Alexandru Bogdan-Pitesti
Encyclopedia
Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti (alekˈsandru boɡˈdan piˈteʃtʲ; born Alexandru Bogdan, also known as Ion Doican, Ion Duican and Al. Dodan; June 13, 1870 – 1922) was a Romania
n Symbolist
poet, essayist, and art and literary critic, who was also known as a journalist and left-wing
political agitator. A wealthy landowner, he invested his fortune in patronage and art collecting, becoming one of the main local promoters of modern art
, and a sponsor of the Romanian Symbolist movement
. Together with other Post-Impressionist
and Symbolist cultural figures, Bogdan-Piteşti established Societatea Ileana, which was one of the first Romanian associations dedicated to promoting the avant-garde
and independent art. He was also noted for his friendship with the writers Joris-Karl Huysmans
, Alexandru Macedonski
, Tudor Arghezi
and Mateiu Caragiale
, as well as for sponsoring, among others, the painters Ştefan Luchian
, Constantin Artachino and Nicolae Vermont
. In addition to his literary and political activities, Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti was himself a painter and graphic artist.
Much of Bogdan-Piteşti's controversial political career, inaugurated by his support for anarchism
, was dedicated to activism and support for revolution, while he showed an interest in the occult
and maintained close contacts with Joséphin "Sâr" Péladan
—whose 1898 visit to Bucharest
he sponsored. He was detained by the authorities at various intervals, including an arrest for sedition
during the 1899 election, and was later found guilty of having blackmail
ed the banker Aristide Blank. Late in his life, he led Seara
, a Germanophile
daily, as well as a literary and political circle which came to oppose Romania's entry into World War I
on the Entente Powers
' side. He was arrested one final time upon the end of the war, by which time he had become hated by the general public.
, Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti was the son of a landowner from Olt
, and, on his father's side, the descendant of immigrants from the Epirote
area of Ioannina
, whose ethnicity was either Aromanian
or Albanian
. His father became a local leader of the Conservative Party. His mother was a boyar
ess, and, as art collector and memoirist Krikor Zambaccian recounted, was rumored to have been a descendant of the Balotescu boyar family. Bogdan-Piteşti also had a sister, Elena Constanţa Bogdan; both she and her mother reportedly survived his death. As one of his eccentricities, he encouraged the—unsustainable—rumor that he was a direct descendant of the ancient Wallachia
n ruling house of Basarab
. Raised in the Romanian Orthodox
faith, he converted to the Roman Catholic Church
in his twenties, but was no longer a practicing Catholic by the time of his death.
He was educated in Geneva
, at a local Catholic institution. Bogdan-Piteşti then attended medical school at the University of Montpellier
, without ever graduating, and afterwards left to join the Bohemian
milieu of Paris. He enrolled at the University of Paris
, studying Law and Letters, but withdrew after a short while. Art historian Sanda Miller recounted that Bogdan-Piteşti attended the École des Beaux-Arts
in the French capital, whence he had been expelled. According to literary historian Tudor Vianu
, at that stage, the young man also began associating with the criminal underworld.
It was also around that period that Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti began frequenting the French anarchist
circles, while joining the Symbolist
movement. He was a presence in the anarchist group of Auguste Vaillant
(before the latter was executed for planning the bomb attack on the French Chamber of Deputies
), and was acquainted with the anarchist geographer Élisée Reclus
. At some stage during the late 1880s, Bogdan-Piteşti was also a supporter of Georges Ernest Boulanger, a general who attempted to gain power in France with support from the Orléanist
, Bonapartist
and socialist
camps; he also befriended the prominent Boulangist and Romantic nationalist thinker Maurice Barrès
. In time, he became a representative of Symbolism, and maintained contacts with authors such as Joris-Karl Huysmans
, Maurice Maeterlinck
, Octave Mirbeau
, Jean Moréas
, and Paul Verlaine
. Another influence on him was the occult
ist and novelist Joséphin Péladan
, whose Rosicrucian salon
he attended several times.
He debuted as a writer and political essayist, and it was later reported, but not confirmed, that he published his pieces in newspapers and magazines of diverse backgrounds—Le Figaro
, Le Gaulois
, Gil Blas
, L'Intransigeant
and La Libre Parole among them. A lover and protector of actresses in both France and Switzerland
, he also claimed to have played a part in staging the first Genevan showing of Richard Wagner
's Die Walküre
.
In France, Bogdan-Piteşti had first contemplated the idea of revolutionizing Romanian art
, and, upon his arrival to Bucharest, began organizing artists' reunions at the Kübler and Fialkowski coffeehouses. In 1896, with the Post-Impressionist
artists Constantin Artachino, Ştefan Luchian
and Nicolae Vermont
, he founded Salonul Independenţilor, the Romanian replica of the French Société des Artistes Indépendants
. They were soon joined by painter Nicolae Grant and caricaturist Nicolae Petrescu Găină. The exhibits featured some of Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti's own drawings, which he intended to use as illustrations for his book of French-language
poems, Sensations internes ("Internal Sensations"). He planned for his art movement to reach outside of Romania, and, also in 1896, financed an international exhibition of independent and avant-garde
artists. Salonul was known for its public protest against academic art
: located just outside the Romanian Athenaeum
building (a main venue for Neoclassicism
), it was decorated with a Petrescu Găină's large caricature of the academic artist C. I. Stăncescu (originally printed in the salon's catalog) and a red flag
. The latter socialist symbol was taken down by the Romanian Police
soon after being hoisted. The subsequent exhibitions were viewed with sympathy by a section of the press, including the leftist newspaper Adevărul
, which republished pieces ridiculing Stăncescu as the organizer of official displays, accompanied by favorable comments directed at all Salonul Independenţilor artists. Noting the promoter's anarchist past, Adevărul art columnist Gal wrote: "Bogdan has all the qualities and flaws of a sincere French revolutionary, but one who is not entirely clear and scientific. He has an extraordinary love for all things independent and hates to the point of excess all sectarian folk and all school." In June 1896, the group of "secessionists" was charged with decorating Bragadiru Garden, where the Romania press was organizing its annual fair. The show, attended by Bogdan-Piteşti, prominently featured the large caricature of Stăncescu one one side of its entrance.
The independent group was not entirely opposed to tradition, and occasionally appealed to it as a basis for cultural reconstruction. It had among its honorary members the oil painter Nicolae Grigorescu
, an established artistic figure connected with the Barbizon school
. Bogdan-Piteşti was especially fond of Luchian's work, and, in an 1896 article for the cultural magazine Revista Orientală, spoke of his associate as "an admirable colorist", a "free spirit", and a purveyor of "revolutionary ideas". Bogdan-Piteşti, who increased Luchian's self-confidence by urging him to apply his "real talent" to illustrating "an idea", was adverse to Grigorescu's traditionalist style. Instead, Luchian used Grigorescu as a source of inspiration in his own work (prompting critics to argue that Grigorescu's reception to Salonul Independenţilor was Bogdan-Piteşti's concession to his friend).
