Visual Arts

A collection of works by the scholars of the Margaret of Romania Royal Foundation, 2023 edition The 15th generation of talented young Romanian artists, 15 musicians and 15 visual artists, mark the end of their scholarship year with a collection of visual artworks exhibited at the "I.L. Caragiale" National Theatre in Bucharest from November 18 to December 18, 2023. This year, 30 talented young people at the beginning of their careers were supported to develop through the national program Young Talents, run by the Margaret of Romania Royal Foundation, through a scholarship of 2,000 euros, mentoring sessions and intergenerational masterclass internships, as well as opportunities to promote their artistic talent at events organized by the Foundation and project partners. This year, the Visual Arts Exhibition of talented visual artists, hosted by the National Theatre in Bucharest, partner of the event, is open to the public for one month, starting on Saturday, November 18, 2023. It includes relevant works from the individual projects of the Young Talents scholars, made in 2023 with materials purchased from the grant, as well as selections of works from the joint projects: the exhibitions Life Diary, Passions and Concerns of the Royal Family Members over Time and History Exercises in Balchik. The three exhibitions were organized under the guidance of the mentors of the program - Prof. Carmen Apetrei and Prof. Ion Anghel, and throughout 2023 they were held in unconventional spaces, such as at the Museum of Bucharest - Filipescu-Cesianu House, in the open air, along 35 meters of pavement or in the rotunda of the Romanian Athenaeum. "The exhibition of the scholars of the Young Talents program found its resources in the concerns and passions of the members of the Royal Family over the years, as well as in the scholars' own artistic work/discourse. We can also refer to the word concern in the sense of "caring", which perhaps best sums up the closeness and dedication to others, but also the fact that a passion shared with others becomes a means that provides us with a connection and an unmediated communication. In this sense, I believe that the young scholars have found an enlightening illustration of dedication and generosity through this support offered within the framework of the project carried out by the Royal Margaret of Romania Foundation and which complements the support received from their families and the art education institutions where they are trained. I appreciate both the scholars' progress throughout this year and the support offered by the program's coordinating team, whose activity fully expresses values and attitudes, such as professionalism, involvement, empathy, aspects that we need to remember and promote more often in Romanian society", says Prof. Carmen Apetrei, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, mentor in the Young Talents program. "History exercises. It seems that where we are born is a matter of destiny. It's not our choice. But once we come to earth, each of us has a great moral responsibility to those who gave us life, and to the place where we first saw the light. Moreover, there are people who love beyond borders, opening their hearts to their fellow men and women. This is how Balchik appears to us through the lens of its history, which Queen Mary has so intelligently crafted. This emotional thrill has remained unchanged over time, only times and people have changed. In the action that took place this summer in Balchik, the young people, encouraged by this Royal Foundation project, carried out a kind of visual and sentimental archaeology on the white-washed landscapes. The results of the scholars lie beyond the images they have created, which is why they need to be understood and not just looked at. They were guided to feel, to discover, to see things inaccessible to mere passers-by, to linger with the peace of mind of the Queen of old, to bring back to contemporary audiences that vanishing state of mind. We need landmarks!", says Prof. Ion Anghel, UNARTE, mentor in the Young Talents program. At the end of the Young Talents scholarship year, the Royal Foundation organizes the Young Talents Gala - an event dedicated to the scholars, who come before the public to showcase their creations, their individual and joint artistic projects, the progress they have made through their participation in the Foundation's program. The concert performed by the music scholars will take place on Monday, November 20, 2023, at the National Theatre in Bucharest, in the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Sofia, and will feature songs from famous films, reinterpreted in classical style, with a musical program prepared under the guidance of the mentor of the program, Prof. Verona Maier, pianist, pro-rector of the National University of Music in Bucharest. Recognized four times as the best Art and Culture program in Romania at the Civil Society Gala, the national Young Talents program creates equal opportunities for aspiring artists, giving them the chance to develop their potential, express their talent and fulfill their dream, regardless of their social background. Partner: Kaufland Romania Sponsors: B&B Collection - Kultho, PPG Romania - Oskar, Dedeman, PEPCO Retail, Enayati Medical City, Ferrero Romania, PSC Group, Dove Romania, Casa Siqua, Easy Print Services, Foto Experience, Emotion Philms Production Media partners in 2023: Europa FM, TVR, TVR Cultural, Radio România Muzical, Radio România Cultural, Radio România Actualități, Radio Trinitas, RFI România, Agerpres, Forbes, Forbes Life, Historia, Zile și Nopți, Revista BIZ, Haute Culture, the daily diplomatic newspaper Nine O’Clock, The Institute, The Diplomat, CARIERE magazine, Cultura magazine, Phoenix Media, Insight TAROM, IQads, SMARK, Societatea Muzicală, Radio Clasic, Zenith Media, mediaTRUST Romania *** Young Talent Program Many talented children come from families whose financial possibilities do not allow them to pursue their talent. So every year Romania loses dozens of talented young people who could otherwise become cultural ambassadors. The national program Young Talents, developed by the Margaret of Romania Royal Foundation, was launched in 2009 with the aim of supporting and promoting talented young artists from low-income families who need financial support to reach their true potential and express their talent. What differentiates the Young Talent program from other projects offering scholarships is its holistic approach, focused on the development and affirmation of these aspiring artists. In addition to financial support, young people receive valuable mentoring, training through masterclasses and have valuable promotional opportunities, all of which create a platform to launch their artistic careers. So far, 410 scholarships have been awarded to talented young people at the beginning of their careers, studying music or visual arts in high schools and universities in Romania, helping them to overcome their financial difficulties and continue to express their artistic value. In support of the scholarship holders, 128 recitals and concerts, 82 exhibitions, 126 mentoring or masterclass sessions were organized. Over the years, €1.9 million has been invested in Romania's artistic future. More details are available on www.tinteretalente.org. The national program Young Talents is supported by partners and sponsors, but also by donations made by SMS to 8864 with the text ARTĂ, through which the public can donate 4 Euro per month, thus supporting scholarships for talented young people in Romania.   Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu 

