Ion Jalea was a Romanian sculptor, born on May 19th 1887 in Casimcea, Tulcea. He was also a member of the Romanian Academy and one of the most respected Romanian artists of the 20th century, mainly due to his influential and original style, interesting choice of themes and subjects and the success that his exhibitions experienced, both in his country and abroad.
After graduating from the School of Arts and Crafts, in 1908, Ion Jalea enrolled at the Fine Arts Academy in Bucharest, where he had the opportunity of studying under Frederik Storck and Dimitrie Paciurea, further perfecting his style and training in Paris, at the Julian Academy. It was here that he worked in the studio of Antoine Bourdelle, who would prove to be a big influence on him. Returning to his home country, he continued working and exhibiting, and it wasn't very long for him to make himself noticed. His interesting style, his prolific way of creating, the number and quality of his works made him a successful artist, known by many art critics and collectors.
He received several important prizes and distinctions over the course of his career, ranging from the Grand Prize at the International Exhibition in Paris and Barcelona to the National Sculpture Prize in Romania in 1941 or the State Prize in 1957. In 1956 he was the president of the UAP in Romania.
Ion Jalea is best remembered today as a prolific and hard working artist, as over the years he produced a number of busts, statues, monuments, reliefs and other compositions, a number which is sheer impressive. His style is rather classical in it's essence, marked by the search for equilibrium and proportions, as well as incorporating mythological and folk, phantastical elements. He was also very much drawn towards historical compositions, as he created statues of Decebal or Mircea cel Batran, he made several busts of key Romanian personalities - Spiru Haret, George Enescu - and also made some historical compositions that were very appreciated by the Communist regime.
At the same time he made several alegorical compositions, which were both strange and beautiful and were installed in major Romanian cities, such as Hercules Fighting the Centaur or the Fall of Angels. Most of his smaller compositions can be admired today at the Ion Jalea Museum in Constanta, a key cultural objective of the city. Hosted inside an interwar villa, built by the architect Pariano, the museum has in it's collection over 120 works, with various themes, which were donated by the artist himself.
