Papers by Ioana (Savu) Gruiţă
Acta Mvsei Napocensis, 2023
The objects preserved in museum collections not only have remarkable aesthetic qualities but also... more The objects preserved in museum collections not only have remarkable aesthetic qualities but also reflect incredible life stories. This study examines a book part of the History of Pharmacy Collection in the National Museum of Transylvanian History. Apart from its age, being published in 1596, our attention was drawn to the annotations. Throughout the following pages, we aim to provide a concise overview of the history of the pharmaceutical book collection and introduce the background of this particular book.
Brukenthal Ars et Historia, Simpozionul Internațional Anual Ars et Historia, al Muzeului Național Brukenthal, 2023
Studiul de față cuprinde o parte din cercetarea mea doctorală și aduce
în atenție un document pe... more Studiul de față cuprinde o parte din cercetarea mea doctorală și aduce
în atenție un document pe care l-am descoperit în arhiva familiei artistului Octavian Smigelschi. Studiul contribuie la completarea subiectului picturii religioase a lui Octavian Smigelschi, care s-a bucurat de atenția specialiștilor încă din timpul vieții sale. Un punct important este prezentarea integrală a documentului, pe care am dorit să-l introduc cu această ocazie în circuitul științific, pentru a-l face accesibil și altor cercetători interesați de opera pictorului. Am dorit ca prin analiza conținutului teoretic al acestui document, să punctez originalitatea programului artistic al lui Octavian Smigelschi.
This study is part of my doctoral research and draws attention to a document I discovered in the family archive of Octavian Smigelschi. The study contributes to completing the subject of Octavian Smigelschi's religious painting, which has enjoyed specialists' attention ever since his lifetime. Another aim of this article is to publish the complete text, using this opportunity to introduce it into the scientific circuit. I wanted to make it accessible to other researchers interested in the painter's work and point out the originality of his artistic program in the light of this document.
Acta Musei Napocensis, 2022
Abstract: Among the numerous artifacts preserved in the History of Pharmacy Collection of the Nat... more Abstract: Among the numerous artifacts preserved in the History of Pharmacy Collection of the National Museum of Transylvanian History in Cluj‑Napoca (MNIT) there is an unpublished manuscript, a handbook with practical medical advice, dated 1876 and written in Romanian by Iosif Țiucra, a schoolteacher activating in Bârsa (Berza) village, Arad County.
This research aims to present Iosif Țiucra, the content of his manuscript, and to contextualize his handbook, considering the sanitary problems of the Romanian community in Arad County, in the middle of the nineteenth century.
ACTA MVSEI NAPOCENSIS, 2020
Abstract:
The Angel of Death painting series is Octavian Smigelschi’s personal reflections
on a ... more Abstract:
The Angel of Death painting series is Octavian Smigelschi’s personal reflections
on a private moment, his younger brother’s death occurred in 1892. For almost a decade he constantly evoked the image of his tormented brother, obsessively returning to this same subject. The present article reevaluates the artistic products of this series, both in the context of Smigelschi’s creative process and against the Central European artistic background. Following the genesis of his work process, I identified the main key steps in the development of his subject and compositional
schemes, transformed under the influence of his changing attitude towards the abovementioned event, from a particular situation to a general meditation on death.
Rezumat: Seria Îngerul morții este o reflecție personală a pictorului Octavian Smigelschi asupra unui moment privat, moartea fratelui său mai mic, care a avut loc în anul 1892. Timp de aproape un deceniu a evocat în mod constant imaginea fratelui său chinuit de boală, revenind obsesiv la același subiect. Prezentul articol reevaluează produsele artistice ale acestei serii, atât în contextul procesului creativ al lui Smigelschi, cât și pe fondul artistic central european. Urmărind geneza procesului său de lucru, am identificat principalele etape cheie în dezvoltarea subiectului
său și a schemelor compoziționale, transformate sub influența atitudinii sale schimbătoare față de evenimentul menționat anterior, de la o situație specială la o meditație generală asupra morții.
Brukenthal. Acta Musei, 2020
This collaborative article is concerned with a different way of designing an exhibition dealing w... more This collaborative article is concerned with a different way of designing an exhibition dealing with a dramatic event in Romania’s recent history, i.e. the Revolution of December 1989. The paper shows the curator’s (art historian) and co-curator's (textile conservator) perspective and input on how a conceptual, interdisciplinary, and interactive exhibition is mounted. The main topics this article deals with are concerned with the novelty our exhibition brings in terms of the design concept, approach, and objects display, with our choices in exhibiting objects and our innovative display techniques, all of them employed in order to bring a selective and exigent public to the museum.