Friday, October 20, 2023, at 13.00, in the Rotonda of the Small Hall of NTB we invite you to the opening of a unique exhibition: Alexandra Filotti – Quilts 3 Trained as an architect, Alexandra Filotti (b. 1947) emigrated to the United States in 1983 where she discovered the textile tradition of patchwork quilting. She then moved to Munich and Prague and repatriated in 2005. Since then she has been fervently devoted to a passion that has been waiting to be put into practice. She was a member of the Romanian Patchwork Association founded by Alexandrina Popescu, participating in group exhibitions hosted by the "Friedrich Schiller" House of Culture. After the self-dissolution of the association, Alexandra Filotti continued her independent activity going through all the stages of the quilting tradition: traditional, modern and contemporary, approaching different techniques. This explains the diversity of the exhibits that were the subject of two solo exhibitions: 2016 - Socio-Cultural Center "Jean Louis Calderon" and May 2023 - ASE Museum. The present exhibition includes large-scale works produced over the last 10 years. Their practical use is as decorative bed quilts or patchwork quilting interpretations of what used to be tapestries or quilts. The complexity of a quilt lies in the interference and overlapping or juxtaposition of colors, prints, the geometry of the composition and finally the design of the quilting stitch. Each quilt is unique. The materials used for the sides of a quilt are 100% cotton imported from the USA, some are classic prints made for this special purpose, others are hand printed in Indonesia in the "batik" technique. The filling between the two cotton textile layers is either polyester or cotton. It provides the volume for the stitch design that joins the three layers. Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu 

From October 18 to November 16, 2023, in the Media Foyer of the NTB (wing opposite the Grand Hotel) you can visit the graphic exhibition Tribute... in black and white (Portraits) signed by Daniel Chelaru, who portrays with an undeniable talent for drawing the figures of famous actors of yesterday and today. At the closing of the exhibition, the artist wishes to donate to the portrayed actors the works that represent them.   Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu

In the Rotonda foyer - a lush chromatic explosion signed by painter Lucian Cioata. As of Wednesday, September 20, 2023, the Rotonda and the Foyer of the Small Hall of the NTB will host, for one month, a large exhibition of the works of the octogenarian painter Lucian Cioata, entitled Fields. The opening of the exhibition will take place on Wednesday, September 20, 2023, at 1 pm. Presented by art critic Pavel Susara and essayist Adrian Mihalache. Born in Pitesti in 1940, the painter Lucian Cioata studied between 1960-1964 at the Faculty of Fine Arts within the Pedagogical Institute of the University of Bucharest. He made his professional debut in his hometown, at the Pitesti Art Gallery and the Arges County Museum, initiating a series of projects to promote many visual artists. In 1969 he founded the first gallery of naive art in Pitesti. He was the editorial secretary of Argeș magazine. Since 1980 he has exhibited his own works in numerous solo and group exhibitions in various cities in the country and at several international exhibitions. 2016 - The Painting Salon Award2004 - Order of Cultural Merit in the rank of Knight1991 - 2nd Prize Eurasia - Ankara, Turkey1991 - Special Jury Mention at the Cagnes-Sur-Mer Festival, Cannes, France His paintings can be found in collections in Hungary, the former Czechoslovakia, Poland, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, Ireland, Finland, Holland, USA, Cuba, Colombia, Chile, Canada, Australia. The exhibition can be visited daily, except Mondays, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Access from Boulevard Carol. Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu 