He had by then begun publishing his poems in the Romanian Symbolist movement
's Literatorul magazine and was friends with its founder, Alexandru Macedonski
; in 1897, he was chosen by the latter to edit his book of French-language poems, Bronzes. Having financed the volume's publishing, Bogdan-Piteşti also authored its preface. The latter essay compared Macedonski's poetry to that of Mihai Eminescu
, and, in more general terms, evidenced in Bogdan-Piteşti a perseverent Francophile
polemicist (Bogdan-Piteşti stated with alarm that Romania risked being seduced by German culture). Vianu, who was himself an associate of Macedonski's, commented that Bogdan-Piteşti was probably unsuited for the task, and noted that, despite expectations, the volume did not have a notable effect on the French public. Part of this argument was based on the lack of press reviews for Bronzes—with the notable exception of a May 1898 article in Mercure de France
, written by Pierre Quillard
(himself a Symbolist and anarchist).
Later in 1898, back in Romania, Bogdan-Piteşti and the other Salonul Independenţilor initiators, together with Ioan Bacalbaşa and the architect Ştefan Ciocâlteu, founded Societatea Ileana, an association dedicated to supporting innovative artists. Its presiding committee was later joined by the intellectual and political figures Constantin Rădulescu-Motru
, Nicolae Xenopol, and Nicolae Filipescu, as well as by the painter Jean Alexandru Steriadi
. The society prolonged its members' effort against academic salons, organizing a large exhibit in 1898, and, at the height of its popularity, enlisting the affiliation of some 300 people. Nevertheless, a number of its affiliates preserved their links with Stănescu's official branch.
The name Ileana
was probably a borrowing from Romanian folklore, and may have thus been a reference to the fairy tale
character Ileana Cosânzeana
. The group's press organ, also known as Ileana, was edited by Bacalbaşa and illustrated by Luchian. Described by Vianu as a "refined art magazine", it is also considered the first one of its kind in Romania.
As head of Ileana, Bogdan-Piteşti organized Joséphin Péladan
's 1898 visit to Bucharest. It was a much-publicized event, which attracted the attention of high society and received ample coverage in the press; Bogdan-Piteşti accompanied Péladan on visits to various Bucharest landmarks, including the Romanian Atheneum, the Chamber of Deputies
, the Orthodox Metropolitan
and Domniţa Bălaşa churches, as well as the Roman Catholic
Saint Joseph Cathedral. Among the politicians who attended the ceremonies were Nicolae Filipescu, Constantin Dissescu, Take Ionescu
, Ioan Lahovary
, and Constantin C. Arion
, and the prominent intellectuals Barbu Ştefănescu Delavrancea
and Rădulescu-Motru were also in the audience. Péladan agreed to lecture in front of Societatea Ileana at the Atheneum, and his subject of choice was The Genius of the Latin Race. The visit turned to scandal when Péladan issued a call for all Romanians to embrace Catholicism, for which the authorities asked him to leave the country before term.
Various commentators were dismissive of the visit and its importance. Art historian Theodor Enescu described its impact as "amazing", and referred to Péladan as an "unusual [funambulesc in the original] representative of French culture
". He also proposed that the reception, which he called "noisy" and "exacerbated enthusiasm", was possibly due to the "complexes of a provincial culture, confronted with the promiscuous exorbitance of a great culture". This assessment was shared by literary historian Paul Cernat, who noted that the level of attention enjoyed by the French intellectual was in contrast to the latter's "rather modest value". However, Cernat argued that the visit played an important part in promoting new cultural trends, specifically notions of art for art's sake
and decadence
, "through the means of politics [italics in the original]".
As Ion Doican (or Duican), Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti contributed to Ileana essays praising various painters: Arthur Verona, George Demetrescu Mirea, and, most of all, Luchian. Ileana only published a few issues before closing down in 1901. Bogdan-Piteşti's collaborator Bacalbaşa, known by then as a dramatist, also attended, but drifted away from the group in 1900, giving up his position as editor of Ileana. A similar split occurred between Luchian and his patron, sparked by Bogdan-Piteşti's new and more lenient comments about Stăncescu, and probably lasting for several years. Over the same period, Bogdan-Piteşti became one of Literatoruls main financial backers.
Writing in 1910, at a time when Romanian art came to be me more familiar with new artistic trends (including Cubism
and Fauvism
, both advocated locally by art critic Theodor Cornel), Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti complained that Romanian intellectuals still considered Impressionism
a novelty. On the occasion, he hailed the Post-Impressionist French artists Paul Gauguin
and Paul Cézanne
as the models to follow. He was actively seeking to mend his split with Luchian, and, although he called the painter "inconsistent", again stated that he found him to be Romania's best new artist.
. During the general election of 1899, he ran for a deputy seat in both Olt
and Ilfov
, without registering success. Reputedly, Bogdan-Piteşti passed himself off as the son of deposed Domnitor
Alexander John Cuza
. His activity in Olt resulted in violent incidents: peasants in and around Slatina
were instigated to riot, and their revolt was suppressed with use of force. He was arrested for sedition
, and is reported to have based his successful defense on denying he had any part to play in the events.
Overall, he claimed to have been imprisoned over forty times by Romanian authorities, and stressed that all these convictions were owed to political crime
s—while reporting this statement, Vianu stressed that, in reality, some prison terms included in Bogdan-Piteşti's account were owed to misdemeanor
s. In time, his reputation as a convict attracted him the colloquial moniker Bogdan-Văcăreşti, after the Văcăreşti prison in Bucharest. He was also known to his contemporaries as Bogdan-Ciupeşti (from a ciupi, "to gyp").
Bogdan-Piteşti inherited a manor in Vlaici village (part of Coloneşti
), which was, beginning in 1908, the center of his activities and his sizable art collection, as well as being among the first places in Romania where visual artists could participate in summer art camps. The summer camps he began organizing were attended by the three artists, and, in time, attracted virtually all other major en plein air
painters of the day: Nicolae Dărăscu
, Ştefan Dimitrescu
, Iosif Iser
, M. H. Maxy
, Theodor Pallady
, as well as Camil Ressu
.
) began hosting regular gatherings of intellectuals. Among those who attended in successive stages were the writers Macedonski, Tudor Arghezi
, Mateiu Caragiale
, Victor Eftimiu
, Benjamin Fondane
, Gala Galaction
, George Bacovia
, Ion Minulescu
, Claudia Millian, N. D. Cocea
, Ion Vinea, F. Brunea-Fox, Eugeniu Ştefănescu-Est, A. de Herz, Ion Călugăru
, and Adrian Maniu. It also hosted the artists Luchian, Artachino, Verona, Maxy, Iser, Steriadi, Dimitrescu, Pallady, Ressu, Dărăscu, Nina Arbore, Constantin Brâncuşi
, Constantin Medrea, Dimitrie Paciurea
, Maria Ciurdea Steurer, Oscar Han
, Nicolae Tonitza
, Ion Theodorescu-Sion
, Friedrich Storck and Cecilia Cuţescu-Storck, as well as Abgar Baltazar, Alexandru Brătăşanu, Alexandru Poitevin-Skeletti, George Demetrescu Mirea, Rodica Maniu, and Marcel Janco
. Also in 1908, following Iser's proposal, Bogdan-Piteşti sponsored a Bucharest exhibit showcasing works by the well-known European painters Demetrios Galanis
, Jean-Louis Forain
and André Derain
.