în Képírás, Hibrid, Képzőművészet, Riport, 2020
This is an interview with Szőcs Éva Andrea having as a subject her artistic creations at the edge... more This is an interview with Szőcs Éva Andrea having as a subject her artistic creations at the edge of hybrid art.
Brukenthal. Acta Mvsei, XIV.2, pp. 455-469, 2019
The present article, a small part of my doctoral research that focuses on the artistic creation o... more The present article, a small part of my doctoral research that focuses on the artistic creation of
Octavian Smigelschi (1866−1912), deals with one of the many sources of inspiration in Smigelschi’s art: the
peasant woman. In the spirit of his generation (the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century),
the painter was fascinated with traditional art, folk decorative motives, and life in the countryside in general.
He used the decorations on traditional costumes as an inspiring foundation for his church wall paintings;
the Strana series captures the Romanian community during the Sunday mass, a context that he used as an
opportunity to create different peasant profiles. The image of Romanian peasant women generated works
such as Portița or Lina with beads, capturing the essence of the public discourse of the intellectual elites
of his times. In his paintings he wanted to preserve the Romanian spirit and to send a powerful message to
his contemporaries about the importance of traditional values, and also about the necessity of educating
the village community in preserving their rich inheritance. His works complete a wider cultural landscape,
specific for the turn of the century. Romanian intellectuals, with different backgrounds, such as literature,
history, architecture or music, tried to create a national style, based upon similar ideas.
Revista Arta, 2018
Blind date – A Post-Factum Perception and Intention
Summary
Lateral Art Space, a platform created... more Blind date – A Post-Factum Perception and Intention
Summary
Lateral Art Space, a platform created in 2012 for promoting young artists, hosted by the well-known Paintbrush Factory in Cluj-Napoca, launched in December 2017 an inciting invitation for a Blind Date. The unknown author was supposed to reveal his identity in the opening of the event (exhibition, discussions, performance, installation, or all in one). For enticing the public’s curiosity, Blind Date/The struggle between academic abstractionism and globalized formalism was promoted through a dense statement, seriously anchored in the theory of art, next to the image “Trompe l’oeil. The Reverse of a Framed Painting”, 1668–1670, signed Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts.
Revista Arta, Bucureşti, nr. 22-23, 2016
FORBIDDEN DIRECTION – A DEVIOUS DIRECTION
AN EXHIBITION TO WHICH IT MAKES SENSE TO GO PREPARED
Io... more FORBIDDEN DIRECTION – A DEVIOUS DIRECTION
AN EXHIBITION TO WHICH IT MAKES SENSE TO GO PREPARED
Ioana Gruiţă-Savu
The article takes into discussion the recent temporary exhibition “FORBIDDEN DIRECTION, Romanian Graphic Art, Drawing and Collage Between 1960-1994”, organized at the Art Museum in Cluj and curated by Dan Breaz. The artistic event brought together a large number of famous Romanian graphic artists - Olimpiu Bandalac, Corina Beiu Angheluţă, Ion Bitzan, Geta Brătescu, Eva Cerbu, Marcel Chirnoagă, Roman Cotoşman, Drocsay Imre, Feszt László, Benedict Gănescu, Ala Jalea Popa, Gheorghe Leolea, Puia Hortensia Masichievici, Florin Maxa, Fred Micoş, Wanda Mihuleac, Ion Nicodim, Florin Niculiu, Simona Runcan, Clarette Wachtel - that chose to distance themselves from the communist propaganda and made a step towards neo-avant-garde and contemporary art.
Forma, revistă de artă
Vînătoarea de fluturi (4 noiembrie 2015, Muzeul de Artă Cluj-Napoca) este o expoziţie jurnal de c... more Vînătoarea de fluturi (4 noiembrie 2015, Muzeul de Artă Cluj-Napoca) este o expoziţie jurnal de călătorie care are ca punct de pornire o experienţă comună a doi artişti prieteni - Andor Kőmives şi Gheorghe Ilea...
