Dimitrie Știubei

Dimitrie Știubei was a painter and commander of the Royal Romanian Navy under the Kings Ferdinand I and Carol II, whom he also portrayed. Influenced by his older brother, also a naval officer, he attended the Naval School in Constanța to become one of its first graduates in 1924.

Through his wife, Știubei came into contact with royal circles and was appointed Royal Adjutant in 1932. He also worked in the studio of his mentor, the painter Jean Alexandru Steriadi (1880-1956), and in 1929 spent a year studying at the Knirr School of Painting in Munich.

In 1945, after the fall of the king, he was appointed director of the Military Museum in București. After abandoning his military career in the following year, Știubei devoted himself exclusively to painting. After the transition to communism, he successfully continued his artistic career and became a member of the Union of Fine Artists in 1948.

Știubei had numerous solo exhibitions at home and abroad and is said to have produced more than 700 paintings. He created paintings, frescoes, tapestries, illustrations, posters, and interiors of ships. With the knowledge of a naval officer, he became known primarily as a painter of the seas.

Although Știubei was influenced by Impressionism, his pictures were mostly realistic. He created monumental artworks for numerous public buildings and designed stamps for the Romanian Post Office. In 1969, he was the first Romanian artist to receive the Vermeil Medal of the “Arte-Science-Lettres” Society for his designs. In 1937, he had already been appointed Knight of the Legion of Honor. In 1975, he emigrated to Germany, and as a result, he was not allowed to exhibit in his homeland for 15 years and was largely forgotten.

His gouache Olympic Dinghy competition, presented in 1952, could be the design for the stamp Concurs cu ambarcatiuni (Boat race), published in 1948 and designed by Știubei. It was the lowest nominal (2 + 2 lei) of a series of four motifs with ships.