After 1910, his patronage took on new forms. Literary critic Şerban Cioculescu
noted that, at least initially, the relationship between the collector and the young impoverished writer Mateiu Caragiale included a financial aspect, with Bogdan-Piteşti inviting the destitute poet to dinner and providing him with funds. He was also providing lodging and materials for various disadvantaged painters, as reported by his close friend Arghezi, and took a special interest in promoting the poetry of Ştefan Petică (as well as that of Arghezi himself). Arghezi claimed that the influence exercised by his patron over Luchian, as well as his moral support, were "decisive". In his memoir of the period, linguist Alexandru Rosetti mentioned that the collector had "over a dozen artists" invited for supper each day.
His religious conversion saw him publicly expressing opinions against Eastern Orthodoxy
, and its predominant local branch, the Romanian Orthodox Church
. Paul Cernat noted that this was part of his search for a religious alternative, which in turn reflected a Symbolist-influenced choice in favor of cosmopolitanism
. However, Gala Galaction, who was later ordained an Orthodox priest, recorded that the circle could accommodate people of very diverse backgrounds, citing, alongside himself, the Roman Catholic priest Carol Auner, the Protestant
sculptor Storck, and the anarchist activist Panait Muşoiu. According to Cernat, Bogdan-Piteşti's Bohemian
society also grouped people believed associated with the illegal activities, and was noted for its "libertine
" atmosphere. Galaction himself recalled that, alongside literary men and artists, the salon accommodated "a dozen con artists and prostitutes."
A dandy
, Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti himself led a life of luxury, marked by excess, and had become a drug addict. He was a homosexual
, which did not prevent him from marrying a young woman named Domnica (commonly known under the hypocoristic
Mica). According to memoirist Constantin Beldie, she was of Polish
origin, and had previously been a prostitute at a nightclub
. Herself a libertine, Domnica was described as "androgynous
".
, but was reportedly a front for Cantacuzino, who thus tested his agenda on the Romanian public. Searas main negative campaign at the time focused on the Take Ionescu
-led Conservative-Democratic Party, which at the time shared power with the Conservatives, against Cantacuzino's wishes. It notably published gossip and lampoons on Ionescu, on Alexandru Bădărău (head of Public Works) and on young Conservative Democrat Nicolae Titulescu
.
By then, like many "Germanophile
" Conservatives, Bogdan-Piteşti came to support the Romanian Kingdom
's alliance with the German Empire
and Austria-Hungary
. This view was popularized through the means of his literary club, and support for the Central Powers
was also voiced by Arghezi and by Seara. In September 1914, a German consortium purchased the paper together with Cantacuzino's main gazette Minerva, and Bogdan-Piteşti was kept as a simple columnist.
Throughout the interval, Bogdan-Piteşti was himself an outspoken Germanophile. His circle, which was already hostile to the National Liberal
cabinet of Ion I. C. Brătianu
, welcomed the diverse environments who resented the country's potential participation in the war: the pro-German Conservatives, the supporters of proletarian internationalism
, and the committed pacifists
. The artistic clientele associated with the politicians was also represented in the group, and, in Cernat's view, was not in a position to distance itself from its patrons' options. Suspicions soon arose that Bogdan-Piteşti himself had become a mere agent of influence
. According to Zambaccian, Bogdan-Piteşti hinted that his support for Germany was "not in return for just nothing". At the time, through the means of notes in his scattered personal diaries, Caragiale reputedly accused Bogdan-Piteşti of having been financed by Germany to promote her interests in Romania and aid in her propaganda
effort. Such assessments, accompanied by Caragiale's allegation that Bogdan-Piteşti was not knowledgeable in art, arguably reflected the conflicts between the two literary figures, and their overall reliability remains doubtful. However, Caragiale is believed to have borrowed, and never returned, some 10,000 lei
from Bogdan-Piteşti, probably diverted from a German source.
, later replaced by Arghezi. In February 1916, Galaction and Arghezi launched Cronica, another review with a pro-German agenda, and which may itself have been published with discreet assistance from Bogdan-Piteşti. Although Bogdan-Piteşti, Domnica and Caragiale paid a mysterious visit to Berlin
in early 1916, they were never listed as foreign spies by Siguranţa Statului counter-intelligence
. Bogdan-Piteşti's name surfaced in a February 1916 conversation between German statesman Matthias Erzberger
and Raymund Netzhammer, the Catholic Archbishop of Bucharest
and loyal German subject: Erzberger wanted to how the Romanian agitator could benefit the Central Powers cause, but was informed by Netzhammer that Bogdan-Piteşti was unreliable for the cause. Allegations later surfaced that Bogdan-Piteşti had been discovered among those bribed by the German manager of Steaua Română company, Albert E. Günther. The original dossier attesting this was destroyed, but secondary sources claim that Bogdan-Piteşti alone received 840,000 lei from Günther's hands.
The contributors to Seara and Libertatea were, in general, outspoken social and cultural critics, with personal political goals. Historian Lucian Boia
assess that, although Bogdan-Piteşti took German money on principle, his switch from the Francophile
s may also have reflected a genuinely Conservative political credo. Boia thus notes that Seara was supportive of the Central Powers from the 1914 build-up to the war
, even before Cantacuzino had come to decide which side he liked. The core group of contributors to Seara included socialists of various hues. Noted among them were Arghezi, who claimed that Serbian nationalism
was the actual cause of war, and Felix Aderca
, who depicted the German Empire as the more progressive
belligerent. A distinct trend was illustrated by two leftist refugees from the Russian Empire
, who wanted Romania to join the Central Powers and help liberate Bessarabia
, as opposed to freeing Transylvania
from the Austro-Hungarians; they were Alexis Nour, from the Poporanist
faction, and the old anarchist Zamfir Arbore
. Searas regular correspondent from the eastern Romanian region, Moldavia
, was the Jewish
socialist poet Avram Steuerman-Rodion
, who reported on the Moldavian intellectuals' growing preference for neutrality. Seara counted among its contributors a mainstream Conservative and academic, Ilie Bărbulescu, who believed that the Transylvanian project was impractical or cautioned about the dangers of Russian expansionism
. Two distinct voices were those of poet Dumitru Karnabatt, who identified the Entente Powers
with Pan-Slavism
or British Imperial
interests; and Ion Gorun, the Transylvanian writer and Habsburg loyalist
. Searas cultural page notably hosted contributions by Vinea and the young poet Jacques G. Costin.
