The history of two romanian artworks

 Suzana VARVARICA KUKA

Abstract: At the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana, alongside thousands of works by Albanian and foreign artists, two pieces of Romanian art have been preserved and conserved in its collection for over 70 years. The management, curatorial, and re­search staff of the NGA has given special attention to these works, considering them unique, highly valuable, and categorizing them as particularly significant. The study text titled “The History of Two Romanian Artworks” will reveal various aspects related to the presence of these two artworks in the collection of the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana, their position among the works of foreign artists within this collection, as well as scholarly insights concerning the two pieces and their creators. The artworks belong to two distinguished Romanian artists: the piece “Landscape” is by Nicolae Grigorescu, Romania’s national painter, while “Portrait” is by Magdalena Radulescu, a painter of modern Romanian art. The study will outline the process undertaken to verify the authenticity of these works through contacts with the National Museum of Romanian Art in Bucharest. This research aims to shed light on the particular significance of these two Romani­an artworks, their artistic qualities, aesthetic and technical attributes, as well as the conservation and restoration approaches applied to them. Through the development and organization of aesthetic reflections on these two art­works, special and extensive attention will be dedicated to the lives, creative work, and importance of the two renowned Romanian artists: Nicolae Grigorescu and Magdalena Radulescu. Most importantly, the study will examine their recognition within the Albanian art system and the position their work holds in the international visual arts scene. The text will be based on archival sources from the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana, documentation provided by the National Museum of Romanian Art in Bucharest in 1996, as well as verified and reliable written and photographic records obtained electronically via the internet.

Keywords: Art history, Albanian art history, painting, Romanian painters, Nicolae Grigorescu, Magdalena Radulescu.

Introduction

The text titled: “The History of Two Romanian Artworks” is a re­search text with a historical character. It is written with the purpose of in­forming and raising awareness about two paintings by two Romanian art­ists, which are preserved and con­served in the collection of foreign art­ists’ artworks at the National Gallery of Arts (GKA) in Tirana.

The content of the text is struc­tured into five chapters. The last two chapters each include two subchap­ters. The journey of the location of the two works in the GKA, the descrip­tion of their technical qualities, the distinction of aesthetic values and his­torical importance of the two Romani­an artworks determine the develop­mental approach of each chapter and the line of thought followed and elab­orated in this text. The first chapter delves into the history of the birth, growth, and enrichment with artworks of the GKA, highlighting the entry period into its collection of the two works: “Landscape” by Nicolae Grigorescu and “Male Portrait” by Magdalena Radulescu. The second chapter addresses the diplomatic, cul­tural, and social relations between Albania and Romania, emphasizing the integration of dozens of Albanian intellectuals and artists who were edu­cated and worked in Romania from the 18th to the 20th century. The fol­lowing chapter discusses the working visit of two GKA researchers to the National Museum of Art in Bucharest during the period of April 2–11, 1997, during which the authenticity of the two works was confirmed. The fourth chapter highlights the importance of the renowned artist Nicolae Grigorescu and his work “Autumn.” Meanwhile, the fifth chapter describes the significance of the modern artist Magdalena Radulescu and her work “Male Portrait.”

The chapters are rich in facts, which were researched during the ac­ademic investigation into the lives of the two Romanian artists. They enrich and emphasize the extraordinary value of the two Romanian artworks within the collection of foreign artists’ works, which is part of the large collection of artworks of the GKA, in Tirana, creat­ed during the 20th century.

Grigorescu and Radulescu at the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana

Today, the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana (GKA) is the most im­portant cultural and exhibiting institu­tion of visual arts in Albania. It is a state institution, which has its own history of creation and development. Before the 20th century, the existence of such institutions was unknown. Artworks were created, sold, and bought by elite families. They were exhibited inside living spaces. In their villas and buildings, the first collec­tions were created. These are evi­denced by academic research into the early functioning of the Art Pina­cotheca and later the Art Gallery in Tirana, which are the two early names of the GKA in Tirana.

During that period, their absence made it known that the historical de­velopment of visual arts exhibiting institutions began immediately after WWII with the initiative of the Alba­nian communist state. For the first time, the program of collecting art­works for the purpose of exhibition began in the mid-1940s. A direct initi­ator and follower was the young painter of those years, Andon Kuqali (1925–2005). Later on, he became the first historian of visual arts. The Alba­nian state, starting from the end of 1944—which also marked the end of the war in Albania—began to system­atize, purchase, and nationalize art­works that had been left behind in abandoned institutional buildings of a state that had been overthrown. The first works were nationalized along with the buildings where they were located. In 2005, on the eve of his passing, Andon Kuqali testified: “Al­most at the end of the war and around the middle of 1945, the first works of the Art Pinacotheca’s collection were gathered in the attic of a villa-type building constructed in the 1920s–30s, on Elbasan Street.”.

