Tudor Cataraga (born 4 August 1956 in Seliște – 27 December 2010) was a sculptor from the Republic of Moldova.[1]

This article contains too many or overly lengthy quotations for an encyclopedic entry. (July 2017)

Tudor Cataraga
Tudor Cataraga, Knight of the National Order of the Star of Romania, in the rank of Commander Photograph taken by Mihai Potârniche
Born	(1956-08-04)4 August 1956 Seliște, Nisporeni, Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
Died	27 December 2010(2010-12-27) (aged 54) Moldova
Nationality	Moldovan
Education	Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts
Occupation	Sculptor
Awards	Order of the Star of Romania

Biography

From 1981 to 1984, Cataraga was a student in the sculpture department at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts. As a graduate student at the same Institution (1989), he worked with Professor Sergey Kubasov. He became a member of the Union of Artists of Moldova in 1993 and of the International Association of Arts (IAA-UNESCO) in 1997. In 2000, he was named chair of the Sculpture Department of the Union of Artists of Moldova.^{[citation needed]} In 2011, Cataraga and his wife were killed in a car accident.[2]

Awards

• 1998 – The Prize of the Union of Plastic Artists from Romania for the sculpture The Man Bird (bronze, 36x19x12 cm, 1994). Now in the public collection of the Artists Union, Romania^{[citation needed]}
• 2000 – Medal "Mihai Eminescu", awarded by the President of Romania^{[citation needed]}
• 2001 – Order of the Star of Romania, Commander rank[3]
• Awarded the National prize of the Culture ministry^{[citation needed]}

About the artist

"...As a starting point for the understanding of the artist's repertory of shapes, I would suggest two monuments: Monument to Ion Dumeniuc, The Guarding Angel (stone, 1995, Central Orthodox Cemetery, Chișinău) and Mihai Eminescu (bronze, 1996, square of the "Mihai Eminescu" National Theatre), both of them representing visual arguments of a precise spiritual and historical identity.

The first monument is characteristic for the religious, spiritual aspect, always present in the sculptor's work. We can place the Guarding Angel project, first executed in baked clay and in a smaller form in 1990, into a larger family of works: Prayer (metal, 1991) and Sound of Sadness (baked clay, 1992). The "simplicity as a resolved complexity" Brancusi is an important key for the understanding of these works.

...for the monument to Mihai Eminescu, Tudor Cataraga selects only abstract principles, imagining a "cosmic" portrait of the national genius. Far more modern in visual expression, the sculptor is now free to play with three-dimensional elements and he conceives a rhythmical network that concentrates in the poet's figure /symbolic nucleus, without stirring the space, but comprimating. This second direction of his research, his playing with neo-expressionist forms can be seen in a series of his recent experimental works: The Woman-Crossbow (bronze, wood, 1994), The Man-Bird (bronze, granite, 1994), Motherhood (bronze, granite, 1998).

Tenacious in his research leading him from deductive to inductive thinking, without any disruption from his way, the sculptor's interest is gradually sliding to architectural constructions, and constructivism. The ever more pregnant abstract trend, the play with geometrical modules epitomise his fascination with the assemblage and with the rich relation "entity-detail": Genesis (wood, metal, 2000), Masterpiece (wood, metal, 2000). Tudor Cataraga, in his full artistic maturity, has the energy and the firm gesture of an inquisitive and attentive sculptor".[4]

Monumental Works

• 1990 Archeology, bronze and stone
• 1990 Manole the Builder, chamotte
• 1994 Guarding Angel, funeral monument dedicated to Ion Dumeniuc, stone, Chișinău, Moldova
• 1994 Woman-Crossbow, bronze and wood
• 1995 Levitation, bronze and wood
• 1995 Human bird, bronze
• 1996 Mihai Eminescu, bronze-granite, Chișinău, Moldova
• 2000 Medieval Throne, sandstone, Ungheni, Moldova
• 2001 Beginning and End, granite, Changchun World Sculpture Park, Changchun, Jilin province, China
• 2002 Meeting in space, wood-stone-metal, Ungheni, Moldova
• 2002 Rigid fluidity, funeral monument dedicated to Andrei Sârbu, Chișinău, Moldova
• 2004 Stephen III of Moldavia, stone, Nisporeni, Moldova
• 2005 Mihai Eminescu-bust, stone, Nisporeni, Moldova
• 2005 Meşterul Manole, stone, Criuleni, Moldova
• 2006 Dispersal in Time, stone, Ungheni, Moldova
• 2006 Dolmen, granite, Chișinău, Moldova
• 2006 Alexander I of Moldavia, bronze, Ialoveni, Moldova
• 2008 Leonardo Da Vince, stone, Technical University of Moldova
• 2008 Mihai Eminescu-bust, bronze, Iurceni, Moldova
• 2010 Alert Flying, graved stone stele dedicated to writer and diplomat Aurel Dragoș Munteanu, Buda village, Moldova
• 2010 Masa Raiului, mosaic-concrete, Sângeorz-Băi, Romania

Sculpture Camps

• 1992 Galda Moment, Alba-Iulia, Romania
• 1993 Nine Masters, George Apostu Art Center, Bacău, Romania
• 1993 Mold-Expo, Chișinău, Moldova
• 1997 First International Symposium of Bronze Sculpture, Chișinău, Moldova
• 1998 Second International Symposium of Bronze Sculpture, Chișinău, Moldova
• 2000, 2002, 2006 Stone Sculpture Symposium, Ungheni, Moldova
• 2001 International Sculpture Symposium, Changchun, Jilin province, China
• 2005 Stone Sculpture Symposium, Criuleni, Moldova
• 2008 Stone Sculpture Symposium, at Chișinău Technical University, Moldova
• 2009 Stone Sculpture Camp, Bran, Romania
• 2010 Sculpture Camp, Sângeorz-Băi, Romania

Personal exhibitions

• 1998 Gallery Latin America House, Bucharest, Romania
• 1999 Vasile Pogor Memorial House, Iași, Romania
• 2000 Parliament Hall, Bucharest, Romania
• 2003 Center Constantin Brâncuși, Chișinău, Moldova
• 2005 UNHCR, Chișinău, Moldova
• 2005 Art exhibition at OSCE Mission, Chișinău, Moldova
• 2006 National Museum of Art (MNAM), Chișinău, Moldova
• 2014 Cu pietate, in eternitate, in memory of Tudor Cataraga, curated by Tudor Braga (art critic), at the Exhibition Center Constantin Brâncuși, Chișinău, Moldova

Collective exhibitions

• 1986 Youth's Palace, Saint Petersburg, Russia
• 1987 Exhibition Center Saint Petersburg Manege, Russia
• 1988 Contemporary History and Civilization, Saint Petersburg, Russia
• 1989 Exhibition OHTA, Saint Petersburg, Russia
• 1989 Leningrad and its inhabitants, Saint Petersburg Manege, Russia
• 1989–2001 Moldova's Salon, Chișinău-Bacău-Bucharest
• 1990,1994 Spring Salon, Exhibition Center Constantin Brâncuși, Chișinău, Moldova
• 1990 The Disciples of Art Academy of USSR Saint Petersburg, Russia
• 1991 The Disciples of Art Academy of USS, Tbilisi, Georgia
• 1991,2001 Autumnala '91 Exhibition Center Constantin Brancuși, Chișinău, Moldova
• 1992 Limba Noastră, Exhibition Center Constantin Brâncuși, Chișinău, Moldova
• 1992–1993 Bassarabian Artists in Bucharest, Art-Expo, Bucharest, Romania
• 1995 Painting Exhibition, Düsseldorf, Germany
• 1996 Art Exhibition, Budapest, Hungary
• 1999 Art Exhibition, Strasbourg, France
• 2000 Parliament Hall Art Exhibition, Bucharest, Romania
• 2001–2010 December 1 – National Day of Romania, Chișinău, Moldova
• 2002 Sculpture Exhibition, Constantin Brâncuși Exhibition Center, Chișinău, Moldova
• 2002 Painting Exhibition, Leone, France
• 2003–2006 Orizont Eminescian, Constantin Brâncuși Exhibition Center, Chișinău, Moldova
• 2004 Art Exhibition at National Museum, Chișinău, Moldova
• 2005 Art Exhibition, Vilnius, Lithuania
• 2006 Exhibition TsDH, Moscow/Krimskiy Val, Russia
• 2006 Art from Republic of Moldova, Utrecht, Holland
• 2006 Emergenţă Sala Rotonda, Iași, Romania
• 2008 Exhibition Center Constantin Brâncuși, Chișinău, Moldova

Public collections

• National Art Museum of Moldova, Chișinău, Moldova
• Romanian Literature Museum, Chișinău, Moldova
• Romanian Literature Museum, Iași, Romania
• Moldova State University, Chișinău, Moldova
• Culture Center George Apostu, Bacău, Romania
• Artists Union of Romania, Constantin Brâncuși Exhibition Hall, Bucharest, Romania

References