The left-wing proccupations were an important feature of Libertatea: its opening manifesto called for a large-scale social reform, which it claimed was more important than the National Liberal ideal of recovering Transylvania from its Austro-Hungarian overlord. It enlisted contributions, generally less political than Seara articles, from literary figures such as Vinea, Demostene Botez, I. Dragoslav
, Adrian Maniu and I. C. Vissarion.
Bogdan-Piteşti regularly published his own articles in the two newspapers he directed, signing them with the pseudonym Al. Dodan. The early texts express his Russophobia
and commiseration over France's alliance with Tsarist autocracy
, the world's "most savage, most ignorant and bloodiest oligarchy". By 1915, assessing that Romania's national interest rested with the Habsburgs and the Germans, and arguing that Romanian peasants were worse off than their counterparts in Transylvania, he was urging his countrymen to ponder the benefits of Bessarabia's annexation to Romania.
; the plaintiff enlisted the services of lawyer Take Ionescu
, and the defendant lost the trial and was sentenced to a jail term. Throughout the scandal, Seara hosted articles by Arghezi, in which the latter professed his patron's innocence. In 1916, just before Romania entered the war as an Entente country, Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti was again involved in a legal dispute with the Francophiles Take Ionescu and Barbu Ştefănescu-Delavrancea, being represented in court by Constantin Dissescu.
After Romania suffered heavy defeats in her confrontation with the Central Powers, Bogdan-Piteşti, like Arghezi, Macedonski, Galaction and Mateiu Caragiale, remained in German-occupied Bucharest. Despite this choice, he kept a low profile, and, according to popular but unverifiable rumors, was even arrested once the occupation authorities angrily discovered his political uselessness. When Romania recovered possession over its southern areas during the closing stage of the Romanian Campaign
, he was prosecuted for treason and served a jail term in Văcăreşti. Reportedly, this last sentence, passed in 1919, was not related to the accusation of treason, but merely to his fraudulent activities, and only by coinicidence did Bogdan-Piteşti share a prison with the convicted collaborationist
journalists (Arghezi, Karnabatt, Ioan Slavici
).
Tudor Vianu claimed that Bogdan-Piteşti spent his last years "in ignominy", and Cernat described his position as that of "a pariah". He died four years after the war ended, at his house in Bucharest, after suffering a myocardial infarction
. According to Cernat, his death came suddenly, while he was conversing on the phone (he defined the circumstances as "grotesque"). Bogdan-Piteşti's last wish was for his collection to pass into state property and be kept as a museum.
writes about his seductive "legend", which fused an "imaginative and generous intellectual" with a "con artist" who "lived life as he saw fit". According to Paul Cernat, his influential circle was "an excellent medium of transmission for the modern spirit, an informal institution and one of the first coagulant factors for [Romania's] first post-symbolist modernism
." Critic Theodor Enescu proposed that, alongside Macedonski's own group, the Ştirbey-Vodă Street salon was the only important manifestation of culture in the period between the decline of the trend-setter and pro-Conservative Junimea
and the establishment of the modernist literature
magazine Sburătorul
. Cernat also noted that, while the writer Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti was "neglectful and improvident" when it came to preserving his own works, his essays and prose poetry
had genuine value. Art historian Petru Comarnescu
stated his belief that the controversial patron had "critical intuitions" that were superior to those of collectors Zambaccian and Ioan Kalinderu, while his colleague Nicolae Oprescu assessed that, without Bogdan-Piteşti, Ştefan Luchian
would be lost to Romanian art.
The art environment both cherished and rejected its anarchist patron. In his moments of glory, he received homages from many of his writer friends, under the form of notebooks written especially for him. At a later date, all sides of the dispute were united in expressing criticism for at least some of Bogdan-Piteşti's deeds. According to Galaction, he was a "hajduk
", who "robbed and gave away." Zambaccian defined his fellow collector as "a man created from a mold in which the evil and the good genius were present in equal measure. [...] Cynical and suave, generous on one side, a con artist on the other, Al. Bogdan-Piteşti relished the abjection that he served with cynicism". The nationalist journalist Pamfil Şeicaru would refer to him as "a scoundrel", while, on one occasion, Macedonski argued that Bogdan-Piteşti was "a wonderful prose writer and an admirable poet". Benjamin Fondane
, the younger modernist poet, praised Bogdan-Piteşti for his taste and patronage, while reflecting that: "He was made of the greatest of joys, in the most purulent of bodies. How many generations of ancient boyars had come to pass, like unworthy dung, for this singular earth to be generated?" Writer and critic Eugen Lovinescu
, himself a modernist, was bitterly opposed to the views of Bogdan-Piteşti and other intellectuals who sided with Germany: in 1922, he published the article Revizuiri morale ("Moral Revisions"), in which he attacked both the art collector and his associates Arghezi and N. D. Cocea
. Criticism of the collector's activities was also voiced by Comarnescu and his colleague Ionel Jianu, who, while underlining Bogdan-Piteşti's qualities, spoke of his "reprovable faults" and "con artist coups", noting that his nature was that of "an exhibitionist determined to trick and scandalize", or an "enfant terrible
".
Comparisons have been made between the Romanian collector and other controversial historical figures: Fondane drew a parallel between him and Alcibiades
, to which Zambaccian added that other commentators likened Bogdan-Piteşti to the Renaissance
writer and notorious blackmailer Pietro Aretino
(while he stressed that, unlike Aretino, Bogdan-Piteşti never profited from his artist friends). Comarnescu proposed that both Bogdan-Piteşti and the equally controversial Arghezi were better understood through the logic of Hinduism
("the ancient Indian ethics"), where, he argued, "good and evil are not opposed, but collocated, combined, in a state of confusion". Discussing Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti's preference for orality
, his political connections and his mostly informal influence, Cernat concluded that, "the necessary changes having been made", they allowed one to compare the art collector with Nae Ionescu
, a philosopher and far right
activist whose career spanned the interwar period
, and whose debut was also associated with Symbolism.
. Vianu commented that such "grand feudal attitudes" made Bogdan-Piteşti an "indisputably picturesque" person. The account was partly confirmed by Constantin Beldie, who also noted that, during those years, Alexandru Macedonski was "starving" and had to provide for "a house full of children". Zambaccian rendered a story told by the actor Ion Iancovescu, according to which, during World War I, Macedonski was asked by his former protégé to provide him with a copy of Bronzes; Macedonski demanded 1 million lei in return, and Bogdan-Piteşti bluntly offered him 5 lei—reluctant but prompt, Macedonski accepted the sum, allegedly commenting that "he is capable of changing his mind, that con artist!" Bogdan-Piteşti's mood swings were also discussed by memoirist Radu Rosetti, who recorded stories that the art patron scarcely minded being cheated by some in his retinue, but that he publicly embarrassed Galaction and his own wife at parties.
The relationship between Mateiu Caragiale and his one-time patron has attracted the special interest of critics. It degenerated during the late 1910s, to the point where Caragiale, whose diary spoke of Bogdan-Piteşti's homosexuality in dismissive terms (calling him "a blusterer of the anti-natural vice"), laid out a plan to rob the house of his newly found enemy. Caragiale's diary also featured an account of Domnica Bogdan, questioning her morality.
