Portrait of a Woman

Eustațiu Stoenescu was but an ephemeral presence in the artistic milieu of inter-war Romania. A member of the social elite, with an aura of mystery and a poetic elegance which enveloped him, he became a remarkable portrait painter whose models were personalities of the time. Aged only sixteen, he left for Paris together with Nicolae Titulescu, the future minister of foreign affairs, who, at that time, was studying law in Paris. Stoenescu attended the Julien Academy and the National School of Fine Arts, where Camil Ressu, Jean Al. Steriadi, S. Mützner, Nicolae Dărăscu were his colleagues and Jean-Paul Laurens his teacher. His aristocratic background and his perfect education helped him adapt to the severe formal climate and the academist norms and rules. He made his debut both in Paris, at „Societé des Artistes Français”, and in Craiova at the Exhibition of the Artistic Society “Theodor Aman”. It is now that he begins to paint the portraits of many cultural, artistic and political personalities, such as: professor Jean Paul Laurens, the painter ?tefan Popescu, the architect H. Delavrancea-Gibory, professor ?tefan Minovici, professor Papillot, the writer Panait Istrati, the actress Andronescu, King Ferdinand, Queen Mary, King Michael, the politician I.C. Brătianu etc. He opened several exhibitions at Charpentier Gallery in Paris, at “Ileana” in Bucharest, then in the USA in Chicago, New York and San Francisco.