Lascăr Vorel, also credited as Forel and ForellCiucă, p. 86 (19 August 1879 – 8 February 1918), was a Romanian Post-Impressionist painter whose style was linked to Expressionism. He was the scion of a pharmacist clan in Piatra Neamț, but abandoned the family trade to take up drawing, and became a student at Munich's Academy of Fine Arts. Praised as an intellectual as well as a painter, he moved away from Art Nouveau, studying Cubism and Expressionism, and exchanging ideas with a young Marcel Duchamp. Vorel also worked as a cartoonist for Der Komet magazine, befriending Albert Bloch, Hanns Bolz and Erich Mühsam, and frequenting Café Stefanie.
While active in immediate proximity to the early trends in German Expressionism, including Der Blaue Reiter, he never joined any artistic society. His avant-garde paintings, which often incorporated social commentary, alternated with more subdued and conventional landscapes and peasant portraits of Western Moldavia. Maintaining some interest in Romania's modern art scene, he was featured at Tinerimea Artistică shows and published sketch stories in Bucharest's literary magazines.
Ailing from a chronic kidney disease, Vorel lived a withdrawn existence during World War I. He maintained a lively interest in politics and military developments, expressing his continued support for the Central Powers; he was also increasingly pessimistic about the future of art, and about his own ability to thrive. This period brought him into contact with Romanian writer Nae Ionescu, who was his admirer and promoter, but Vorel's notebooks suggest that their friendship was superficial. Briefly interned as a hostile alien, Vorel turned to pacifism during his final years, ultimately dying in Munich at age 38. He remains celebrated in Piatra Neamț, where some of his diaries have been published, but is relatively unknown in Romania at large.
Biography Youth and formation Born to Czech-Romanian parents at Iași, on Copou Hill,Ion Tătaru, "Cartea de artă. Lascăr Vorel de Petru Comarnescu", in Ateneu, Vol. V, Issue 12, December 1968, p. 5 Lascăr was the great-grandson of Anton Vorel, a well-known herbalist who had arrived in Moldavia from the Kingdom of Bohemia.Verzea (2018), p. 70 Mia Vorel, Corina Pavel, "Destine. Din sipetul cu amintiri al unei doamne de viță veche", in Formula As, Issue 398, 2000 Anton had set up the main pharmacy of Piatra Neamț, which doubled as his medical practice; in tandem, he served as consular official for the Austrian Empire.Dimitrie Hogea, Din trecutul orașului Piatra-Neamț. Amintiri, p. 39. Piatra-Neamț: Institutul de Arte Grafice Record, 1936 The family business was preserved by Anton's grandson, Lascăr Sr, with the Vorels emerging as a family of note in the regional commercial upper class.Mihai Asmarandei, "Fostul laborator Vorel", in Ceahlăul, Issue 238/1968, p. 2Verzea (2018), pp. 70–71 They also owned land in Fălticeni, which they rented to the novelist and politician Mihail Sadoveanu 1906.Șerban Cioculescu, "Breviar. Planeta părăsită sau geocentrismul familial", in România Literară, Issue 11/1987, p. 7
The future painter was born from Lascăr Sr's marriage to Julieta Suess. "Personalitatea săptămânii: Un mare pictor expresionist: Lascăr Vorel", in ZCH News, 15 August 2013 He spent much of his early life in Piatra, with his younger brothers Constantin and Tudor. Lascăr was the only one of his family not to be interested in pharmacy.Verzea (2018), p. 71 Later in life, being almost entirely reliant on his family's financial support, he acknowledged that his pursuits were "anti-economical", that to society he appeared as an "infirm". However, he took pride in noting that his art was without "commercial sense".Verzea (2014), pp. 80–82 As he recalled in adulthood, his passion for drawing was first cultivated during his time at the Boys' School in Piatra, and was picked up from a talented schoolmate, Mărgărint, "my first and final master". He continued at the local gymnasium (where his professors included writer Calistrat Hogaș), but then moved to the other end of the country, in Turnu Severin, where he graduated from Traian High School.Tudor Vorel, "Fratele meu, pictorul. Amintiri despre Lascăr Vorel", in Ceahlăul, Issue 781/1970, p. 2
Around 1896, Vorel was shortlisted for a national competition held at Tinerimea Artistică society in Bucharest—the event was also attended by Ignat Bednarik, a boy of Moravian Wallachian origin, who took first prize; despite their momentary rivalry, they became good friends.Beatrice Bednarik, "Contribuții la cunoașterea vieții și operei acuarelistului Ignat Bednarik (Orșova, 1882 — București, 1963)", in Revista Muzeelor și Monumentelor. Muzee, Issue 9/1983, pp. 84–85 Taking up art as a full-time occupation, from 1899 or 1900Personalități ieșene. Aniversări și comemorări 2018, p. 107. Iași: Asachiana, 2017. Baron, p. 11 he studied in the German Empire, where he subsequently lived a long part of his life. According to his Romanian colleague Marius Bunescu, his family stipend allowed him to rent a "most beautiful artistic residence, one he would probably never have considered leaving." Marius Bunescu, "Însemnările unui pictor (IV)", in Memoria Oltului și Romanaților, Vol. V, Issue 4, April 2016, p. 42 He was joined there by his brother Tudor, who enlisted at the Munich Polytechnic; the two of them made regular returns to Piatra, and went on fishing escapades along the Doamna River—Lascăr was passionate about this activity, and treasured advice received from elderly Moldavian fishermen.