Bogdan-Piteşti's relationships with his other protégés were not always cordial. According to an anecdote of the time, he advanced Luchian a large sum of money, which the painter used for a trip to Sinaia
. In return, Luchian allegedly promised Bogdan-Piteşti to invite him over for a stay, but failed to send him his new address. The patron was upset by this disloyal gesture, and send a telegram to reach him. Instead of an address, it read: "To the ugliest tourist in Sinaia" (a pun on Luchian's proverbial bad looks). By the mid 1910s, Luchian was incapacitated by multiple sclerosis
, and Bogdan-Piteşti is said to have been one of the last persons to visit him before his death in June 1916. On the occasion, the patron asked his protégé how he was feeling, addressing him with the colloquial moniker Babac ("Old man"); Luchian is reported to have answered, "I'm going away" (words which are seen as a premonition of his death).
The main printed recollection about Bogdan-Piteşti's 1919 imprisonment comes from Ioan Slavici
's Închisorile mele ("My Prisons"). According to Slavici, the art patron had a luxury cell with a view over Bucharest. Alexandru Rosetti, citing one of his conversations with Tudor Arghezi as a source, provided an anecdote about the prison encounter between Bogdan-Piteşti and Arghezi. In this account, a Gendarme
wrongly attempted to pushed the art patron into the same group as Arghezi, as the latter was making his way to court. Protesting this move, Bogdan-Piteşti reportedly stated: Pardon, eu sunt escroc! ("Pardon me, [but] I'm a con artist!"). Krikor Zambaccian claimed that, during his first legal confrontation with Take Ionescu
, his fellow art collector had commented of the latter's deposition: "He sure is talented, that con artist!" The pro-Entente Octavian Goga
was especially critical of Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti's stance during the early stages of the World War, and, in his record of 1916 events, including the Ionescu trial, described him as a "bandit" and alleged that his defense was paid for "with German money".
value to Bogdan-Piteşti's alleged reply: "Did you perhaps think that you might buy off some honest people in Romania? You would be dead wrong, in this land one can only buy off con artists, only con artists like me." Duca concludes: "this reply, with its admirable and atavistic national dignity, tempts me to forget, though not to forgive, the utter turpitude that we call Bogdan-Piteşti's life."
Despite their relationship having declined from friendship to hatred, Bogdan-Piteşti's style and his mundane interests are occasionally seen as sources of inspiration for Caragiale's only novel, Craii de Curtea-Veche
(completed in 1928). Some have noted that Bogdan-Piteşti has a lot in common with one of the three protagonists, Paşadia. He and his wife were both characters in Ion Vinea's novels Venin de mai ("May Venom") and Lunatecii ("The Lunatics")—Alexandru is assigned the name Adam Gună, while Mica is portrayed as Iada Gună. The novels, both of which also depict the Bogdan family's cultural circle, allude to the patron's influence in making young people reject conventionalism and accept vice as a guiding principle in art and life. They also repeat claims that Bogdan-Piteşti was abusing drugs, and that Domnica was originally a prostitute (alleging that she continued to live as a libertine
late in her marriage). In addition, Ion Călugăru
probably used Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti as the inspiration for Alexandru Lăpuşneanu
, the boyar character in his novel Don Juan Cocoşatul ("Don Juan
the Hunchback"). Literary historian George Călinescu
described the protagonist as defined by: "The dignity in gossip, the boyar carriage, the refinement that the apparent vulgarity cannot bring to ruin, the blasé and cynical lechery [...]." In one episode in the book, Lăpuşneanu simulates agony and receives a Catholic confession
that he insists must be read in Latin
instead of French. His wife, known as Fetiţa ("The Little Girl"), is estranged from him and, herself an eccentric figure, is shown making an appearance on a battlefield while wearing only a swimsuit
.
Tudor Arghezi dedicated Bogdan-Piteşti some of his first poetry writings. As art critic, together with Theodor Cornel, Arghezi published a comprehensive biographical study of his patron (part of their Figuri contimporane din România dictionary of 1909). He also made Bogdan-Piteşti the hero of a small eponymous poem:
By the 1910s, Bogdan-Piteşti's art interests gave birth to a collection of as few as 967 or as many as 1,500 individual works, most of them hosted by his estate in Coloneşti
. They comprised objects created by prominent Romanian visual artists, including, alongside his early associates, Nina Arbore, Constantin Brâncuşi
, Oscar Han
, Aurel Jiquidi, Maria Ciurdea Steurer, Constantin Medrea, Ary Murnu, Dimitrie Paciurea
, Nicolae Petrescu Găina, Alexandru Satmari, Francisc Şirato
, Cecilia Cuţescu-Storck, Jean Alexandru Steriadi
, Friedrich Storck, Ion Theodorescu-Sion
, and Nicolae Tonitza
. Of the total, around 900 works were of Romanian provenance. Among the foreign artists whose work was featured in the collection were Georges Rochegrosse
and Frank Brangwyn
. The section dedicated to newer works of art was designed and opened as the first the modern art
museum in Romania.
The collection included many samples of Luchian's art. Three of his famous paintings featured there were Lăutul ("Washing the Hair")—which Bogdan-Piteşti is said to have likened to the luminous oil paintings of Paolo Veronese
, Safta Florăreasa ("Safta the Flower Girl")—originally part of the Luchian family collection, and a 1907 oil portrait of Luchian's cousin, Alecu Literatu ("Alecu the Literary Man"). They were accompanied by the 1906 pastel
Durerea ("The Pain"), which had been reproduced in a 1914 issue of Seara
, and by the paintings De Nămezi ("Lunchtime") and Lica, fetiţa cu portocala ("Lica, the Girl with the Orange"). Among the works in the series were two portraits of Bogdan-Piteşti: an ink drawing which the politician reproduced on his 1899 political manifestos, and a since-lost oil painting.
Bogdan-Piteşti was also depicted in several published but anonymous sketches, including two 1896 vignettes published in Adevărul
and a 1917 drawing signed Correggio. Domnica Bogdan sat as a model for various artists, and was notably depicted in works by Camil Ressu, Pallady and the Bulgarian-born painter Pascin
. In 1920, Bogdan-Piteşti commissioned Paciurea to complete a portrait bust
of Domnica. The same year, Dimitrescu painted her an oil-on-cardboard portrait in dominant shades of brown (with touches of red and gray). Bogdan-Piteşti's literary works were illustrated with drawings by George Demetrescu Mirea, Ion Georgescu and Alexandru Szathmary.
The Coloneşti manor and its art collection fell victim to neglect. According to Vianu, the collection was "blown over by the wind of devastation" as early as the interwar period
. In 1924, in defiance of his last request, it was subject to a public auction
, a measure which drew protests from literary figures such as Cezar Petrescu
, Perpessicius
and Victor Eftimiu
. As a result of the auction, many works passed into the collections of Zambaccian, Alexandru G. Florescu, Iosif Dona and several others. Zambaccian himself attributed the incident to the National Liberal
government's unwillingness to accept a donation from "a compromised person". He and several commentators place responsibility for the sales on Finance Minister
Ioan Alexandru Lapedatu, who is believed to have either hesitated in assessing the collection or to have plotted with businessmen who wanted it sold cheaply. Zambaccian was to be the eventual owner of Lăutul. It became a feature of the Zambaccian Museum
, and appears in one of his portraits (painted by Pallady).
