Romanian Sculptor Ion Irimescu dies at age 102, in Falticeni, a northern Moldavian small town, where he lived for the last part of his life.

Irimescu is considered one of the great innovators in modern sculpture.

Most part of his work can be found today in the Ion Irimescu Museum in Falticeni.

Romanian sculptor, draughtsman and teacher. He studied from 1924 to 1928 at the Fine Arts School, Bucharest , under Dimitrie Paciurea. He made his début at the Official Salon in Bucharest for painting and sculpture, becoming a regular participant there. In 1929 he received a scholarship to the Romanian School at Fontenay aux Roses in France and exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris ; in the following year he studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière under Joseph Bernard. Until 1933 he participated at the Salon d'Automne and Salon du Printemps in Paris , receiving in 1932 the Honorary Mention of the Société des Artistes Français. He returned to Romania in 1934, and from 1937 he took part regularly at the exhibitions of Tinerimea Artistica (The young artists), a society founded in 1901 that included the most prominent Romanian artists; in 1938 he became an associate member of the society. Between 1940 and 1950 he was professor of sculpture at the Fine Arts Academy in Iasi , and from 1950 he was a professor at the Institute of Fine and Decorative Art 'Ion Andreescu' in Cluj-Napoca . Irimescu became well known not only for his large- and small-scale portrait busts, but also for the neutral stance that he took as an 'official' artist during the years of communist domination. Although he was able to adapt to the requirements of Socialist Realism, he responded to its abolition by a new creative phase, in which he developed a vegetal morphology inspired by his own calligraphic drawings and the malleability of ceramics. Although Irimescu produced many sculptures in stone, conceived for and erected in public spaces, he concentrated more on modeling and on small-scale sculptures.

In 1975 a was established in Falticeni with a substantial donation from the artist.

The museum building is a historic monument, dating from the middle of the 19th century and had various destinations until 1974, when it was given to the art museum. In 1974 the sculptor Ion Irimescu took the initiative to establish the museum, at first as a department of the Town Museum and made some donations. Later the value of the collection grew, currently being the richest author collection, and in 1991 a museum emerged. It comprises the most representative works by the sculptor Ion Irimescu: over 300 sculptures and 1000 drawings: portraits, compositions, monument project carried out in the rondebosse or alterorelief technique, in gypsum, wood, terracotta, marble, bronze works of graphics especially donated to the museum by the author.

Source: http://www.artfact.com/features/viewArtist.cfm?aID=43312 and http://www.cimec.ro/scripts/muzee/iden.asp?k=561