In the Media Foyer of the NTB (wing facing the Grand Hotel) you can see a new exhibition: Vasile Velisaratu - scenography. Starting September 16, 2023, the exhibition season will reopen in the NTB foyer, with the premiere presentation of the costume and set designs of Vasile Velisaratu (1895-1978), former painter and set designer of the National Theatre of Bucharest, a necessary restitution effort thanks to the artist's granddaughter, the sculptor Liana Axinte and his heirs.  In addition to the works from the family archive, an oil painting by the playwright Victor Ion Popa, which is part of the TNB Museum's patrimony, will also be exhibited. Painter, set designer and graphic artist excelling in metal engraving and color lithography, Vasile Velisaratu studied painting and decorative arts before the First World War, at the School of Fine Arts in Bucharest with G.D. Mirea, Gabriel Popescu, Fritz Stork, D. Paciurea, I.D. Stefanescu. The painter's talent was noticed as a student, being selected in 1914 for the Official Salon where he exhibited drawing and engraving until 1944, in both editions. An artistic personality with ethical and aesthetic principles that were early assumed and expressed, Velisaratu was among the founders of the movements of the Artistic Association (1913-1916), the Autumn Salon Association (1921-1924) and the Syndicate of Fine Arts in 1922, together with Oscar Han, Ion Jalea and others. A prodigious painter, he exhibited 137 works at the Maison d'Art in 1921, which were praised in a review by N. Tonitza. Between 1925 and 1934 he was assistant stage painter at the National Theatre in Bucharest. He exhibited again only in 1935, at the Atheneului Hall, in 1942 at the Dalles Hall and in 1947 at the Italian Bookshop in Bucharest, his last major public exhibition. Totally marginalized in the following decade, excluded from the Union of Plastic Artists in 1960 for not aligning himself with socialist realism, Velisaratu continued to work in his studio, developing at the beginning of the 1960s, in the gouache technique, a unique abstract plastic research inspired by modern music, sometimes reminiscent of the exuberant chromaticism of Robert Delaunay. He continued to paint, restored paintings from great museum collections in Bucharest, frescoes in churches, wrote, translated poetry into French, was a living, high spirit, light for the environment in which he lived. At the same time as the exhibition opened at the TNB, at the Theodor Pallady Hall of the Romanian Academy Library is presented the exhibition of paintings and graphics Vasile Velisaratu - Restitutio, in collaboration with the Prints Cabinet of the Academy, an exhibition accompanied by a comprehensive album-catalogue that also presents Velisaratu's work as a set designer, coordinated by Liana Axinte and printed with the support of Dr. Mihnea C. Velisaratu, the artist's grandson. The exhibition at NTB will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.   Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu 

From May 18 to June 4, 2023, the Rotonda and the foyer of the Small Hall of NTB will host the Special Poster Show, an event dedicated to poster design, organized by the Local Design Circle. The Special Poster Show exhibition is part of RDW Design GO! - the circuit of related events within Romanian Design Week 2023, the largest interdisciplinary event dedicated to the creative - cultural industries in Romania, with over 30,000 visitors participating in the events offered. The opening of the exhibition will take place on Thursday, May 18, 2023, at 18.00. The Local Design Circle Association, a non-governmental non-profit organization founded in 2018 out of a desire to provide a common voice for Romanian designers, aims to promote the importance of graphic design in everyday life, facilitate access to education and help shape a healthier visual environment. Since its establishment, the association has organized a number of initiatives and projects with a significant impact on the design community both locally and internationally, whether it be research or educational initiatives, projects that bring to the forefront the importance of graphic design, or a monthly radio show. A full index and extensive description of projects and initiatives can be found on the association's website: localdesigncircle.com. The exhibition Special Poster Show will feature a set of five sections: 1. Swiss & German Theater Posters; 2. AndNowEast Poster Festival 2021; 3. PosterJam Offbeat × Alexe Popescu; 4. PosterJam Archives Showcase; 5.  Poster Installation. In the realization and promotion of this exhibition, the Local Design Circle association is supported by: the Embassy of Switzerland in Romania, Black Rhino Radio, Goethe - Institut Bucharest, Polish Institute, PosterJam, Zeppelin Magazine, Romanian Design Week, The Institute, National University of Arts Bucharest. The exhibition at NTB can be visited daily from 11 am to 7 pm, except Mondays and public holidays. Public access is through the entrance to the Rotunda Hall, on the side facing Bd. Carol.   Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu

A new painting exhibition at the "I.L. Caragiale" National Theatre Bucharest From May 3 to June 3, 2023, at the "I.L. Caragiale" National Theatre in Bucharest, in the foyer of the Media Hall (Grand Hotel wing), the exhibition "Acts and Interacts" by Silvia Marinescu, Stefana Petre and Andrei Simion can be visited. The exhibition, curated by Maria Pasc, brings together the most recent paintings by the three young artists, graduates of the National University of Arts in Bucharest, former students of the well-known painters Mihai Sarbulescu and Horia Pastina. About the exhibition, curator Maria Pasc notes: "In the act: the works of three painters are put together: Silvia Marinescu, Stefana Petre, Andrei Simion. A single language, that of painting. Three types of rhetoric. Rhetoric is the most appropriate means of persuasion for every circumstance. In the foyer of the NTB Media Hall, three artists with the gift of rhetoric are present. These three artists have mastered the craft of keeping histrionics under control, of not making it a performance in itself, of using it as a means of persuasion. Their art is not in the service of effect, but in the service of conviction. In the interact: the time between two heartbeats of the viewer. Stefana Petre's painting is a detailed study of color and composition that presents a reality that the artist has decomposed and then recomposed on the surface of the canvas. In this endeavor of objective synthesis, science does not lag behind talent. Stefana's study is a process of decantation, a fierce struggle at all levels with the unknown, the accidental, the insignificant. In her painting, dominated by a range of severely elegant greys, there is a radicalism of drawing, coupled with a fervor for color. Andrei Simion, the painter, does not seek in his writing his own humors, but the spontaneity of thoughts, without psychological incursions. Giving expression to a work means giving it soul, making a subtle presence radiate from it. Andrei succeeds! He compensates for the shortcomings of reality with the presence of his soul. The young painter's works give you a joy of ideas that no academic discipline can contain. Nature in his paintings is depicted with a mysterious, expressive warmth, having a virginal existence. Silvia Marinescu is gifted with the patience to look, she is not looking for the surprising, the unheard of. Silvia does not savor, but describes, knows how to listen. Silvia brings atmosphere, a taste for color, wavy lines, and paintings of a gentle precision that leave an indelible mark on the eyes and soul of the viewer." The opening of this exhibition will take place on May 23, 2023, at 6 p.m. The exhibition remains open until June 3, 2023 and can be visited daily from 11.00 to 18.30, except on public holidays.   Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu 

Within the framework of the NTB - Paratheatral - Visual Arts Program, under the title of which the exhibition halls of the National Theatre "I.L. Caragiale", organize since 2012 exhibitions of visual arts that constantly arouse the interest of an art-loving public, a special exhibition will be opened, which will bring together - under the title Artists behind the scenes, the creations of our colleagues who work in the workshops of NTB and who, in addition to their professional duties, show their talent as artistic individuals, in a wide range of genres: painting, graphics, sculpture, photography, video art, stained glass, mosaic, jewelry, etc.. The envisaged exhibition is intended to become a Visual Arts Salon of the NTB artists, with the possibility to be organized annually, adding to the "I.L. Caragiale" National Theatre another landmark of identification in the cultural landscape of the Capital. The list of artists participating in this first edition of the NTB Salon is as follows: Viorel Pater, Florilena Popescu-Farcasanu, Remus Gabor, Cora Postelnicu-Giodic, Anca Stefan, Violeta Elena Balan, Beatrice Parus. The opening of this exhibition will take place on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, at 6 pm, in the Rotonda and Foyer of the Sala Mica Hall of the NTB, in the presence of the participating artists, who look forward to welcoming you to this new celebration of the gaze. The exhibition will remain open until May 14, 2023. Visiting hours, daily from 11 am to 7 pm except Mondays and Easter holidays.   Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu

The Word`s Shadow Exhibition and The Betrothal of Gifts I first met Georges Banu in the “words’ shadow”, in a theatre - Theatre de la Ville, in Paris, where Lucian Pintilie was rehearsing in the 80’s. Our friendship was sealed spiritually, in time, by the means of a symbolical gift, offered intuitively, then – a drawing of mine representing an injured Jesus, which Georges spontaneously adopted. Much later, in his writings, I read his statement about the meaning and the sense of offering a gift, with which I agree: “true gifts reflect knowledge about the other, how aware we are of their desires and expectations.” This exhibition and event is simultaneously meant as a gift in memory of Georges Banu, for everything that he has generously offered us along the way, and a gift that I am presenting likewise to all actors, theatre-makers, artists and lovers of the Arts. The “words’ shadow” is, in fact, the trace that words leave upon reality – “the ultimate reality that remains after the theatrical act” (“About oblivion”). The shadow of the words being the ulterior projection in our memory, as well as in the visible space that contains us – the visual outcome, the material projection of our spoken words. In the monumental hall of the Rotonda and the introductory space of the foyer, part of the National Theater, I intend to reproduce a sensitive space, to create an “installation” of Georges Banu’s living creative experience, pertaining to the visual themes that he developed  and referred to, throughout his writings, based on a very subjective and affective approach, rather than a chronological one. Georges Banu said that he found himself mirrored “in the heteroclite image of Arcimboldo’s portraits”. Thus, I am proposing, beyond deconstruction, to recompose a portrait based in his own subjectivity, taking its inception from the themes that were highlighted by Georges Banu: “The Curtain” (or the fissure of the world) as a metaphor. “In painting, as in theatre, the curtain breaks the unity. It reveals as much as it hides from one’s eye…it separates the actor from the spectator, hides the secret, while nourishing the expectation of an ever possible revelation”; “The Door”(as intimate geography), revealing the exterior as well as our interiority, its symbolic valences; “Nocturnes”, the notion of darkness and “black” in painting and theatre, the relation about shade and its projection in time, the return to light; “ The human being seen from behind”, the loneliness of man or his hidden eye, the dialectics between the expression of the back and the face, semantic ambivalences; “Wounded objects”- time’s passage upon things, the charge on their emotional value, our dialogue with the objects. I’m inviting actors from the National Theatre, critics and theatre professionals  from here or afar, who came to know Georges Banu, to intervene by spoken word and interaction with the space that has been thus created, revisiting fragments from the roles that they have already interpreted -- possibly plays and roles for which Banu had a predilection -- or pieces of his texts, encouraging every actor or participant to choose what is more representative for himself and what better defines his message. Miruna Budisteanu

Exhibition with the works of painter Lucian Liciu (1968 - 2022)* A new exhibition opens in the exhibition space of the Media Foyer within NTB, starting from March 7, 2023. This time it is a posthumous retrospective dedicated to a talented painter from Olt, Lucian Liciu, who died at the age of 54, in full creative force. This is how Dr. Marius Tiță, the art critic who has assumed the task of curating this exhibition, which will be opened on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at 6 pm, in the Media Foyer of the NTB ( the wing facing the Grand Hotel), evokes the artist: "In March 2022, it was with infinite sadness that I learned that the painter Lucian Liciu, a talented artist and a man of rare generosity, had passed from this world. It is hard to accept that we are left only with the image of him on the poster of the exhibition that was on display at that time, a poster that shows the artist smiling a little sorrowfully, as if saying goodbye. In fact, the painter Lucian Liciu left us a particularly strong and sensitive work, his beautiful family, the painter Nicoleta Gribincea Liciu and his three children who take their artistic career seriously, and many, many, in fact only beautiful memories. (…) Lucian Liciu's plastic work brings to attention great problems and subjects of society, especially in recent years, strange and troubled. In a direct, fluent and emotional way, the artist brings us all into the scene, through everything that happens in his art. The exhibition does not promise a theme, a theme addressed in painting, but it is, one year after the brush and the palette of colors remained still in front of the easel, a tribute to the painter Lucian Liciu, by presenting, on picture rails, his creation. Displaying his art and understanding it fully, along with the emotions and feelings it generates, is the simplest and brightest way to remember the artist. It is, in fact, the essence of 'Truth. Testimony. Confession", a painting by Lucian Liciu, which the National Theatre of Bucharest is organizing this March.  *L.L. was born in 1968 in Slatina, he attended the Faculty of Decorative Art and Design, Monumental Art section of UNA Bucharest in the class of Professor Marilena Preda Sânc and the University of Art "Luceafărul" where he had as teachers Vasile Chinschi and Ion Sălișteanu. Numerous participations in group exhibitions and solo exhibitions at home and abroad. He has been a member of the Union of Fine Artists of Romania, UAP Bucharest Branch and a member of Visarta since 2014. He was married to the painter Nicoleta Gribincea. "Lucian Liciu searches, experiments and takes risks. These would be the key words of all his creation. For the above reason, his works, or series of works, are heterogeneous, what unites them being more the spirit than the style or the manner" (comment from 2018 by art historian and critic Mihai Plămădeală, on the occasion of the exhibition " Once upon a time in Romania and shall be again" at the Centre of Visual Arts in Bucharest). "L.L. has left an atypical, nonconformist, edgy and harsh creation, from which a unique and unmistakable black humour resonates". Cătălin Podoleanu, painter   Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu