The Village
The village
lithograph, paper, 28.5 x 21 cm
Ordinary people and the deprived classes have always been the favorite protagonists in Leon Alex's work. Usually, these works had a political component, and The Village is no exception.
In this image you can see an allegory of the Romanian interwar village. Unlike a simple rural landscape, the artist chooses to build a place for the people who occupy it, not only for geographical relief, houses and institutions like the church. In the typical socialist spirit, the emphasis is on ordinary people, the essential constituent element of society.
Among the characters often encountered in representations of the Romanian village, such as the peasant with the mustache and hat, the Jewish artist also highlights the important Jewish presence in the interwar Romanian space.
The composition is part of a series of works with a pronounced expressionist element, through which the artist clearly captures the shortcomings of interwar capitalist society. In this composition, peasant houses are centered around a church, with several portraits inserted in between. Each person has the same distant, troubled look on their faces, suggesting a life full of hardship, shortcomings and unfair treatment.
Leon Alex (Löwinger Sándor)
The village
lithograph, paper, 28.5 x 21 cm
signed and dated at the bottom left on the plate: Leon Alex 935
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on the back:
label with no. registration of the Quadro Gallery: 1358 stamp DJC Cluj
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Condition of the work:
good
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Documents:
expert report signed by Sebestyén Székely from 27.03.2017
Certificate of sale of the Quadro Gallery, the cultural asset appearing at No. 1358, dated 09.03.2013
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Leon Alex (Löwinger Sándor)
1907, Petroșani - 1944, Ostroh, Soviet Union, Ukraine territory today
Born in a working-class family, he tried to make a living not only as an artist but as a working man. This is how he was last seen, as a worker…on the Eastern Front.
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