Naïve Art in Șcheii Brașovului
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The folk artisan Mr Cornel Sculean has tried several crafts along the way, from egg painting to sculpture and painting of icons on glass. Originally from the Scheii Brasovului neighbourhood, Mr Cornel Sculean continued to further specialize in the iconography field, as he "could not reach to the wood`s soul". Unlike other icon painters, he started working with old patterns of icons, that he redrew in a more systematic and artistic manner, creating the first drawn icon the same way as craftsmen used to do hundreds of years ago. His first icon drawing depicted "the Annunciation".
Creating his Own Artwork
"Most of the icon painters copy the icon pattern and reproduce it as it is with its colours faded, as it appears in the catalogue. With a passion for poetry and journalism, for me reproduction is the same thing as plagiarism. One cannot paint an icon and then put the year 1700 on it, otherwise I would think it as a forgery. All my icons are original pieces of art that I myself made and that are not found in the catalogue except for those from Schei which are still not identical. I have done a lot of research work with respect to the Transylvanian peasants working in the trade of icon painting. The subject matter of their drawings was their native village. Besides the images of the saints, they also depicted here and there a house, a church, the figure of a peasant, as they existed in their villages." said Mr. Cornel Sculean.
A Monograph through Iconography
In addition to the explanations given above, the artisan also said that the icons from Transylvania were monographs of the Transylvanian village. It is in many instances that the Romanian peasant depicted the Virgin Mary wearing the Romanian folk costume. There are several paintings where the Mother of Jesus wears a gold coin necklace as the Schei women used to wear in the past when dressed in folk costumes. Such icons can still be seen in the The First Romanian School Museum from Scheii Brasovului.
Icons from Tara Barsei (the Burzenland)
"The icons painted in the Burzenland are made with a three-colour background, often symbolising the flag or the main chromatic colours: red, yellow and blue. This way the Transylvanian icon was given patriotic nuances. Everything that I have said here can be found in my icons. I have tried to keep the spirit of the peasant painter that lived a few hundred years ago. I also make live demonstrations in my workshops where I show the method of image writing in black, the writing of shadows and lights, colour filling, the application of gold leaf, and I also tell the story of the icon in question." also said Mr Cornel Sculean.
Contact details: artatraditionata@gmail.com, Phone: 0741.171.780