Georgiana Cozma is a visual artist involved in social problems and as expected the recent Europea... more Georgiana Cozma is a visual artist involved in social problems and as expected the recent European refugees’ crisis stirred a powerful artistic statement on her part. In summer, she started a series of ceramic installations meant to question the impact of the crisis on the Europeans and the long term consequences of the clash of two different civilizations. The common message of her works entitled Bitter bread, Stolen silence and Online highlights the struggle for identity preservation and the debates over the inner distortion of individuals under the impact of uncertainty, doubt, and fear.
Szőcs Éva Andrea is a visual artist having an interdisciplinary and conceptual approach in her wo... more Szőcs Éva Andrea is a visual artist having an interdisciplinary and conceptual approach in her works. Recently she developed a new series where she included another dimension to her works by using Braille writing, being interested in the semantics and the direct connection between images and their meaning. Most of her works have in common a certain irony, where the concept dictates the means of expression, which usually are reduced to minimum.
The visual artist from Cluj started in the 80’s as a neoexpressionist painter, with a personal my... more The visual artist from Cluj started in the 80’s as a neoexpressionist painter, with a personal mythology. Later on he included a social component, having a critical ironical approach to sore subjects expressed in a postmodern, neo-pop language. All his paintings, installations, performances reflect his complex personality. In the last years he has an introspective–autobiographical approach, expressed in a poetical-narrative style.
1001 Fragments and Stories - an Alchemic Collage Berlin-Cluj
“Fragmente des Anderen / Fragmente... more 1001 Fragments and Stories - an Alchemic Collage Berlin-Cluj
“Fragmente des Anderen / Fragmentele celuilalt/ Fragments of the Other” is an ongoing project, with a long history - 500 collages and 15 years of artistic dialogue between two European artists of different nationality and cultural background – the Berliner artist Gisela Weimann, initiator of the project, and her partner, the visual artist Andor Komives, from Cluj. The project is based upon an exchange of pictorial pieces from their work tables, which become a starting point for the other. The final works are exhibited as a mega-installation, and their production will continue till reaching 1001 pieces, just like in Arabian Nights story.
The Postmodern Cat Devours the Decorative Ceramics,
Repercussions of Cluj International Ceramic ... more The Postmodern Cat Devours the Decorative Ceramics,
Repercussions of Cluj International Ceramic Biennale (CICB), Second Edition 2015
CICB has reached its 2nd edition, becoming a festival dedicated to contemporary ceramics. A series of national and international exhibitions, round tables, symposiums and events dedicated to young ceramists placed Cluj on the international map of ceramic events. The Romanian ceramics was well represented and contextualized by juxtaposing it with international events, all underlining that contemporary ceramics developed a direct relation with new postmodern tendencies. Ceramics is no longer decorative or functional but can stand, as equal, next to painting or sculpture. CICB’s message was well reflected and submitted to public attention through the events organized between 8 October and 3 November 2015.
Abstract:
This article intends to bring into attention the creation process behind Oc... more Abstract:
This article intends to bring into attention the creation process behind Octavian Smigelschi’s
works. The Transylvanian painter used different artistic mediums to ease his preparatory work and this
article reconstructs the complex path of his images that were subjected to a laborious process of
transposition of ideas in various techniques. Smigelschi made use of modeling, photography and collage to
construct his characters and his compositions and by analysing the entire laboratory behind his creation one
can better understand how his ideas evolved. The artist understood the great advantages of photography and
by using it aligned his creation with that of his more famous contemporaries form western Europe.
Key words : Smigelschi, technique, collage, photography, modeling, artistic mediums, Transylvania
Recomanda articolul prin:
Autor: Ioana GRUIŢĂ SAVU | Categoria: Arte | 0 comentarii Recomanda articolul prin: Tipareste pag... more Autor: Ioana GRUIŢĂ SAVU | Categoria: Arte | 0 comentarii Recomanda articolul prin: Tipareste pagina Marime text Pe Octavian Smigelschi nu prea aveţi de unde să-l cunoaşteţi, numai dacă întîmplător aţi studiat istoria artei, dacă aţi vizitat recent Catedrala Mitropolitană din Sibiu ori dacă v-a picat în mînă o gazetă culturală mai recentă, de după 2012, unde au fost luate în discuţie expoziţiile contemporane retrospective, dedicate pictorului. Smigelschi nu are cotă de piaţă, nu apare în licitaţii publice, decît foarte rar, după ştiinţa mea, de trei ori, în ultimii zece ani (la Bucureşti şi la Budapesta). Însă opera lui redescoperită a avut capacitatea de a aduna, în ultimii ani, sub aceleaşi afişe, o miriadă de instituţii şi de personalităţi ale vieţii culturale româneşti la Sibiu, Blaj, Oradea, Bucureşti şi, acum, la Cluj. Probabil că aţi auzit mai degrabă de corespondenţii săi, de comanditarii săi, de prietenii săi şi de cei care au scris cronici despre activitatea sa: Nicolae Iorga, Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaş, Ion Agârbiceanu, Elie Miron Cristea, Octavian Goga, Valeriu Branişte, Octavian C. Tăslăuanu, episcopul Demetriu Radu, episcopul Vasile Hossu, pictorul Székely Bertalan, criticii şi istoricii de artă: Lotz Károly,Virgil Vătăşianu, Gheorghe Vida, Negoiţă Lăptoiu, Nicolae Sabău sau Iulia Mesea.