On the website of the Municipality of Tirana, it is written that: “The building from before 1945 represents a mix of eclectic architecture with oriental influences and a small dose of ‘Art Nouveau’. It served as the head­quarters of the Italian Embassy.”.

Today, Elbasan Street is named “George W. Bush” and the building serves as the headquarters of the Institute of Former Politically Perse­cuted Persons in Albania. I mention this fact because these were among the few buildings in Tirana, built by wealthy families, which were also the first homes where cultivated art was exhibited, purchased by their owners in various European countries. This art later became the first state collec­tion.

After the end of World War II and into the year 1945, the new organiza­tion of the state and its governing in­stitutions began. In 1946, one of them was the Committee of Arts. Its leading staff decided to form the Art Pina­cotheca. One of the points in its mis­sion was the purchase and collection of artworks. To date, there is no doc­umented evidence for the year when the painting “Landscape” by Nicolae Grigorescu (1838–1907) was pur­chased. It is thought that alongside the group of works systematized by Andon Kuqali, in the villa on Elbasan Street, was also the painting “Land­scape” by the famous Romanian art­ist, since in the archival inventory list of the GKA it bears Inv. no. 4. This fact confirms the early gathering of the first works that formed the collec­tion of that pinacotheca and the time of arrival of Nicolae Grigorescu’s work into its collection.

From 1946 and for about ten con­secutive years, dozens of artworks were bought and collected, which were exhibited in the Art Pinacotheca, the first exhibiting institution in Albania. Year after year, the Art Pina­cotheca enriched the collection and increased the number of works. Also, the year 1949 stands out in its archival documentation as the year when works by foreign authors were pur­chased. And on January 11, 1954, the 8th year of the proclamation of the Republic of Albania, the Art Pinacotheca changed its name and was promoted as the Art Gallery (GA). It became an official, open, ex­hibiting space serving the public. Its first collection, which contained a group of mostly family icons, works by anonymous foreign painters, works by Italian, French, Swiss, and Roma­nian painters—created through na­tionalization—was enriched with works purchased from the leading Albanian artists of the time such as: Kol Idromeno (1860–1939), Murat Toptani (1866–1918), Theohar Gjini (1878–1952), Vangjel Zego (1880–1940), Andrea Kushi (1884–1959), Simon Rrota (1887–1961), Vangjush Mio (1891–1957), etc. Together, they created the first collection composed of 122 works.

In 1955 until 1956, the manage­ment of the Art Pinacotheca was taken over by Nexhmedin Zajmi (1916–1991). He was a young painter who had studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. In the archival docu­mentation of the GA, it is written that: “Nexhmedin Zajmi was the initiator of the collection of some works by for­eign authors, and their exhibition in the pinacotheca…”. This fact and in­ventory number 4 in the archival notebook confirm that the work “Autumn” by Nicolae Grigorescu was exhibited for the first time to the pub­lic during this period. After the work of Nexhmedin Zajmi and over time under the direction of other prominent individuals, the continuous enrich­ment of the collection of the Pina­cotheca and later the GA did not stop.
In the mid-1980s, the Art Gallery through the Ministry of Education and Culture purchased several artworks by foreign authors, some of which were donated and some offered for sale by individuals who had them in their families. Among this group of works was the piece titled: “Male Portrait” by the Romanian painter Magdalena Radulescu (1902–1983).

The mission of the GA was to op­erate as actively and transparently as possible in exhibiting artworks to the public. The occasional expansion and increase in the number of artworks was a permanent objective. The open­ing of the Higher Institute of Arts, today the University of Arts, brought an increase in the number of profes­sional artists, who continuously creat­ed and exhibited their works in na­tional exhibitions. In this atmosphere, it became possible to build a dignified building for the GA, with several floors and many exhibition spaces. The building was inaugurated on No­vember 29, 1974. It had three floors and several modern exhibition halls and is located on the “Martyrs of the Nation” boulevard. Its spaces, until 1991, served to exhibit art that sup­ported the propaganda demands of the time.

Before the 1990s, although the GA’s art fund conserved around 300 works of art by foreign authors and anonymous works, they were not ex­hibited for a long multi-year period. Only in 1984, when a new generation of artist administrators, who had been trained in the art academies of Eastern Europe, took the lead of the NGA board, was it made possible through a decision of this board to exhibit some of the foreign artists’ works in a spe­cial hall. Among them were exhibited the works of Romanian artists: “Land­scape” by Nicolae Grigorescu and “Portrait of a Man” by Magdalena Radulescu. The “Foreign Authors” Hall, or the Red Marble Hall as it was called in the jargon of the time, fol­lowed the exhibition of the “Albanian Renaissance” art hall and was fol­lowed with devoted interest by visi­tors¹.

