Céline Emilian (1898–1983) was a French-born Romanian sculptor, notable for her portrait work.

Biography

Emilian was born in Paris to Romanian parents and trained as a sculptor in the Paris studio of

Antoine Bourdelle Antoine Bourdelle (; 30 October 1861 – 1 October 1929), born Émile Antoine Bordelles, was an influential and prolific French sculptor and teacher. He was a student of Auguste Rodin, a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, and an important ...

in the early 1920s. She worked as an assistant to Bourdelle for some time before moving to Romania. Emilian would return to Paris each year to work, but also established a studio in Rome, and regularly exhibited at the

Salon des Artistes Francais The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

from 1930 onwards. Emilian represented Romania at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

in both 1934 and 1936 and created relief sculptures for the Romanian Pavilion at the Paris International Exhibition of 1937. Retrospectives of her work were held at

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

's Stalin Park during 1957 and at Sala Dalles in 1979. The latter exhibition contained some 132 sculptures, including her portrait busts of

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

, Alfred Cortot,

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...

and a statue of

Elena Ceaușescu Elena Ceaușescu (; born Lenuța Petrescu; 7 January 1916 – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician who was the wife of Nicolae Ceaușescu, General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party and leader of the Socialist Republic o ...

. During her career Emilian also created portraits of Bourdelle,

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the Pa ...

, made bas-reliefs for the Eglise St. Remy at

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

and was commissioned to produce 20 statues of former Romanian queens for a Bucharest park. Her 1930 bronze work, ''Angela'' is in the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

collection in London.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emilian, Céline 1898 births 1983 deaths 20th-century Romanian sculptors 20th-century Romanian women sculptors Sculptors from Paris Romanian expatriates in France