Romfilatelia introduces into circulation on Monday, October 23rd, 2023, the issue of postage stamps Romanian contemporary artists. Ștefan Câlția, bringing to the attention of collectors and lovers of beauty, one of the most important art creators of the moment.
Ștefan Câlția’s biography is reflected in his artistic activity through his place, training and education. Ștefan Câlția was born on 15 May 1942 in Brașov, being the second of Paraschiva and Aurel’s six children. In 1944, the family moved to Făgăraș, so he often spent his childhood in Șona, in the house next to the church, with his grandmother Eudochia.
The painter’s artistic training is built at the High School of Fine Arts and Music in Timișoara, with the graphic artist Julius Podlipny as his teacher (1955-1963), and under the guidance of Corneliu Baba at the “Nicolae Grigorescu” Institute of Fine Arts (1964-1970). In 1992, Ștefan Câlția became a professor at the Academy of Arts in Bucharest, in the painting department, together with other colleagues. From 1992 to 1996 he was dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, and after 1996, head of the Painting Department at the same university.
With the establishment of the “Posibilă Gallery” in the early 2000s, she has held a series of exhibitions in art museums in the country and beyond (Bucharest, Timișoara, Iași, Cluj, Chișinău, etc.). Since 2013, the artist has been involved, together with “Posibilă Gallery” and the Village Association “Șona Noastră”, in strengthening the community of the village of Șona.
Ștefan Câlția›s works evoke the charm of the worldly order of things. The beauty of the blue that the painter sees on the hills of his childhood is also reflected in his works. His parents’ house, as well as other architectural monuments erected in Șona, become a major motif in Câlția’s painting: “Home is your place, the place where you feel protected because you are surrounded by objects, but especially in your home you are surrounded by your dreams.” The blue barn, a painting reproduced on the stamp with the face value of 3.50 lei, occupies a special place in the Blue House in Șona, Făgăraș.
In the work White Sky (2016), reproduced on the stamp with the face value of Lei 35 within the souvenir sheet of the issue, the chromatic freshness of the house complements the universal symmetry and harmonizes the relationship with the earthy brown. The self-portrait of the painter Ștefan Câlția is also depicted in the souvenir sheet of the issue. For The Singer and the Blue House (2014), work illustrated on the stamp with the face value of Lei 1.60, we sense an integrity of the surrounding universe and, with it, a sense of the timelessness of the present. Memories with the Moon (2014), painting depicted on the stamp with the face value of Lei 24, evokes the synthesis of a universe seen as a metaphor for the world, a theatre stage performed by its actors, a living organism that preserves memories and transforms with the human being.
Romfilatelia thanks the Ștefan Câlția Foundation for the documentary support granted to the development of this issue of postage stamps.