In 1992, the Art Gallery was de­clared the only national institution that protects and promotes the interests of Albanian visual arts². This designation led to the name change from the Art Gallery (GA) to the National Gallery of Arts (NGA). It also allowed for the functional expansion of the adminis­trative structure of human resources and the creation of restorative, re­search, curatorial, and artistic oppor­tunities. In its exhibition operations, the NGA underwent a complete trans­formation, giving importance to the selection, curation, and exhibition of contemporary Albanian and foreign art.

Romania, a cultural haven for Albanian artists and beyond

Albania gained independence on November 28, 1912, and Romania was the first country to recognize its independence. This was by no means a coincidence, since even earlier, dur­ing the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the relationships between Albanians and the welcoming Romanian state were positive and active. The Gjika family, of Albanian origin and settled in Romanian lands since the mid-15th century, was and is very well known for the high political and social posi­tions held by its members. The launch of several newspapers in the years 1889–1897, the opening of an Albani­an school in 1905 in Constanța, and several cultural associations are histor­ical expressions of the existence of Albanians in Wallachia or the Roma­nian Land, referred to in Romanian as Țara Românească.

In the diplomatic history of the two countries, the date December 16, 1913, marked the beginning of formal diplomatic relations between Albania and Romania. In these relations, cul­tural ties and patriotic values held a primary place. This important date was re-evaluated a century later by both countries, when on December 7, 2013, the Honorary Consulate of Romania was inaugurated in Korçë. This was a legitimate reason, as doz­ens and dozens of young men and intellectuals from Korçar families, from the late 18th century and even earlier, had emigrated to Romanian lands, formed families, studied, and fully engaged their patriotic tenden­cies for the good of both nations. Through cultural and patriotic associa­tions, they preserved and cultivated the language, created an important social heritage potential, and prepared a favorable situation for both countries in building proper political-diplomatic relations. The events held in Bucharest on December 16, 2013, in memory of the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, were and remain an expres­sion of that social and cultural poten­tial formed, preserved, and respected for centuries between the two peoples.

The ties between Korçë and Pogradec with Romania, through em­igration, are very close—indeed, in­separable—as they form part of the biographical history of many families from the two cities. Albanian emigra­tion to Romania continued during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. It was a social, patriotic, cultural, and educational emigration. They formed the largest community in the entire Albanian diaspora world­wide. The time of the Albanian Na­tional Renaissance in the last decades of the 19th century was the golden era of the Albanian people’s efforts for national independence. Through nu­merous intellectuals who lived and contributed in the diaspora, primarily in Romania, they made the Albanian people part of the modern history of the peoples of the Southwestern Euro­pean Peninsula, who fought, won na­tional independence, and escaped Ot­toman rule. Initially Naum Veqilharxhi (1787–1864), and later Dora d’Istria or Elena Gjika (1828–1888), Jani Vreto (1822–1900), Naim Frashëri (1846–1900), Aleksandër Stavre Drenova or Asdreni (1872–1947), Ilo Mitkë Qafëzezi (1889–1955), and others, will always be prominent representatives in the histo­ry of the Albanian National Renais­sance. Through their intellectual activ­ities in Albanian cultural associations, centers, and foundations on Romanian soil, they stimulated the patriotic awakening of Albanians and created healthy cultural and social layers.

In the first half of the 20th century, dozens of other young men from Korçë and Pogradec, and not only, went to Romania, mainly Bucharest and Constanța, to pursue studies in various fields, although studies in phi­lology, literature, and art predominat­ed. Vangjush Mio, Lasgush Poradeci, Mitrush Kuteli, Kristaq Antoniu, and dozens of others were part of the first generation to be educated in Romani­an universities in the early decades of the 20th century, or after 1912 for in­dependent Albania. In Romania, they found the warmest social and educa­tional refuge. There they elevated their professional dignity, through which they contributed to ensuring that socio-political and cultural-artistic developments in Albania followed the path of processes with Western tendencies.

Vangjush Mio studied painting and in Bucharest acquired the qualities of a true Impressionist artist. In the histo­ry of Albanian art, he is the most im­portant professional painter of realistic and impressionist representation of seasonal nature landscapes, where autumn and winter prevail; of the emotional atmosphere that emerges as an organic interplay of the artist’s fresh and positive feelings with the beauty of Mother Nature, the envi­ronments, and views of the alleys of Korçë city, the lake of Pogradec, and the Ionian and Adriatic seas.