Under the communist regime
, the Vlaici building was transformed into a branch for the state-owned producer of agricultural machinery, and, in 2004, belonged to its successor, Agromec (although largely unused). Beldie recounted that, under Communism, Domnica Bogdan worked as a nurse for the hygiene
department at the Central Hospital in Bucharest.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n Symbolist
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
poet, essayist, and art and literary critic, who was also known as a journalist and left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
political agitator. A wealthy landowner, he invested his fortune in patronage and art collecting, becoming one of the main local promoters of modern art
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
, and a sponsor of the Romanian Symbolist movement
Symbolist movement in Romania
The Symbolist movement in Romania, active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, marked the development of Romanian culture in both literature and visual arts...
. Together with other Post-Impressionist
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
and Symbolist cultural figures, Bogdan-Piteşti established Societatea Ileana, which was one of the first Romanian associations dedicated to promoting the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
and independent art. He was also noted for his friendship with the writers Joris-Karl Huysmans
Joris-Karl Huysmans
Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans was a French novelist who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans . He is most famous for the novel À rebours...
, Alexandru Macedonski
Alexandru Macedonski
Alexandru Macedonski was a Wallachian-born Romanian poet, novelist, dramatist and literary critic, known especially for having promoted French Symbolism in his native country, and for leading the Romanian Symbolist movement during its early decades...
, Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi was a Romanian writer, best known for his contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest , he explained that his pen name was related to Argesis, the Latin name for the Argeş River.-Early life:Along with Mihai Eminescu, Mateiu Caragiale, and...
and Mateiu Caragiale
Mateiu Caragiale
Mateiu Ion Caragiale was a Romanian poet and prose writer, best known for his novel Craii de Curtea-Veche, which portrays the milieu of boyar descendants before and after World War I. Caragiale's style, associated with Symbolism, the Decadent movement of the fin de siècle, and early modernism, was...
, as well as for sponsoring, among others, the painters Ştefan Luchian
Stefan Luchian
Ștefan Luchian or Lukian was a Romanian painter, famous for his landscapes and still life works.-Early life:He was born in Ștefănești, a village of Botoșani County, as the son of Major Dumitru Luchian and of Elena Chiriacescu. The Luchian family moved to Bucharest in 1873 and his mother desired...
, Constantin Artachino and Nicolae Vermont
Nicolae Vermont
Nicolae Vermont was a Romanian realist painter, graphic artist and muralist. He was noted for his wide range of subjects and his interest in social issues, and was an associate of the post-Impressionists Ştefan Luchian and Constantin Artachino, as well as a friend of the controversial art...
. In addition to his literary and political activities, Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti was himself a painter and graphic artist.
Much of Bogdan-Piteşti's controversial political career, inaugurated by his support for anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
, was dedicated to activism and support for revolution, while he showed an interest in the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
and maintained close contacts with Joséphin "Sâr" Péladan
Joséphin Péladan
Joséphin Péladan was a French novelist and Martinist. His father was a journalist who had written on prophecies, and professed a philosophic-occult Catholicism.-Biography:...
—whose 1898 visit to Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
he sponsored. He was detained by the authorities at various intervals, including an arrest for sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
during the 1899 election, and was later found guilty of having blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
ed the banker Aristide Blank. Late in his life, he led Seara
Seara (newspaper)
Seara was a daily newspaper published in Bucharest, Romania, before and during World War I. Owned by politician Grigore Gheorghe Cantacuzino and, through most of its existence, managed by the controversial Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti, it was an unofficial and unorthodox tribune for the Conservative...
, a Germanophile
Germanophile
A Germanophile is a person who is fond of German culture, German people, and Germany in general, exhibiting as it were German nationalism in spite of not being an ethnic German or a German citizen. Its opposite is Germanophobia...
daily, as well as a literary and political circle which came to oppose Romania's entry into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
on the Entente Powers
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
' side. He was arrested one final time upon the end of the war, by which time he had become hated by the general public.
Early life and anarchism
A native of PiteştiPitesti
Pitești is a city in Romania, located on the Argeș River. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated on the A1 freeway connecting it directly to the national capital Bucharest,...
, Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti was the son of a landowner from Olt
Olt County
Olt is a county of Romania, in the historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia . The capital city is Slatina.- Demographics :In 2002, it had a population of 489,274 and the population density was 89/km²....
, and, on his father's side, the descendant of immigrants from the Epirote
Epirus (periphery)
Epirus , formally the Epirus Region , is a geographical and administrative region in northwestern Greece. It borders the regions of West Macedonia and Thessaly to the east, West Greece to the south, the Ionian Sea and the Ionian Islands to the west and the country of Albania to the north. The...
area of Ioannina
Ioannina
Ioannina , often called Jannena within Greece, is the largest city of Epirus, north-western Greece, with a population of 70,203 . It lies at an elevation of approximately 500 meters above sea level, on the western shore of lake Pamvotis . It is located within the Ioannina municipality, and is the...
, whose ethnicity was either Aromanian
Aromanians
Aromanians are a Latin people native throughout the southern Balkans, especially in northern Greece, Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and as an emigrant community in Serbia and Romania . An older term is Macedo-Romanians...
or Albanian
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
. His father became a local leader of the Conservative Party. His mother was a boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
ess, and, as art collector and memoirist Krikor Zambaccian recounted, was rumored to have been a descendant of the Balotescu boyar family. Bogdan-Piteşti also had a sister, Elena Constanţa Bogdan; both she and her mother reportedly survived his death. As one of his eccentricities, he encouraged the—unsustainable—rumor that he was a direct descendant of the ancient Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
n ruling house of Basarab
House of Basarab
The Basarabs were a family which had an important role in the establishing of the Principality of Wallachia, giving the country its first line of Princes, one closely related with the Muşatin rulers of Moldavia...
. Raised in the Romanian Orthodox
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
faith, he converted to the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in his twenties, but was no longer a practicing Catholic by the time of his death.
He was educated in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, at a local Catholic institution. Bogdan-Piteşti then attended medical school at the University of Montpellier
University of Montpellier
The University of Montpellier was a French university in Montpellier in the Languedoc-Roussillon région of the south of France. Its present-day successor universities are the University of Montpellier 1, Montpellier 2 University and Paul Valéry University, Montpellier III.-History:The university...
, without ever graduating, and afterwards left to join the Bohemian
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
milieu of Paris. He enrolled at the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
, studying Law and Letters, but withdrew after a short while. Art historian Sanda Miller recounted that Bogdan-Piteşti attended the École des Beaux-Arts
École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts
The École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts is the distinguished National School of Fine Arts in Paris, France.The École des Beaux-arts is made up of a vast complex of buildings located at 14 rue Bonaparte, between the quai Malaquais and the rue Bonaparte, in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Près,...
in the French capital, whence he had been expelled. According to literary historian Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu was a Romanian literary critic, art critic, poet, philosopher, academic, and translator. Known for his left-wing and anti-fascist convictions, he had a major role on the reception and development of Modernism in Romanian literature and art...
, at that stage, the young man also began associating with the criminal underworld.
It was also around that period that Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti began frequenting the French anarchist
Anarchism in France
Thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who grew up during the Restoration was the first self-described anarchist. French anarchists fought in the Spanish Civil War as volunteers in the International Brigades. French anarchism reached its height in the late 19th century...
circles, while joining the Symbolist
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
movement. He was a presence in the anarchist group of Auguste Vaillant
Auguste Vaillant
Auguste Vaillant was a French anarchist, most famous for his bomb attack on the French Chamber of Deputies on 9 December 1893. The government's reaction to this attack was the passing of the infamous repressive Lois scélérates.He threw the home-made device from the public gallery and was...
(before the latter was executed for planning the bomb attack on the French Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of France
Chamber of Deputies was the name given to several parliamentary bodies in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries:* 1814–1848 during the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy, the Chamber of Deputies was the Lower chamber of the French Parliament, elected by census suffrage.*...
), and was acquainted with the anarchist geographer Élisée Reclus
Élisée Reclus
Élisée Reclus , also known as Jacques Élisée Reclus, was a renowned French geographer, writer and anarchist. He produced his 19-volume masterwork La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes , over a period of nearly 20 years...
. At some stage during the late 1880s, Bogdan-Piteşti was also a supporter of Georges Ernest Boulanger, a general who attempted to gain power in France with support from the Orléanist
Orléanist
The Orléanists were a French right-wing/center-right party which arose out of the French Revolution. It governed France 1830-1848 in the "July Monarchy" of king Louis Philippe. It is generally seen as a transitional period dominated by the bourgeoisie and the conservative Orleanist doctrine in...
, Bonapartist
Bonapartism
Bonapartism is often defined as a political expression in the vocabulary of Marxism and Leninism, deriving from the career of Napoleon Bonaparte. Karl Marx was a student of Jacobinism and the French Revolution as well as a contemporary critic of the Second Republic and Second Empire...
and socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
camps; he also befriended the prominent Boulangist and Romantic nationalist thinker Maurice Barrès
Maurice Barrès
Maurice Barrès was a French novelist, journalist, and socialist politician and agitator known for his nationalist and antisemitic views....
. In time, he became a representative of Symbolism, and maintained contacts with authors such as Joris-Karl Huysmans
Joris-Karl Huysmans
Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans was a French novelist who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans . He is most famous for the novel À rebours...
, Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
, Octave Mirbeau
Octave Mirbeau
Octave Mirbeau was a French journalist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, novelist, and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, while still appealing to the literary and artistic avant-garde...
, Jean Moréas
Jean Moréas
Jean Moréas , was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek during his youth.-Background:...
, and Paul Verlaine
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry.-Early life:...
. Another influence on him was the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
ist and novelist Joséphin Péladan
Joséphin Péladan
Joséphin Péladan was a French novelist and Martinist. His father was a journalist who had written on prophecies, and professed a philosophic-occult Catholicism.-Biography:...
, whose Rosicrucian salon
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...
he attended several times.
He debuted as a writer and political essayist, and it was later reported, but not confirmed, that he published his pieces in newspapers and magazines of diverse backgrounds—Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
, Le Gaulois
Le Gaulois
Le Gaulois was a French daily newspaper, founded in 1868 by Edmond Tarbe and Henri de Pene. After a printing stoppage, it was revived by Arthur Meyer in 1882 with notable collaborators Paul Bourget, Alfred Grévin, Abel Hermant, and Ernest Daudet...
, Gil Blas
Gil Blas (periodical)
Gil Blas was a Parisian literary periodical founded by Augustin-Alexandre Dumont in November 1879. It was in publication until 1914...
, L'Intransigeant
L'Intransigeant
L'Intransigeant was a French newspaper, founded in July 1880 by Henri Rochefort. Initially representing the left-wing opposition, it developed towards the right during the Boulangism affair and became a major right-wing newspaper by 1920s. The newspaper was vehemently anti-Dreyfusard, reflecting...
and La Libre Parole among them. A lover and protector of actresses in both France and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, he also claimed to have played a part in staging the first Genevan showing of Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
.
Salonul Independenţilor
Placed under surveillance due to his involvement in revolutionary politics by 1894, Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti was eventually expelled from France, despite Huysmans' intervention in his favor. Reputedly, the document on the basis of which this was effected stated that the Romanian was a "threat to the public order". Zambaccian doubted that the ultimate legal decision was owed to his anarchist connections, and claimed that Bogdan-Piteşti may have originally caught the attention of French authorities for having stolen bicycles.In France, Bogdan-Piteşti had first contemplated the idea of revolutionizing Romanian art
Art of Romania
Art of Romania encompasses the artists and artistic movements in Romania.-Romanian contemporary and modern artists:* Almaşan Virgil* Adela Andea* George Apostu* Corneliu Baba* Calin Baban* Sabin Bălaşa* Horia Bernea* Traian Brădean...
, and, upon his arrival to Bucharest, began organizing artists' reunions at the Kübler and Fialkowski coffeehouses. In 1896, with the Post-Impressionist
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
artists Constantin Artachino, Ştefan Luchian
Stefan Luchian
Ștefan Luchian or Lukian was a Romanian painter, famous for his landscapes and still life works.-Early life:He was born in Ștefănești, a village of Botoșani County, as the son of Major Dumitru Luchian and of Elena Chiriacescu. The Luchian family moved to Bucharest in 1873 and his mother desired...
and Nicolae Vermont
Nicolae Vermont
Nicolae Vermont was a Romanian realist painter, graphic artist and muralist. He was noted for his wide range of subjects and his interest in social issues, and was an associate of the post-Impressionists Ştefan Luchian and Constantin Artachino, as well as a friend of the controversial art...
, he founded Salonul Independenţilor, the Romanian replica of the French Société des Artistes Indépendants
Société des Artistes Indépendants
—The Société des Artistes Indépendants formed in Paris in summer 1884 choosing the device "No jury nor awards" . Albert Dubois-Pillet, Odilon Redon, Georges Seurat and Paul Signac were among its founders...
. They were soon joined by painter Nicolae Grant and caricaturist Nicolae Petrescu Găină. The exhibits featured some of Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti's own drawings, which he intended to use as illustrations for his book of French-language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
poems, Sensations internes ("Internal Sensations"). He planned for his art movement to reach outside of Romania, and, also in 1896, financed an international exhibition of independent and avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
artists. Salonul was known for its public protest against academic art
Academic art
Academic art is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts, which practiced under the movements of Neoclassicism and Romanticism,...
