Untitled 1965

Natalia Dumitresco made this untitled abstract artwork with watercolor and ink on paper. Born in Romania, Dumitresco spent much of her career in France, and this work seems to emerge from the artistic milieu of post-war Paris. Following the second world war, there was a need to create something new, a new avant-garde that could reckon with such destructive forces. This piece does that through its biomorphic imagery. Its strange forms seem to draw on the natural world but do not reflect any one thing. The question we have to ask is: what kinds of social conditions enable the creation and appreciation of this type of abstract art? The answer may lie in access to institutions like museums and galleries, as well as to artistic communities. To understand it better we would need to place this work in the context of Dumitresco’s life and career, considering how her biography and artistic network might have shaped her work.