Gabriel Stephanescu-Arephy, Arlechin, mixed technique, 66×50 cm

Gabriel Stephanescu-Arephy (1893-1975), the son of George Stephanescu (the founder of the Romanian Opera) and his wife, the mezzo-soprano Alexandrina Gavalla, was born in Bucharest in October 1893. To his name he proudly added the particle “Arephy”, after the name of the place in Arges county, where the family’s summer residence was, Arefu Mansion.

In Bucharest he was the pupil of Vermont and Demetrascu-Mirea, and later his internships as a young painter were held in Geneva and Paris (the workshop of Ferdinand Hodler and the Free Academy of Andre Lhote).

A frequent participant in the visual life in Paris, he exhibited his works in the official salons of the French artists and in the Salons of the Independents in France. He was a founding member, in 1921, of the Fine Arts Syndicate and Society of the Salon of Independents in Paris, starting in 1928.