Lasgush Poradeci (1899–1987), the poetic pseudonym of the well-known poet-writer and humanist critic from the city of Pogradec, Llazar Sotir Gusho, who became familiar with Romanian culture at the Monastery Lyceum and later at the National School of Fine Arts in Bucharest, studied painting passionately for one year. He left a rich poetic and painter­ly legacy.

Mitrush Kuteli (1906–1967), the literary pseudonym of the renowned writer, economist, critic, and essayist Dhimitër Pasko, who was born and raised in Pogradec, was educated at the Academy of Higher Economic Sciences in Bucharest. In the history of 20th-century Albanian literature, he is considered one of the founders of modern Albanian prose.
Kristaq Antoniu (1909–1979), a well-known musician and concert perform­er, a film actor of Korçë origin born in Romania, was educated at the College of Dramatic Mime in Bucharest. In Albania, he stood out as an operatic and folk singer.

This article, seemingly disconnect­ed from the core of this historical and scholarly text, brings attention not only to the diplomatic relations of the two states, and the socio-cultural rela­tions of the two peoples, but above all, it invites and encourages art research­ers to discover that the existence of two Romanian artworks on Albanian soil is not a coincidence. It shows that the art lovers and collectors of Albania’s wealthy elite in the first half of the 20th century recognized the highest values of Romanian art, a fact evidenced by the existence of two works by two of Romania’s most prominent artists.

The collection of foreign art­works and the visit to the National Museum of Art in Bucharest, April 2–11, 1997

Before the 1990s, the GA’s art fund preserved about 250 artworks by foreign authors and anonymous art­ists. Their works date from the 16th to the 20th centuries and were purchased in the period from 1950 to 1990. They were exhibited during the initial open­ing period of the Art Pinacotheca from 1954 to 1969 and then remained un­exhibited until 1984. First, because until 1974 the new building was under construction, and second, because until 1984 the GA staff focused on the exhibition of propaganda art or the method of socialist realism, while not excluding the display of the first secu­lar and realist Albanian artists who emerged at the beginning of the 20th century.

In 1984, the managerial and lead­ership staff of the GA decided that some of the foreign artists’ works in the collection would be re-exhibited in a special hall. Included in this group of works were the two paintings by Romanian artists: “Autumn” by Nicolae Grigorescu and “Portrait of a Man” by Magdalena Radulescu. The hall remained open until 1996, the year when the general exhibition line of the NGA was closed, as reconstruc­tion and curation of the halls began with defined curatorial concepts—something that had never happened before. During this period, priority was given to studies on artworks and creative periods. Special emphasis was placed on research into the for­eign artists’ collection, both anony­mous and those with known authors.

With the political system changes in Albania after the 1990s, the NGA’s administrative and exhibition struc­tures underwent fundamental trans­formations. Within its structure, in 1995, the Department for the Study of Artworks was established, whose spe­cialists began research to supplement each foreign and anonymous artist’s work with historical and aesthetic da­ta. In the NGA’s archival files, notes and reports are preserved regarding a work trip carried out by Eleni Laperi and Suzana Varvarica Kuka to the National Museum of Art in Bucharest, during the period April 2–11, 1997. The trip had several goals. First, to verify the two works by the well-known Romanian authors: “Autumn,” a landscape in oil on canvas by Nicolae Grigorescu, and “Portrait of a Man,” oil on leather by Magdalena Radulescu. Second, to become more broadly acquainted with the creativity of the two artists. Third, to explore the possibility of verifying and exchang­ing views with Romanian art re­searchers about the anonymous for­eign authors’ works that the NGA in Tirana held in its collection.

Presentation of the two works be­fore the Sector for the Study of Ro­manian Painting and in the presence of its specialist Livia Karp was fruit­ful. She acknowledged that the work “Autumn” was an authentic work by Nicolae Grigorescu and made it pos­sible to better understand the author through written materials and some of his original works. Meanwhile, Dr. Florenta Ivanuic, specialist at the Mu­seum of Collections, one of the au­thors of monographs and scholarly texts on the work of Magdalena Radulescu, accepted the work “Portrait of a Man” as an authentic work of the Romanian artist.

Even though this trip was fruitful, evidential, and important for the au­thenticity of the two works, it re­mained an ongoing and open working visit, as both works need to be en­riched with additional important data.

The importance of Nicolae Grigorescu and his work “Autumn” 

The work “Autumn” by Nicolae Grigorescu is one of the most im­portant works in the collection of for­eign authors at the GKA. It gives the collection artistic, aesthetic, and his­torical value and quality. This opinion is justified for dozens of reasons. Two of them are the name and fame of the artist, as well as the time and place in which the work was created.

About the painter Nicolae Grigorescu 

Nicolae Grigorescu in 1860 at the age of 19. Photo of the time³

Romanian painter Nicolae Grigorescu is one of the best-known artists in the history of Romanian art, who also occupies a special place in the history of European Impressionism. He has been referred to in Romania as the “national painter,” a very high recog­nition for the artist. In the biographical documentation preserved in the GKA archive, which was established in 1997, some known facts about the artist are disclosed, which are briefly mentioned in this text. Additionally, to broaden the knowledge about the art­ist’s personality, information found online has also been used.

Nicolae Grigorescu was born on May 15, 1838, in the village of Pitaru, Romania, and was the sixth child of the family of Ion and Maria Grigorescu. His uncle connected and encouraged him with the art of draw­ing and painting. Initially, during the period 1848–1850, he learned to paint icons in the workshop of Czech paint­er Anton Chladek (1794–1882), who was well known as a portraitist of the European imperial style. Nicolae Grigorescu painted frescoes and icons for several monasteries, among which the Agipa Monastery stands out, where he painted from 1958–1961.

The young artist’s painting im­pressed Mihail Kogălniceanu (1817–1863), a lawyer and historian, and at the same time, the Romanian prime minister of that era, who in 1861 awarded the young painter one of the study scholarships abroad from the Principality of Moldavia.

With the dream of going to Paris, the art capital of that time, he began to diligently practice in the studio of Swiss painter and Paris resident Charles Gleyre (1806–1874). At the age of 23, he won the competition and a scholarship to attend the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He eagerly pur­sued academic education in seminars led by portrait and icon painter Sebatian Cornu (1804–1870), a col­league of Auguste Renoir (1841-1919). He persisted and studied draw­ing and composition for about a year and a half, as he felt deficiencies in his technical and artistic formation. He visited the Louvre Museum dozens of times, observing and studying the achievements of his favorite painters. Rembrand (1606-1669), Rubens (1577-1640), Gericault (1791-1824), Prud`hon (1758-1823), from whom he elevated his own level of perception about color and composition.  In 1863, he stood out in a themed competition “to paint a tree” and won the right to paint directly in nature, in Barbizon and later in Marlotte, two villages fre­quented by realist and impressionist artists. In this period, 1863–1869, he distinguished himself in landscape painting and seemed to become strongly tied to the life and atmos­phere of the rural world. At that time, he admired the paintings of Diaz de la Peña (1807-1876), Jean-François Millet (1814-1875), Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867), Camille Corot (1796-1875), Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), etc.

In 1867, he began to exhibit. In 1868, he became well known at the exhibition of painters from the Barbizon School, and one of his paintings was purchased by Emperor Napoleon III. That same year, two of his paintings were accepted into the Paris Salon. (2) In 1870, after exhibiting dozens of works in the “Exhibition of the Living” in Bucharest, he became well known and respected as one of the most distinguished artistic personali­ties in his country. In this exhibition, he won the gold medal for the portrait of the Romanian general and philan­thropist Constantin Năsturel-Herescu (1798–1879).

During the War of Independence of 1877–1878, Nicolae Grigorescu, as a painter, joined the General Staff of the Romanian Army. At that time, he sketched many battle scenes and later painted them into canvases that are very well known in Romanian visual culture. At the turn of the 20th centu­ry, he was a very well-known painter and honorary member of the Romani­an Academy. At the end of his life, he left Bucharest and settled in the city of Câmpina, where he also passed away. Since 1954, his house in that city has been turned into a national museum.

Romanian criticism distinguished Grigorescu’s creativity and praised it as work with national inspiration and extraordinary aesthetic quality. He was singled out as the first Romanian artist to develop his painting with the traits of the art movement known as Impressionism and practiced en plein air. In the exhibition catalogue opened in 2011, with 95 artworks by Nicolae Grigorescu and titled “The Time of Impressionism in Romania”, the artist is described as “The first painter of his country to work in the open air, and founder of modern painting in Romania. He managed to develop an extraordinary synthesis between the assimilation of the avant-garde, with which he came into contact during his travels through Europe, and local characteristics…”⁴.

 Foreign critics, notably Henri Focillon (1881–1943), wrote: “Nicolae Grigorescu is the Master who set the tone for the last genera­tion, he is Romanian in soul in every aspect of his work… he is not an iso­lated figure… He had imitators and followers. He created a school…” ⁵.

Nicolae Grigorescu began his crea­tive work as an icon painter for Ro­manian churches; later he practiced academic portrait painting. But the greatest wealth of his creation lies in the vivid and dynamic scenes of the daily life of his country. Villages, people and their homes, herds, lakes, forests, and fields inspired him more than anything else. Paintings that de­pict rural life, scenes of work, the na­ture of the Romanian village, and ra­diant light that conveys the atmos­phere of Romanian nature earned him recognition. Even today, he is known worldwide as one of Romania’s most respected painters and as one of the representatives of the Impressionist art movement.