Atmosferă animată, pregătiri intense, spaţii arhipline, lume bună, artişti profesionişti, mult ti... more Atmosferă animată, pregătiri intense, spaţii arhipline, lume bună, artişti profesionişti, mult tineret, studenţi, forfotă, nenumărate lucrăricam aşa au stat lucrurile în cazul celor mai multe episoade cu subiect artistic în formă ceramică, consumate în cadrul celei de-a doua ediţii a CICB. Acest megaeveniment plasează clar Klausenburgul pe harta ceramicii mondiale, aşa că mă infiltrez, istoric de artă, şi savurez pe deplin acest schimb cultural. Organizatorii, cu o vastă experienţă internaţională în domeniul ceramicii şi sub auspiciile reuşitei ediţii precedente, Arina Ailincăi, Marius Silviu Georgescu şi Gavril Zmicală, au intuit nevoia de a organiza la Cluj, centru artistic cu o şcoală recunoscută de ceramică, o serie de evenimente orchestrate gradat, astfel încît să intermedieze apropierea publicului de noile tendinţe din ceramica actuală. Coordonatorii au propus un itinerar artistic amplu, care implică mai multe spaţii expoziţionale clujene: Muzeul de Artă Cluj, UAD Cluj, Liceul de Artă Cluj, Galeria Horeb, Galeria IAGA, Galeria Quadro, Centrul de Cultură Urbană Cazino, şi extraclujene, sub semnul mobilităţii culturale: Galeria UAP Sibiu, Muzeul Memorial "Octavian Goga" Ciucea, Galeria Galateea, Bucureşti. Efortul lor a fost susţinut de această dată de autorităţile locale, de Universitatea de Arte şi Design, de Muzeul de Artă şi de spaţiile expoziţionale private, dar şi de o finanţare AFCN. Prin simpla enumerare a evenimentelor culturale cuprinse în program: simpozionul Ceramica între tradiţie şi contemporaneitate, expoziţia internaţională Figura umană în ceramică, expoziţia Ceramişti din România, expoziţia Tabu: decor şi accesoriu. Rendez-vous la Goga, proiecţia filmului documentar Ceramic Processthe Art of Fire, Ceramica în context contemporan -masă rotundă, se poate deduce com plexitatea problemelor abordate.
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Papers by Ioana (Savu) Gruiţă
în atenție un document pe care l-am descoperit în arhiva familiei artistului Octavian Smigelschi. Studiul contribuie la completarea subiectului picturii religioase a lui Octavian Smigelschi, care s-a bucurat de atenția specialiștilor încă din timpul vieții sale. Un punct important este prezentarea integrală a documentului, pe care am dorit să-l introduc cu această ocazie în circuitul științific, pentru a-l face accesibil și altor cercetători interesați de opera pictorului. Am dorit ca prin analiza conținutului teoretic al acestui document, să punctez originalitatea programului artistic al lui Octavian Smigelschi.
This study is part of my doctoral research and draws attention to a document I discovered in the family archive of Octavian Smigelschi. The study contributes to completing the subject of Octavian Smigelschi's religious painting, which has enjoyed specialists' attention ever since his lifetime. Another aim of this article is to publish the complete text, using this opportunity to introduce it into the scientific circuit. I wanted to make it accessible to other researchers interested in the painter's work and point out the originality of his artistic program in the light of this document.
This research aims to present Iosif Țiucra, the content of his manuscript, and to contextualize his handbook, considering the sanitary problems of the Romanian community in Arad County, in the middle of the nineteenth century.
