autoportret is an exhibition in three parts focusing on the expressive qualities of paintings made by women from the Carpathian region over the past century until today. From the works of Grete Csaki-Copony (1893–1990) and Lucia Demetriade Balacescu (1895–1979) in the beginning of the 20th century to new paintings of contemporary artists Diana Cepleanu (*1957) and Tincuta Marin (*1995), the exhibition brings together works by artists connected not only through geography, but also through a strong and expressive approach to painting.

The title of the exhibition autoportret (self-portrait) delves beyond the human image frequently depicted in the paintings, extending its meaning to encompass the intimate perspective of the world reflected in each artist's work. It comprises a personal gaze on immediate surroundings that carries a universal validity.

The retrospective examination of Central and Eastern Europe from the past century unveils a rich tapestry of powerful women artists. This perspective challenges the conventional centre of (gender-)discussions focusing on the suitability for a male-dominated Western canon. Instead, it suggests the potential for an infinite geographical expansion of remarkable women artists and for the possibility of many other art historical canons.

With a view to the historical underrepresentation of women artists due to societal norms and cultural constructions, the exhibition aims to demonstrate through a focused regional examination that there have always been exceptional women artists who have often been relegated to the shadows of history. The contemporary challenge lies in illuminating these overlooked figures and acknowledging their significant contributions to the art world.

In her works, Diana Cepleanu (1957 Bucharest, Romania) processes impressions from her surroundings, reflecting on her sujets from a personal and intimate perspective. The core of the exhibition revolves around the concept of family, with numerous works portraying her children and husband, executed in a precise technique of applying paint without adding extra layers later—a method influenced by the artist's constrained time for painting during her years as a young mother in the 1990s. The artist's daughter, Ioana Ionescu, remembers about that time: 'When I was sitting as model, there was a complete silence. I was watching as she was totally absorbed by trying to find the right colour that she had been preparing for a long time. I saw as the knife added a tiny amount of colour in the mix on the palette again and again without me being able to realise when the colour was changing. I saw only the back of the canvas, not the front, and noticed how the small brushstrokes gathered next to each other, completing the image. I had a burgundy dress that my mother had made especially for the portrait, and I thought the painting will represent an ideal image of me. I was very surprised when I noticed that the work was not idealising, but was following reality closely, however it was not as uniform as a photograph. I did not understand exactly how my mother did the selection; what she would borrow from reality or not and what was her reference that she would look at so certain? Sometimes I noticed how in the portraits there was a sill or a window that would betray the image of the neighbouring block of flats that I detested and which I imagined my mother would hide. She would not avoid it, but she did not paint things as they were either; she carefully arranged the setting, the model, and garments. A ritual of portraits that took a long time to do started from this entire scenography. I would sit as model for a few sessions, afterwards the dress would replace me because my mother built a 'mannequin' so she could paint the folds for a long time. The studio moved from one room to another, from a member of the family to the next, traveling like a caravan.'

Born 1893 in Zarnesti, Transylvania, on the Eastern border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire with Romania, Grete Csaki-Copony studied art in Brasov, Dresden, München, Budapest, Paris, and Berlin, where she ultimately settled and lived for most of her life until 1990, with some years spent on the Greek island of Aegina. The soft hills preceding the rugged Carpathian Mountains and picturesque villages of Transylvania were a constant source for Csaki-Copony during her long career, acting as a background for many of her works, in which 'only the scene in the foreground would change'¹, as the artist herself explained. With the support of an art-loving family, Csaki-Copony received the best education possible for a woman in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. Her studies at the Women Artists in Berlin Association school between 1910-13 marked the beginning of her connection with the vibrant modern art scene of the German capital, and culminated in the participation in the large exhibitions of women painters in the 1920s and 30s.

Csaki-Copony pursued her dedication to art while juggling family life as a young mother of two in the early 1930s. A symbolic work from that period is Self-portrait at Segal (ca. 1931-32). Most probably an exercise made during her classes at the painting school of Arthur Segal in Berlin, it is an example of her talent and strength. Obliquely gazing at the viewers while painting her reflection in the mirror, here is the artist owning her time, focusing on herself and her art. Portraits of family members or close friends from the art scene, anonymous peasant women and children share Csaki-Copony's powerful style of painting paired with a passionate spirit of observation capturing with equal intensity the atmosphere of interwar Berlin and rural Transylvania.

