Natalia DUMITRESCO (1915-1997)

Natalia Dumitresco (or Dumitresco) was born in Bucarest in 1915 and passed away in Chars in 1997.

After having studied at the Beaux-Arts of Bucharest, Natalia Dumitresco married Alexandre Istrati in 1947. She worked and exhibited in Romania for 7 years, before she left for Paris in 1947. Upon arrival in Paris, their compatriot, the sculptor Constantin Brancusi, welcomed the couple. At first very constructivist, her work was in perpetual evolution evoking built structures, urban plans and aerial views. Ranging from rigorous constructions with sober tones (sometimes simply black and white to airy and colorful canvases), the line always predominates. Friends till the end, Brancusi made the couple executors of his will and they share today a grave in the cemetery of Montparnasse in Paris.

Personal exhibitions : 1954 – Galerie Arnaud, Paris 1964 – Galerie Hilt, Bâle 1965 – Galerie Margarete Lauter, Bâle 1968 – Galerie Raeber, Lucerne 1969 – Galerie Daniel Gervis, Paris 1970 – Galerie Cavalero, Cannes 1974 – Galerie Raymonde Cazenave, Paris 1975 – Galerie Cavalero, Cannes 1978 – Galerie Cavalero, Cannes 

Group exhibitions : 1955 – Prix Kandinsky (lauréate) 1956 – Divergences, Galerie Arnaud, Paris 1957 – Prix des Amateurs et Collectionneurs d’Art 1959 – PrixCarnegie, Pittsburgh ; Ecole de Paris, Galerie Charpentier 1961 – Dumitresco / Istrati, Hanover Gallery, Londres ; Ecole de Paris, Galerie Charpentier 1962 – Dumitresco / Istrati / Maria Papa, Galerie XXème siècle ; Dumitresco / Istrati, Galerie Leonhart, Munich ; Ecole de Paris, Galerie Charpentier 1963 – Dumitresco / Istrati, Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim 1981 – Dumitresco / Istrati, Galerie Tokoro, Tokyo 1985 – Dumitresco / Istrati, Artcurial, Paris 1987 – Dumitresco / Istrati, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris 1991 – Dumitresco / Istrati,Maison des Arts Georges Pompidou, Carjac 

Museums :  Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes Musée Rolin, Autun Musée Picasso, Antibes Bibliographie – Dumitresco, Michel Seuphor, Art d’Aujourd’hui, no 4-5, 1954 – Natalia Dumitresco, XXème Siècle, 1960 – Natalia Dumitresco, Denys Chevalier, Galerie Cavalero, 1970 – Les prix Kandinsky 1946-1961, Galerie Denise René, 1975 – Natalia Dumitresco, Jacques Dopagne, Galerie Cavalero, 1978 – Natalia Dumitresco, Alexandre Istrati, Brancusi, Pontus Hulten, FIammarion, 1986 – Istrati, Dumitresco : une histoire de peintres : Dominique Le Buhan, Artcurial, 1989 – Dumitresco / Istrati, Patrick-Gilles Persin, Revue Cimaise no 204, 1990

Bibliography : Dumitresco, Michel Seuphor, Art d’Aujourd’hui, no 4-5, 1954 – Natalia Dumitresco, XXème Siècle, 1960 – Natalia Dumitresco, Denys Chevalier, Galerie Cavalero, 1970 – Les prix Kandinsky 1946-1961, Galerie Denise René, 1975 – Natalia Dumitresco, Jacques Dopagne, Galerie Cavalero, 1978 – Natalia Dumitresco, Alexandre Istrati, Brancusi, Pontus Hulten, FIammarion, 1986 – Istrati, Dumitresco : une histoire de peintres : Dominique Le Buhan, Artcurial, 1989 – Dumitresco / Istrati, Patrick-Gilles Persin, Revue Cimaise no 204, 1990

In 2024, as part of the exhibition “InformELLEs: Women Artists and Art Informel in the 1950s/60” the HESSEN KASSEL HERITAGE museum presents one of the most important works by Natalia Dumitresco “As the viewing angle shifts”.

In 2025, another painting by the artist loaned by the gallery to the Museum Kusthalle Recklinghausen appears in the exhibition “The beginning: radical innovation”.