The Angel of Death painting series is Octavian Smigelschi’s personal reflections
on a private moment, his younger brother’s death occurred in 1892. For almost a decade he constantly evoked the image of his tormented brother, obsessively returning to this same subject. The present article reevaluates the artistic products of this series, both in the context of Smigelschi’s creative process and against the Central European artistic background. Following the genesis of his work process, I identified the main key steps in the development of his subject and compositional
schemes, transformed under the influence of his changing attitude towards the abovementioned event, from a particular situation to a general meditation on death.
Rezumat: Seria Îngerul morții este o reflecție personală a pictorului Octavian Smigelschi asupra unui moment privat, moartea fratelui său mai mic, care a avut loc în anul 1892. Timp de aproape un deceniu a evocat în mod constant imaginea fratelui său chinuit de boală, revenind obsesiv la același subiect. Prezentul articol reevaluează produsele artistice ale acestei serii, atât în contextul procesului creativ al lui Smigelschi, cât și pe fondul artistic central european. Urmărind geneza procesului său de lucru, am identificat principalele etape cheie în dezvoltarea subiectului
său și a schemelor compoziționale, transformate sub influența atitudinii sale schimbătoare față de evenimentul menționat anterior, de la o situație specială la o meditație generală asupra morții.
Octavian Smigelschi (1866−1912), deals with one of the many sources of inspiration in Smigelschi’s art: the
peasant woman. In the spirit of his generation (the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century),
the painter was fascinated with traditional art, folk decorative motives, and life in the countryside in general.
He used the decorations on traditional costumes as an inspiring foundation for his church wall paintings;
the Strana series captures the Romanian community during the Sunday mass, a context that he used as an
opportunity to create different peasant profiles. The image of Romanian peasant women generated works
such as Portița or Lina with beads, capturing the essence of the public discourse of the intellectual elites
of his times. In his paintings he wanted to preserve the Romanian spirit and to send a powerful message to
his contemporaries about the importance of traditional values, and also about the necessity of educating
the village community in preserving their rich inheritance. His works complete a wider cultural landscape,
specific for the turn of the century. Romanian intellectuals, with different backgrounds, such as literature,
history, architecture or music, tried to create a national style, based upon similar ideas.
Summary
Lateral Art Space, a platform created in 2012 for promoting young artists, hosted by the well-known Paintbrush Factory in Cluj-Napoca, launched in December 2017 an inciting invitation for a Blind Date. The unknown author was supposed to reveal his identity in the opening of the event (exhibition, discussions, performance, installation, or all in one). For enticing the public’s curiosity, Blind Date/The struggle between academic abstractionism and globalized formalism was promoted through a dense statement, seriously anchored in the theory of art, next to the image “Trompe l’oeil. The Reverse of a Framed Painting”, 1668–1670, signed Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts.
AN EXHIBITION TO WHICH IT MAKES SENSE TO GO PREPARED
Ioana Gruiţă-Savu
The article takes into discussion the recent temporary exhibition “FORBIDDEN DIRECTION, Romanian Graphic Art, Drawing and Collage Between 1960-1994”, organized at the Art Museum in Cluj and curated by Dan Breaz. The artistic event brought together a large number of famous Romanian graphic artists - Olimpiu Bandalac, Corina Beiu Angheluţă, Ion Bitzan, Geta Brătescu, Eva Cerbu, Marcel Chirnoagă, Roman Cotoşman, Drocsay Imre, Feszt László, Benedict Gănescu, Ala Jalea Popa, Gheorghe Leolea, Puia Hortensia Masichievici, Florin Maxa, Fred Micoş, Wanda Mihuleac, Ion Nicodim, Florin Niculiu, Simona Runcan, Clarette Wachtel - that chose to distance themselves from the communist propaganda and made a step towards neo-avant-garde and contemporary art.
“Fragmente des Anderen / Fragmentele celuilalt/ Fragments of the Other” is an ongoing project, with a long history - 500 collages and 15 years of artistic dialogue between two European artists of different nationality and cultural background – the Berliner artist Gisela Weimann, initiator of the project, and her partner, the visual artist Andor Komives, from Cluj. The project is based upon an exchange of pictorial pieces from their work tables, which become a starting point for the other. The final works are exhibited as a mega-installation, and their production will continue till reaching 1001 pieces, just like in Arabian Nights story.