Livia Karp, a specialist in the study of Romanian painting at the National Museum of Art in Bucharest, testified that the work “Autumn” belongs to the Barbizon period. (5) The Barbizon period is also referred to as the Barbizon School, which for each par­ticipating painter was an encounter with nature and a direct execution of the landscape as a sole and independ­ent subject. They had an essential re­quirement to exhibit these paintings in the conservative Salon of Paris. The painting “Autumn”, by being defined as a work of the Barbizon period, seems to reflect a tree trunk from the forest of Fontainebleau and is an im­portant example of the artist’s impres­sionist creativity. The subject of the painting clearly expresses that Nicolae Grigorescu made nature deeply the object of his painting. Alfred Sensier (1815–1887), a French art historian, close friend, and biographer of the Barbizon painters Théodore Rousseau and Jean-François Millet, wrote about the romantic attraction of the Forest of Fontainebleau for artists: “They had reached such an excess of emotion that they were not at all able to work…They were, in fact, overtaken by the proud majesty of the old trees, by their pristine state and beauty…”⁶. Based on these facts, I may cautiously take the liberty in this text to express my opinion on the period when the work “Autumn” was created. In 1863, Nicolae Grigorescu stood out in a themed competition “to paint a tree” and earned the right to paint in nature, in the village of Barbizon and specifi­cally, in the famous impressionist for­est of Fontainebleau during the years 1863–1869. The subject of the work is related to the figure of a tree trunk. Could it be, always a speculation, that the work was created during these years as a sketchy and quick composi­tion? Why not!

The work “Autumn” appears to have been created in the village of Barbizon, which was more than a place; it was an all-encompassing mo­tive for realist and impressionist art­ists; it was an inspiring and educative site. Through the painting “Autumn”, we understand that the village of Barbizon, for the famous Romanian painter who originated from a village, was the pull of the metaphorical pow­er of the landscape. His work shows that the artist was at a stage where landscape painting no longer subject­ed itself to historical painting. For Nicolae Grigorescu, painting the land­scape in Fontainebleau was his inde­pendence from other genres and he had begun to create his own history. The tree object, in the landscape “Autumn”, positioned almost at the center of the canvas, has turned into a sole character, which has been painted directly from nature. The artist is im­mersed in the nature of autumn. He is expressed with intense emotional sen­sitivity. He has reflected the tonal qualities of the diverse golden, yellow, umber, brown, red, and green colors. Through loose and short brushstrokes, he has realized a textured surface up­on which the softness of form reso­nates. This work is very special and important for the collection of the GKA in Tirana, as it testifies to the direct timing of the emergence of im­pressionism in Europe; it testifies to the existence of the creativity of the Barbizon School and becomes a fac­tual confirmation of the artist’s name as one of the founders of modern Ro­manian painting.

The Importance of Magdalena Radulescu and Her Work “Portrait of a Man”

In the collection of GKA in Tirana, the name of the Romanian artist Magdalena Radulescu and her work “Portrait of a Man” stand out as sig­nificant and are considered a marked and added value to the entirety of the collection of works by foreign au­thors. There are several reasons that certify the importance of this painter’s existence in such a collection. One of the most important is because the name of the artist in the history of Romanian art and in European art holds a special place in the develop­ments of 20th-century modern paint­ing, particularly in the middle of the century.

About the Artist Magdalena Radulescu

Magdalena Rădulescu was born on February 12, 1902, in the city of Râmnicu Vâlcea / Olteni, in the South of Romania. The Radulescu family was connected to the music of the classical era, and her mother played piano pieces by famous German and Austrian composers. She spent her childhood years up to the age of 18 in the city of Constanța, where she com­pleted both primary and secondary school.

At the age of seven, she painted portraits of small Tartars. At an older age, she painted landscapes from the coastal city of Balcic, which, from 1913 to 1940, belonged to the King­dom of Romania. Magdalena Rădulescu studied art for about two years in two European cities, Munich and Paris. Initially, her family envi­ronment and then the environment of these two cities influenced her artistic education and social formation. In 1920, at the age of 18, she left Romania for Munich and studied art for about two years with Prof. Angerer. Later, Magdalena Radulescu went to Paris and studied for some time at the Grande Chaumière Academy, founded in Paris in 1904. She was a student of French painter and illustrator René François Xavier Prinet (1861-1946) and French paint­er, sculptor, illustrator, and interior decorator Bernard Boutet de Monvel (1881-1949).