Despite the tragedy of her husband dying in a plane crash in 1943, her work being labelled as 'degenerate' during the Third Reich and the dramatic events of the II. World War, Csaki-Copony never gave up on art. The drawings—some verging on the abstract, as noted by critic Günther Ott—that she persistently made from the 1950s until the end of her life act as a testament to her commitment. The spontaneous drawings in ballpoint pen were created with an acute sensibility and capacity to convey essential human emotions, as in the expressive scenes reminding of a Pietà.

It is as if painting and drawing were Csaki-Copony's lifeline for almost a century.

Diana Cepleanu (1957 in Bucharest, Romania) lives and works in Bucharest. Selected exhibitions include: Lutnita, Chisinau (2023); Voyage dans la couleur (Journey in Color), Vila Magdalena, Nice (2020); Galeria Anticariat Curtea Veche, Bucharest (solo exhibitions, 2019 and 2014); Predeluț 4 - Arcus Cultural Center, Sf. Gheorghe (2019); Pentimento - 5th International Biennial of The Art of Miniature, Ruse (2015); Pictori olteni de ieri şi de azi, Muzeul de Artă, Târgu Jiu (2010); Volare (Fly), Desenzano del Garda (2010); EMOZIONI TRA CIELO E MARE (Emotions between sky and sea), Il Gazebo di Gaeta (2010); I ritrattisti (The Portraitists), Il Borgo Gallery, Milan (2009); Pictori peisagisti în grădina Palatului Cotroceni, Galeria Muzeului Național Cotroceni, Bucharest (2007); Pictura ca murmur, Galeria Anticariat Curtea Veche, Bucharest (2007); Chipuri de pictori, Galeriile Artexpo, Bucharest (1996).

Grete Csaki-Copony (*1893 Zarnesti, Romania – 1990 Berlin, Germany) lived and worked in Germany, Greece and Romania. Selected exhibitions include: Landschaft und Gesicht, Das Verborgene Museum, Berlin (2014); Malerei im 20. Jahrhundert, Neues Schloss, Kißlegg (2002-2004); Profession ohne Tradition, Martin Gropius-Bau, Berlin (1992); Blumen, Gärten, Paradiese, Kleine Orangerie Schloß Charlottenburg, Berlin (1989); Verein der Berliner Künstlerinnen, Berlin (1989, 1987, 1985, 1982, 1981, 1978, 1974, 1973, 1942, 1932, 1931, 1930, 1927); Siebenbürgisch-sächsische Künstler der Gegenwart, Galerie Kubus, Hannover (1986); Große Retrospektiv-Ausstellung anlässlich des 90. Geburtstages, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin (1984); Bund Bildender Künstlerinnen in Württemberg, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart (1966); Goethe Institut, Athens (1958); Hildegard Rath, Grete Csaki-Copony, Gustav Uecker, Kunsthaus Schaller, Stuttgart (1941); Grete Csaki-Copony and Oskar Gawell, Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin (1935); Grete Csaki-Copony, Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu (1932); Grete Csaki-Copony, Athenaeum, Bucharest (1932, 1930); Große Kunst-Ausstellung, Schloß Bellevue, Berlin (1931). Selected public collections: Berlinische Galerie, Berlin; Siebenbürgisches Museum, Gundelsheim; Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu; Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg; Kunsthalle, Schweinfurt.

Part II

****Lucia Demetriade Balacescu, Doina Hordovan, Tincuta Marin, Georgeta Naparus, Silvia Radu, Maria Urszinyi, Ecaterina Vrana

26 January–2 March 24

Opening: 26 January, 6–9 pm

Part III

****Ioana Batranu, Valentina Rusu Ciobanu

7 March–6 April 24

Opening: 7 March, 6–9 pm

Press release courtesy Galeria Plan B.