Repercussions of Cluj International Ceramic Biennale (CICB), Second Edition 2015
CICB has reached its 2nd edition, becoming a festival dedicated to contemporary ceramics. A series of national and international exhibitions, round tables, symposiums and events dedicated to young ceramists placed Cluj on the international map of ceramic events. The Romanian ceramics was well represented and contextualized by juxtaposing it with international events, all underlining that contemporary ceramics developed a direct relation with new postmodern tendencies. Ceramics is no longer decorative or functional but can stand, as equal, next to painting or sculpture. CICB’s message was well reflected and submitted to public attention through the events organized between 8 October and 3 November 2015.
This article intends to bring into attention the creation process behind Octavian Smigelschi’s
works. The Transylvanian painter used different artistic mediums to ease his preparatory work and this
article reconstructs the complex path of his images that were subjected to a laborious process of
transposition of ideas in various techniques. Smigelschi made use of modeling, photography and collage to
construct his characters and his compositions and by analysing the entire laboratory behind his creation one
can better understand how his ideas evolved. The artist understood the great advantages of photography and
by using it aligned his creation with that of his more famous contemporaries form western Europe.
Key words : Smigelschi, technique, collage, photography, modeling, artistic mediums, Transylvania
în atenție un document pe care l-am descoperit în arhiva familiei artistului Octavian Smigelschi. Studiul contribuie la completarea subiectului picturii religioase a lui Octavian Smigelschi, care s-a bucurat de atenția specialiștilor încă din timpul vieții sale. Un punct important este prezentarea integrală a documentului, pe care am dorit să-l introduc cu această ocazie în circuitul științific, pentru a-l face accesibil și altor cercetători interesați de opera pictorului. Am dorit ca prin analiza conținutului teoretic al acestui document, să punctez originalitatea programului artistic al lui Octavian Smigelschi.
This study is part of my doctoral research and draws attention to a document I discovered in the family archive of Octavian Smigelschi. The study contributes to completing the subject of Octavian Smigelschi's religious painting, which has enjoyed specialists' attention ever since his lifetime. Another aim of this article is to publish the complete text, using this opportunity to introduce it into the scientific circuit. I wanted to make it accessible to other researchers interested in the painter's work and point out the originality of his artistic program in the light of this document.
This research aims to present Iosif Țiucra, the content of his manuscript, and to contextualize his handbook, considering the sanitary problems of the Romanian community in Arad County, in the middle of the nineteenth century.
The Angel of Death painting series is Octavian Smigelschi’s personal reflections
on a private moment, his younger brother’s death occurred in 1892. For almost a decade he constantly evoked the image of his tormented brother, obsessively returning to this same subject. The present article reevaluates the artistic products of this series, both in the context of Smigelschi’s creative process and against the Central European artistic background. Following the genesis of his work process, I identified the main key steps in the development of his subject and compositional
schemes, transformed under the influence of his changing attitude towards the abovementioned event, from a particular situation to a general meditation on death.
Rezumat: Seria Îngerul morții este o reflecție personală a pictorului Octavian Smigelschi asupra unui moment privat, moartea fratelui său mai mic, care a avut loc în anul 1892. Timp de aproape un deceniu a evocat în mod constant imaginea fratelui său chinuit de boală, revenind obsesiv la același subiect. Prezentul articol reevaluează produsele artistice ale acestei serii, atât în contextul procesului creativ al lui Smigelschi, cât și pe fondul artistic central european. Urmărind geneza procesului său de lucru, am identificat principalele etape cheie în dezvoltarea subiectului
său și a schemelor compoziționale, transformate sub influența atitudinii sale schimbătoare față de evenimentul menționat anterior, de la o situație specială la o meditație generală asupra morții.
Octavian Smigelschi (1866−1912), deals with one of the many sources of inspiration in Smigelschi’s art: the
peasant woman. In the spirit of his generation (the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century),
the painter was fascinated with traditional art, folk decorative motives, and life in the countryside in general.
He used the decorations on traditional costumes as an inspiring foundation for his church wall paintings;
the Strana series captures the Romanian community during the Sunday mass, a context that he used as an
opportunity to create different peasant profiles. The image of Romanian peasant women generated works
such as Portița or Lina with beads, capturing the essence of the public discourse of the intellectual elites
of his times. In his paintings he wanted to preserve the Romanian spirit and to send a powerful message to
his contemporaries about the importance of traditional values, and also about the necessity of educating
the village community in preserving their rich inheritance. His works complete a wider cultural landscape,
specific for the turn of the century. Romanian intellectuals, with different backgrounds, such as literature,
history, architecture or music, tried to create a national style, based upon similar ideas.
