Cap de ștrengar 1943

Octav Angheluta made this portrait in 1943 with what looks like oil on canvas. You can tell he’s not trying to trick you into thinking this is anything other than a painting. Up close you can see how Angheluta used short brushstrokes, like dabs, especially in the boy’s face and the background, to build up the form. It’s not about blending or smoothing. It's about the dance of the brush and the juicy materiality of the paint. Look at the glints of light on the boy’s nose, rendered with little dashes of pigment. They’re not blended at all. They’re just there, raw and immediate. And there's a similar technique in the boy's shirt, with the little ticks and crosses of red and green, like weavings. This way of working reminds me a bit of Cezanne, who also broke things down into planes of color. But here, there’s a warmth, a directness. It feels like we’re getting a glimpse of the artist's process, his way of seeing, in real time.