At the age of 24, in Paris, she met, got to know, and married Italian painter and journalist Massimo Campigli (1895-1971). Together they traveled to Italy, Romania, and France. During their travels, she met and got to know famous artists of the time in Montparnasse, including re­nowned sculptors Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) from Romania and Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) from Switzerland. After marrying Massimo Campigli, she became more of a housewife than an active painter. This situation began to trouble her bohe­mian, lively, and creative spirit. In one of the days after marriage, in 1939, she divorced Massimo Campigli. She devoted herself to painting and partic­ipating in exhibitions. Her first suc­cess came in 1929 and 1933 when her paintings were exhibited at the Salon des Indipendents in Paris, formed by the Société des Artistes Indipendents on July 29, 1884. The salon was led by the slogan “Exhibition without jury and without awards.” This participa­tion was not only important but be­came an open door to her artistic life in some of the most prestigious Euro­pean environments.

Magdalena Radulescu lived sever­al years between France and Romania. During this period, she worked as a scenographer at the National Theater of Bucharest. She was invited by Viktor Eftimui (1889-1972)⁷ the first Romanian director of this theater, with Albanian roots. Magdalena Radulescu created the first stage curtain for the theater⁸. She eventually settled in France in 1947, a year that marked the end of her first creative period, during which she created many portraits and several self-portraits. During this peri­od, she painted the work “Portrait of a Man,” which is owned by the GKA in Tirana. In 1957, Magdalena Radulescu organized an exhibition in Bucharest and was praised by Roma­nian critic Petru Comarnescu (1905-1970). She exhibited in the surrealist technique of “grattage”⁹ in Monaco, Milan, and Paris in 1965, and in Bucharest and London in 1970 and beyond. She passed away on March 4, 1983, in Paris.

In the second period of her creative career, she lived in Paris amidst a world of great 20th-century artists. She followed their methods but chose her own forms of creation, which even today stand out as unique and original. She painted by drawing inspiration from her childhood memories. Roma­nian studies on her art express that “the city of Constanța, where she grew up, gave her subjects, themes, and color tones of both Byzantine and Eastern atmosphere.” In Romanian culture, she focused on scenes of car­nivals. In her art, with a burning inter­est in movement, drama, and rhythm, she created her favorite scenes of folk dances and horsemanship through delicate color nuances.

Contemporary Romanian critics, through studies by Dr. Florenta Ivaniuc and Romanian art historian Christian Robert Velescu, value the work of Magdalena Radulescu “for its roots in folkloric themes and rich with simplified figures full of movement, with wild horses that are constantly swirling in a circular and chaotic gal­lop.” In Romanian figurative culture and the history of Romanian art, her works are very important, holding a central place and representing the European artistic movement Expres­sionism, which annexed and over­threw Surrealism, the avant-garde style of the 1920s.

About the work “Male Portrait”

The artistic creation of Magdalena Radulescu expresses a fruitful and uninterrupted artistic activity. The exhibition and sale of her works worldwide have enriched numerous museum collections and dozens of private collections. It is fortunate that GKA also has one of her works. The evaluation of Magdalena Rădulescu as “a unique phenomenon among Ro­manian and European painters” by the post-impressionist and expression­ist Romanian painter Nicolae Tonitza (1886-1940) and the opening, today, of several exhibitions featuring the artist’s works, curated by contempo­rary art critics and historians from the central museums of Romania and the Multicultural Center of the University of Transylvania, reflect the high value and primary importance of the work “Male Portrait” in the collection of artworks preserved in GKA, Tirana.

The work was exhibited in the for­eign artists’ hall until 1996. On its card, the monetary valuation, dimen­sions, year of completion, technique, material, price in LEK, and the note “donated to GKA” are marked. Other significant details were made known during the visit to the National Museum of Art in Bucharest, from April 2nd to 11th, 1997, where Dr. Florenta Ivaniuc testified that the work “Male Portrait” represents the image of the artist’s grandson, Marius or Mihai Radulescu, an orchestra member in the Vienna Philharmonic. The Romanian artist painted dozens of portraits of well-known Romanian personalities, and the work “Male Portrait” belongs to that period which seems to have ended in the late 1940s, after which the artist would paint with an expressive fervor, in a circular form, mythical people of the dances.

The Romanian artist has portrayed an elegant man, dressed in the cere­monial costume of the philharmonic orchestra, enhanced with two typical elements: the bowtie and the white handkerchief in the jacket pocket in blue. The figure is depicted up to the middle of the body, sitting or support­ed, with hands tied in the classical style similar to “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Such a position, for well-known figures, has been painted by the artist several times. The emotional reflection we get from the image of the work is a model of a man aware of his social position. In Romania, she was appreciated as an artist who “She easily integrated into the world of French and Romanian intellectuals, and the portraits she created in fact illustrate the social circles in which she found support”¹⁰.