The elder Vorel, who presided for a while over the Patria Romanian Students' Society, attended the Munich Academy, where he was taught by Franz Stuck.Ciucă, p. 85; Grigorescu (1980), p. 438; Verzea (2018), p. 71 Stuck left notes celebrating Vorel's vision, originality, and "refined taste". From that moment on, Vorel developed a style influenced by the Vienna Secession and other branches of Art Nouveau,Grigorescu (1980), p. 438 sending some of his works to be displayed by Tinerimea Artistică, which was by then the Secession's local equivalent.Dumitru Iov, "Cronici. Artă. Dela 'Tinerimea artistică'", in Luceafărul, Issue 12/1914, p. 371Nicolae, pp. 61–63; Verzea (2018), p. 71 Other drawings, in cartoon form, were hosted by the Bucharest daily Adevărul, and by George Ranetti's satirical magazine, Furnica.
The innovator According to Bunescu, Vorel was interested in carving his own artistic niche; therefore, despite being colleagues with Wassily Kandinsky, Vorel never joined Der Blaue Reiter. One of his early admirers was journalist-philosopher Nae Ionescu, who discovered his "surprising newness and high intellectualism", viewing his "tormented" art as a record of Vorel's own existential struggles. Overall, Ionescu argues, Vorel was "one of the most exquisite exemplars of Romanian spirituality."Nicolae, pp. 61–62 As noted by critic Valentin Ciucă, Vorel was both a shy man with a "complex interior life" and a modernizer, "interested in artistic synchronism, with all newness that existed in art at the start of the century." Another critic, Petru Comarnescu, argues that Vorel was above all an "intellectual painter" with a "tragic sense of self."Verzea (2014), p. 79 & (2018), p. 71 In addition to painting and drawing, he was a published writer of sketch stories. These include Măestrul meu ("My Masterful"), taken up by Viața Literară și Artistică journal (1908), as well as a series in Noua Revistă Română (1913). According to Ionescu, this literary production had "vanished" from public memory within a decade.Nicolae, pp. 62, 64
In 1908–1909, Vorel became interested in Expressionism while attending exhibits of works by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Matisse. His artistic vision fully incorporated Cézanne's geometrical guidelines,Grigorescu (1970), pp. 216, 217 resulting in what writer Dumitru Iov viewed as "moderate cubism". Also according to Iov, Vorel was masterful in his 1914 canvass The Card Players. By then, Vorel had met Max Beckmann, who drew his portrait in charcoal.Ciucă, pp. 85, 86 He was also in contact with Albert Bloch, an American member of Der Blaue Reiter. In 1910–1912 Vorel, Bloch and Hanns Bolz worked as cartoonists for a satirical magazine, Der Komet, which was probably conceived of in Munich's Café Stefanie; the editor was anarchist writer Erich Mühsam, who regularly played chess with Vorel.Baron, pp. 11, 14–15, 19 It was as a result of Vorel's intercession that Der Komet also published cartoons by another Romanian, Nicolae Mantu.Corneliu Stoica, "Dicționar – Artiști plastici gălățeni (65). Mantu, Nicolae", in Dunărea de Jos, Issue 129, November 2012, p. 41 He was in contact with another co-national, and fellow student, Nicolae Tonitza, and, as Comarnescu argues, greatly influenced Tonitza's own approach to art.V. Talpa, "Viața cărților. Petru Comarnescu, N. N. Tonitza", in Steaua, Vol. XIV, Issue 8, August 1963, p. 60 The two men were sharing a studio, and were photographed in it, in or around 1910. Their Romanian friends also included painter Grigore Negoșanu and aviation pioneer Aurel Vlaicu.
Vorel was at the time dating cabaret singer Maria "Mucki" Berger (or Bergé).Baron, p. 15. See also Ciucă, p. 86 In these circles, Vorel also met Marcel Duchamp, who lived close to his home on Blütenstrasse. This encounter, mediated by painter "Max Bergmann" (identified by Ciucă as Beckmann), may have helped to radicalize Duchamp's vision on art.Baron, pp. 11–12, 15 Later in the 1910s, Bloch and Vorel were close friends; they visited each other's studios and drew portraits of one other,Baron, pp. 8, 12–13, 29 with Bloch becoming one of the main recipients of Vorel's canvasses (granted to him as gifts).
Although Vorel ultimately refused to join any particular group of artists, his work shares common traits with that of several German Expressionists—including George Grosz,Grigorescu (1970), pp. 216–217 & (1980) pp. 438–439 Otto Dix,Amelia Pavel, "Meridiane. Centenar Otto Dix", in România Literară, Issue 50/1990, p. 22 and Oskar Kokoschka.Nicolae, p. 63 Many of his paintings are satirical in theme, and center on grotesque caricatures of bourgeois society or its entertainers.I. Cristian, "Expoziție de inedite", in Ateneu, Vol. 12, Issue 8, October 1975, p. 11Grigorescu (1970), pp. 216, 217 & (1980), pp. 438–439 Most of them are painted in gouache, and are dominated by blue, grey, and violet tones.Grigorescu (1970), p. 217 His main stylistic choice was contrasted by works depicting his home region: concentrating on wider compositions and landscapes which included more emotional portraits of peasants and artisans, he made use of lighter tones of color.Constantin Dănciuloiu, "Expoziția de pictură", in Avântul, Issue 175/1939, pp. 1–2Grigorescu (1970), p. 217 & (1980), p. 439 Journalist Constantin Dănciuloiu found these works to be reminiscent of two classical painters, Jean-Baptiste Greuze and Nicolae Grigorescu; another reviewer, I. Cristian, suggests that they were characterized mostly by a "tarnished" palette of "worn-down vegetation". An "exotic note" was only reached in his Portret de femeie ("A Woman's Portrait"), which, Cristian argues, had echoes from Paul Gauguin.
Final years