Summary
Lateral Art Space, a platform created in 2012 for promoting young artists, hosted by the well-known Paintbrush Factory in Cluj-Napoca, launched in December 2017 an inciting invitation for a Blind Date. The unknown author was supposed to reveal his identity in the opening of the event (exhibition, discussions, performance, installation, or all in one). For enticing the public’s curiosity, Blind Date/The struggle between academic abstractionism and globalized formalism was promoted through a dense statement, seriously anchored in the theory of art, next to the image “Trompe l’oeil. The Reverse of a Framed Painting”, 1668–1670, signed Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts.
AN EXHIBITION TO WHICH IT MAKES SENSE TO GO PREPARED
Ioana Gruiţă-Savu
The article takes into discussion the recent temporary exhibition “FORBIDDEN DIRECTION, Romanian Graphic Art, Drawing and Collage Between 1960-1994”, organized at the Art Museum in Cluj and curated by Dan Breaz. The artistic event brought together a large number of famous Romanian graphic artists - Olimpiu Bandalac, Corina Beiu Angheluţă, Ion Bitzan, Geta Brătescu, Eva Cerbu, Marcel Chirnoagă, Roman Cotoşman, Drocsay Imre, Feszt László, Benedict Gănescu, Ala Jalea Popa, Gheorghe Leolea, Puia Hortensia Masichievici, Florin Maxa, Fred Micoş, Wanda Mihuleac, Ion Nicodim, Florin Niculiu, Simona Runcan, Clarette Wachtel - that chose to distance themselves from the communist propaganda and made a step towards neo-avant-garde and contemporary art.
“Fragmente des Anderen / Fragmentele celuilalt/ Fragments of the Other” is an ongoing project, with a long history - 500 collages and 15 years of artistic dialogue between two European artists of different nationality and cultural background – the Berliner artist Gisela Weimann, initiator of the project, and her partner, the visual artist Andor Komives, from Cluj. The project is based upon an exchange of pictorial pieces from their work tables, which become a starting point for the other. The final works are exhibited as a mega-installation, and their production will continue till reaching 1001 pieces, just like in Arabian Nights story.
Repercussions of Cluj International Ceramic Biennale (CICB), Second Edition 2015
CICB has reached its 2nd edition, becoming a festival dedicated to contemporary ceramics. A series of national and international exhibitions, round tables, symposiums and events dedicated to young ceramists placed Cluj on the international map of ceramic events. The Romanian ceramics was well represented and contextualized by juxtaposing it with international events, all underlining that contemporary ceramics developed a direct relation with new postmodern tendencies. Ceramics is no longer decorative or functional but can stand, as equal, next to painting or sculpture. CICB’s message was well reflected and submitted to public attention through the events organized between 8 October and 3 November 2015.
This article intends to bring into attention the creation process behind Octavian Smigelschi’s
works. The Transylvanian painter used different artistic mediums to ease his preparatory work and this
article reconstructs the complex path of his images that were subjected to a laborious process of
transposition of ideas in various techniques. Smigelschi made use of modeling, photography and collage to
construct his characters and his compositions and by analysing the entire laboratory behind his creation one
can better understand how his ideas evolved. The artist understood the great advantages of photography and
by using it aligned his creation with that of his more famous contemporaries form western Europe.
Key words : Smigelschi, technique, collage, photography, modeling, artistic mediums, Transylvania
National Museum Of Transylvanian History, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
The art event BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE, organised by NMTH (curator Ioana Gruiţă Savu) during the 3rd Cluj Ceramics Biennale 2017, exhibits a series of works prepared by the visual artist Andrea Éva Szőcs (Hungary), having as a focal point moral, existential or aesthetic problems, perceived in a conceptual manner. This exhibition consists of installations, objects on canvas, ceramics and prints that are, in the real sense, as well as in the message they transmit, between black and white.
Some of the exhibited works, specifically created for this event, are constructed as a dialog between old and new, between cultural artifacts, hosted by the National Museum of Transylvanian History, and their artistic potential, seen from a contemporary perspective. Other exhibited works are built around semantic matters and take aim at transforming images in texts. In order to do so, the artist used Braille or pixels for encoding and decoding the images.