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Dumitru Radulescu

(b. 1942) lives and works in Bucharest, Romania
Object II, 1973
stoneware, 8.5 x 23.25 inches, 93.39.209

In the spring of 1971, under the auspices of the International Academy of Ceramics, the Tennessee Arts Commission pledged its support for the promotion and establishment of the U.S. International Ceramic Symposiums. The Symposium’s mission to help develop a worldwide network of support for ceramic art was achieved by bringing together top ceramic artists from around the world for a month-long sharing of ideas and creation of innovative ceramics.

     

Left: Radulescu constructing Object I. Right: Object I, 1973, stoneware, 33.5 x 15 x 11 inches, 93.39.24 Additional images below

Radulescu represented Romania at the First U.S. International Ceramic Symposium, which consisted of twenty-five artists from thirteen different countries, and was hosted in the summer of 1973 at the Memphis Academy of Art. While participating in the symposium he made several large stoneware works as well as some smaller raku work, all of which explore organic shapes and texture. His large pieces feature large grooves that are developed by using a slab-on-slab building technique.

A graduate of the National University of Arts in Bucharest, Radulescu has participated in ceramic symposiums across France, Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Romania, and more. He is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics and of the Plastic Arts Artist Union in Romania, and has been given awards by each. In 2004, he was given the honor of being decorated by the President of Romania with the nation’s prestigious Cultural Merit Order. He has work in many collections, including the National Contemporary Arts Museum in Romania and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In recent years he has been wheelchair bound due to paresis, but continues to remain active in the arts.

Dumitru’s concern in his work is to freeze a moment in nature through form. He achieves this concept by making an object in natural form as it grows and then cutting through it to expose the natural and organic growth. He relies on the three dimensional form of his piece to speak rather than the use of colorful glazes.  – 1973 International Ceramic Symposium catalogue

Written by Aiden Layer, TN Arts Intern

     

Left: Object V, 1973, stoneware, 8.75 x 8.25 x 2 inches, 93.39.75  Right: Bow 14 X 6, 1973, stoneware, porcelain, 5.25 x 3.5 x 2.75 inches, 93.39.100