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05/06/2011 11:51 Art in Romania by Teresa Howard Page 1 of 2 http://www.londongrip.com/LondonGrip/Art_in_Romania_by_Teresa_Howard.html The Arts in Romania Teresa Howard reports for London Grip on the regeneration of the arts in Romania and the re-establishment of ancient Cantacuzino family ties. It seems that destruction doesn’t have the longevity of creativity. It’s something - _____________________________________________ IN THE BLOOD by Teresa Howard _____________________________________________ photographs of artworks by Andrei Margulescu In Romania there is a new wave of artists and facilitators who have just begun to revive the country’s artistic life, both new and historical. On 1 January 2007 Romania gained entry into the European Union and with it came €30 billion of EU money to spend on modernizing projects. At the same time, along with Luxembourg, Transylvanian Sibiu was designated European Capital of Culture for 2007. As a result, Romania, on the surface at least, is being transformed. Much of the new blood infusing this cultural transformation comes from Romanians born abroad or, in one sense or another, returning home. They are bringing back their skills and knowledge to breathe new life into the country which they or their parents and grandparents once left for political reasons, if they were able to. The city centre of Sibiu has been polished and pedestrianised, its architecture and ancient art restored, and in various parts of Romania, new galleries and craft enterprises are under way. For instance, a Netherlands Architectural Group, Drosa, has transformed the ashes and rubble of the Old Palace in Bucharest into a national Museum of Art - which includes a room dedicated to the work of Brancusi. And everywhere, smaller venues are springing up. An example was the November 2007 show at the modernised vaults of Bucharest’s Liberia Carturesti. Called Legături de Sânge (“In the Blood”), this was an exhibition of the work of British-born artist Ilinca Cantacuzino and the work of her Romanian grandfather, George Matei Cantacuzino (1899- 1960). Although he exhibited his work all his life, the paintings selected for this exhibition had never been shown before. G.M. Cantacuzino was an artist, architect, writer, thinker, and university professor of architecture and drawing; and he was born into a family tree which goes back a thousand years. As a result he became one of those unable to avoid the communist assault mounted against minority groups whose existence contradicted Communist ideology. In his case, for being an aristocrat, he was imprisoned from 1948 to 1953 and was forbidden to leave the country when released. His wife and children were in England in ’48 and thus escaped incarceration. In the 1970s his books were on the Romanian list of banned works and even to date most are not in print. The book accompanying the exhibition, Moldavie…tout ce que j’aime, contains 99 of his watercolours, Moldavian scenes of the land he loved. Shortly before he died he donated these paintings to the Central Universal Library of Iaşi. The editor, Dan S. Stoica, writes that they testify to his “love of the city”, its “facades, turrets, walls, corners of the countryside, all evoking a particular atmosphere” of the mid-twentieth century. Cantacuzino wrote, “Drawing is thought, painting is dream: it is a way of dreaming with your eyes open, always keeping watch. Beauty is born out of this watchfulness.” His son, Ilinca’s father, is Serban Cantacuzino, a prominent London-based architect and writer, honoured in Britain. He is also an important figure in revivifying interest in Romania’s cultural history. He founded the wide-reaching Pro Patrimonio, an organisation dedicated to conserving and restoring the Romanian architectural and natural heritage, and reviving the country’s traditional crafts and building skills. Ilinca Cantacuzino, in making works which speak to the 16th century Cozia church fresco of ancestors of the Cantacuzino family Photographs of political prisoners held between 1948- 1953. Close-up of G.M.Cantacuzino (below) Landscapes in oil . G.M.Cantacuzino (above and below) VIDEO CLIP on Romanian Television about the Cantacuzino exhibition - click on http://www.tvr.ro/articol.php?id=21565&c=67 HOME CONTENTS PAGE LONDON GRIP international cultural magazine _______________ ARCHIVES ART EXHIBITIONS ON LONDON GRIP: James N. Butcher Watercolours: A Late- Life Adventure Charles Girdham Photography Adam Hahn Portraits in oil David Hirschowitz Photography Michael Horovitz Retrospective Art Exhibition Phillip Kotokwa Sculpture from Zimbabwe Zygmunt Nowak-Solinski Photography Cathy MacAulay- Cornish installation: Walking in Bloomsbury Jacques Touitou Paintings Sandra Walker, R.I. Watercolours _______________ EXHIBITION REVIEWS Michael Davenport reviews SEDUCED at the Barbican Art Gallery Teresa Howard in ROMANIA: on George Matei Cantacuzino and Ilinca Cantacuzino Duncan Prowse Hadrian & Babylon at the British Museum Ruth Rosengarten Painting & Photography Storm Thorgerson, maker of Pink Floyd’s image _______________ THE WRITTEN WORD Seeargh Macaulay The Trouble with Lingo Michael Davenport Two poems for our times _______________ FILM, THEATRE, MUSIC Helen Donlon on female sexuality in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia and Body Double Helen Donlon on film director Philippe Garrel Helen Donlon on Ibiza • opening season • mid-season • closing season Helen Donlon on Savage Grace Patricia Morris reviews Redacted - Brian de Palma’s latest film on Iraq Pamela Nomvete interviewed by Jessica Campbell B.J.Rahn on Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream _______________ POLITICS, ECONOMICS & SOCIETY AFRICA João de Pina-Cabral L O N D O N G R I P . . . ART
