The exhibition, accompanied by a catalogue with the graphic works of Vetro Artur, presented a less known part of the art of the famous sculptor and professor. More than 50 graphic works illustrate the fact that the artist was a thorough sketcher, as well. The works represent portraits and nudes, a sign of the artist’s attachment to human values, which he expressed in a figurative, classic language. The exhibition is unique, as Vetro’s sketches were never presented in its ampleness.
The selection starts with the early works, realized around 1947, continuing with a long series of coal sketches and culminating with the pastel works, created during the 1950’s. These pastel works are of a special modernity and freshness, being created in the very intimacy of his studio, and constitute an exceptional restored part for the Romanian art. They are examples of the rare modern tendencies that have, unofficially, perpetuated during the hardest period of the socialist realism in Romania.
These works are related to the formal and chromatic experiments that characterize the first vanguard. Vetro Artur (1919-1992) started his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Timişoara, under the guidance of Romul Ladea. He continued the study of sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. After the war, he returns to Timisoara, and in 1949, he settles down in Cluj, where he teaches sculpture at the Hungarian Institute of Arts. From 1951 he is a professor at the “Ioan Andreescu” Institute of Fine Arts, where he also becomes dean, in 1959. He is especially known for his public monuments, places in many cities of the country
