenade, Alba County. He graduated from the “Nicolae Grigorescu” Institute of Fine Arts in 1959, in the class of Prof. Ioan Marsic. In 1962 he became a member of U.A.P. Romania. He has participated in numerous personal and group exhibitions, national and international events, and graphic salons. In 1970 he received a scholarship awarded by the U.S. Department of State, and in 1982 another from the Italian state.
He was director of the National Museum of Art of Romania (1994-1995), Minister of Culture (May 5, 1995 – August 23, 1996), and an honorary member of the Romanian Academy (2006).
In recent years he has participated together with other visual artists in the fifth edition of the International Art Salon “Grounds” (at an exhibition in the foyer of the “Painting Hall” of the National Theatre “I.L. Caragiale” at the painting exhibition entitled “A theophany in Stone and Spirit. Let’s Revive the Romanian Orthodox Monastery in Jordan” (National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, 2017), at the exhibition “Bucharest – from the Patriarchal City to the Capital of the Great Achievements” (Şuţu Palace, 2017), as well as at the XIth edition of the International Art Biennial “Ion Andreescu” (Buzau, 2018) and in the “Theodor Pallady” Space of the Romanian Academy Library hosted at the end of 2018.
His works can be found in important museum collections such as the National Museum of Art in Bucharest or the Art Museum in Cluj-Napoca and in private collections in the country and abroad (England, Australia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan or the USA).
The entrance is free.