Magdalena Radulescu, through a skilled, free, confident brushstroke and fresh, transparent colors, presents in an expressive way the figurative and realistic image of a man with dark hair, a high forehead, and a clear gaze. He conveys dignity, calmness, and positivity. He looks ahead with large eyes. He is painted with touches of expressive colors on leather, a tech­nique that is known but quite rare. The three essential colors—blue, white, and ochre—although applied thickly in some areas and seemingly spread with a spatula, are separated from each other by a black line that slides in several secure dimensions, individual­izing each painted surface.

Notes

• “Foreign authors’ file”, archive of the NGA, in Tirana.
• DCM no. 350, dated 10.08.1992.
• The GKA archive file, titled: “The collection of foreign authors, file: “Nicolae Grigorescu”, folder no. 10; The archived document from “Archivele Statului, Ministerul Instructiunii Publice, dosar nr. 533, Botosani, 13 iulie 1864”.
• The Salon of Paris at that time was the most important exhibition in the world.
• Abstract, “Nicolae Grigorescu (1838–1907), The Age of Impressionism in Romania”, edited by Monica Enache, Valentina Iancu, National Museum of Art of Romania.

https://en.silvanaeditoriale.it/libro/9788836621644

• The GKA archive file, titled: “Nicolae Grigorescu”; document: “Nicolae Grigorescu (1838–1907), author Henri Focillon, article ‘La peinture au XIXe et XXe siècle. Du réalisme à nos jours, 1928”.
• Testimony given by Dr. Florenta Ivaniuc at the 1997 meeting.
• File: “The Romanian Painter Magdalena Grigorescu,” GKA Archive, Tirana. Catalog “National Museum of Art of Romania / Magdalena Radulescu Art Collection, painting and graphics,” Bucharest 1994.
• Grattage – a surrealist painting technique involving scratching the oil paint.
• Exhibition catalog: “Magdalena Rădulescu. 120 years of bohemian grace”.

Bibliography

Books

COMARNESCU, P., Study review, Editura Forum, Album, 1946.

DEAC, M., Magdalena Radulescu, Editura Meridiana, Bucharest, 1980.

IVANIUC, F., and Valescu R, C., Magdalena Radulescu – pictura si grafica, Muzeul National de Arta al Romaniei and Muzeul Colectiilor de Arta, Bucharest, 1994.

MATEI, R., and HERBAY, D., Organization of the exhibition, Catalog “Expozitia Pictura Romaneasca in Epoca Impresionistilor 1865-1920, Nicolae Grigorescu (1938-1907), Ioan Andreescu (1850-1882), Stefan Luchian (1968-1916)”, National Museum of Art of Romania, 1946

Archive

FOCILLION, H., La peinture au XIXe et XXe siècles, Du réalisme à nos jours (1927-1928), Romanian Painter Nicolae Grigorescu, in the archive of the GKA, 1881–1943, Tirana.

The archive of the GKA, File: “Romanian Painter Nicolae Grigorescu”, Tirana.

Art catalog

COMARNESCU, P., The Art of Magdalena Radulescu and its Signification, booklet 2, File titled “Magdalena Radulescu”, in the archive of the GKA,1905–1970, Tirana.

CEBUC, A., Director of the Museum of Art of the Socialist Republic of Romania – Catalogue: “Nicolae Grigorescu”, Museum of Art of the Socialist Republic of Romania, Bucharest, 1985.

CEBUC, A., H.H., Catalog prepared in collaboration with Muzeul de Arta al R.S.R., Editura Meridiana, 1987.

National Art Museum of Romania, Magdalena Radulescu – Painting and Graphics, 1994.

Articles and studies

Romanian Cultural Foundation, “Journal ARC – 3–4 Letters Arts and Craftsi”, 1996.

SCRUTON, R., E bukura, Chapter 6: “Shija dhe rendi”, article “Rregullat dhe origjinaliteti” CUNEUS Publishing House, Prishtina, 2020, pp. 138–152.

Texts of Wildenstein, Daniel and Cogniat, Raymond, 1972 – “Gauguin – Gente di Bretagna – Gli impressionisti e la pittura dell’800”, Fratelli Fabbri Editori, Milan, 1997.

Electronic resources

https://artvee.com/artist/nicolae-grigorescu/

https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/barbizon-school/m01yfx3?hl=en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Focillon

Andra-Maria Velișcu, “Magdalena Rădulescu – a Romanian Woman Painter” https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/magdalena-radulescu-a-romanian-woman-painter/

Images: http://www.artmark.ro/catalogsearch/result/index/?mode=list&q=magdalena+radulescu

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalena_Radulescu

http://nice-antiques.com/radulescu/en/

ZAMBACCIAN, K. H., (1889–1962), Pagini de Arta, Casa Skualelor, 1943, https://monoskop.org/images/6/6f/Zambaccian_Krikor_Pagini_de_art%C4%83_1943.pdf