: located just outside the Romanian Athenaeum
Romanian Athenaeum
The Romanian Athenaeum is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest, Romania and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, circular building is the city's main concert hall and home of the "George Enescu" Philharmonic and of the George Enescu annual international...
building (a main venue for Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
), it was decorated with a Petrescu Găină's large caricature of the academic artist C. I. Stăncescu (originally printed in the salon's catalog) and a red flag
Red flag
In politics, a red flag is a symbol of Socialism, or Communism, or sometimes left-wing politics in general. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution. Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its...
. The latter socialist symbol was taken down by the Romanian Police
Romanian Police
The Romanian Police is the national police force and main civil law enforcement agency in Romania. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform.-Duties:The Romanian Police are responsible for:...
soon after being hoisted. The subsequent exhibitions were viewed with sympathy by a section of the press, including the leftist newspaper Adevărul
Adevarul
Adevărul is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in 1871 and reestablished in 1888, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published during the Romanian Kingdom's existence, adopting an independent pro-democratic position, advocating land reform and universal suffrage...
, which republished pieces ridiculing Stăncescu as the organizer of official displays, accompanied by favorable comments directed at all Salonul Independenţilor artists. Noting the promoter's anarchist past, Adevărul art columnist Gal wrote: "Bogdan has all the qualities and flaws of a sincere French revolutionary, but one who is not entirely clear and scientific. He has an extraordinary love for all things independent and hates to the point of excess all sectarian folk and all school." In June 1896, the group of "secessionists" was charged with decorating Bragadiru Garden, where the Romania press was organizing its annual fair. The show, attended by Bogdan-Piteşti, prominently featured the large caricature of Stăncescu one one side of its entrance.
The independent group was not entirely opposed to tradition, and occasionally appealed to it as a basis for cultural reconstruction. It had among its honorary members the oil painter Nicolae Grigorescu
Nicolae Grigorescu
Nicolae Grigorescu was one of the founders of modern Romanian painting.-Biography:He was born in Pitaru, Dâmboviţa County, Wallachia. In 1843 the family moved to Bucharest. At a young age , he became an apprentice at the workshop of the painter Anton Chladek and created icons for the church of...
, an established artistic figure connected with the Barbizon school
Barbizon school
The Barbizon school of painters were part of a movement towards realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870...
. Bogdan-Piteşti was especially fond of Luchian's work, and, in an 1896 article for the cultural magazine Revista Orientală, spoke of his associate as "an admirable colorist", a "free spirit", and a purveyor of "revolutionary ideas". Bogdan-Piteşti, who increased Luchian's self-confidence by urging him to apply his "real talent" to illustrating "an idea", was adverse to Grigorescu's traditionalist style. Instead, Luchian used Grigorescu as a source of inspiration in his own work (prompting critics to argue that Grigorescu's reception to Salonul Independenţilor was Bogdan-Piteşti's concession to his friend).
He had by then begun publishing his poems in the Romanian Symbolist movement
Symbolist movement in Romania
The Symbolist movement in Romania, active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, marked the development of Romanian culture in both literature and visual arts...
's Literatorul magazine and was friends with its founder, Alexandru Macedonski
Alexandru Macedonski
Alexandru Macedonski was a Wallachian-born Romanian poet, novelist, dramatist and literary critic, known especially for having promoted French Symbolism in his native country, and for leading the Romanian Symbolist movement during its early decades...
; in 1897, he was chosen by the latter to edit his book of French-language poems, Bronzes. Having financed the volume's publishing, Bogdan-Piteşti also authored its preface. The latter essay compared Macedonski's poetry to that of Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...
, and, in more general terms, evidenced in Bogdan-Piteşti a perseverent Francophile
Francophile
Is a person with a positive predisposition or interest toward the government, culture, history, or people of France. This could include France itself and its history, the French language, French cuisine, literature, etc...
polemicist (Bogdan-Piteşti stated with alarm that Romania risked being seduced by German culture). Vianu, who was himself an associate of Macedonski's, commented that Bogdan-Piteşti was probably unsuited for the task, and noted that, despite expectations, the volume did not have a notable effect on the French public. Part of this argument was based on the lack of press reviews for Bronzes—with the notable exception of a May 1898 article in Mercure de France
Mercure de France
The Mercure de France was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group....
, written by Pierre Quillard
Pierre Quillard
Pierre Quillard was a French Symbolist poet, playwright, translator , and journalist. An anarchist and supporter of Dreyfuss, he later became one of the first people to defend the Armenians persecuted under the Ottoman Empire...
(himself a Symbolist and anarchist).
Ileana and Péladan's visit
Constantin Radulescu-Motru
Constantin Rădulescu-Motru was a Romanian philosopher, psychologist, sociologist, logician, academic, dramatist, as well as centre-left nationalist politician with a noted anti-fascist discourse...
, Nicolae Xenopol, and Nicolae Filipescu, as well as by the painter Jean Alexandru Steriadi
Jean Alexandru Steriadi
Jean Alexandru Steriadi was a Romanian painter and drawing artist. He made portraits and compositions based on a strong, expressive drawing; then he evoluated towards impressionistic influenced landscapes in which the subtle harmony is combined with a refined sense of picturesque...
. The society prolonged its members' effort against academic salons, organizing a large exhibit in 1898, and, at the height of its popularity, enlisting the affiliation of some 300 people. Nevertheless, a number of its affiliates preserved their links with Stănescu's official branch.
The name Ileana
Ileana
Ileana is a female given name of Greek origin, meaning "of Troy." It is derived from the Greek name Helen. It has been adapted for Romanian and Spanish . The names Ileanne and Yleanne are in English...
was probably a borrowing from Romanian folklore, and may have thus been a reference to the fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
character Ileana Cosânzeana
Ileana Cosânzeana
Ileana Cosânzeana is a figure in Romanian mythology. This mythological personage is represented as a beautiful good-natured princess. Unlike in most fairy tales, where the princess is blonde, Ileana Cosânzeana is usually a brunette...
. The group's press organ, also known as Ileana, was edited by Bacalbaşa and illustrated by Luchian. Described by Vianu as a "refined art magazine", it is also considered the first one of its kind in Romania.
As head of Ileana, Bogdan-Piteşti organized Joséphin Péladan
Joséphin Péladan
Joséphin Péladan was a French novelist and Martinist. His father was a journalist who had written on prophecies, and professed a philosophic-occult Catholicism.-Biography:...
's 1898 visit to Bucharest. It was a much-publicized event, which attracted the attention of high society and received ample coverage in the press; Bogdan-Piteşti accompanied Péladan on visits to various Bucharest landmarks, including the Romanian Atheneum, the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
, the Orthodox Metropolitan
Romanian Patriarchal Cathedral
The Romanian Patriarchal Cathedral is located near the palace of the Patriarchate of the Romanian Orthodox Church, on Dealul Mitropoliei, in Bucharest, Romania....
and Domniţa Bălaşa churches, as well as the Roman Catholic
Roman Catholicism in Romania
The Roman Catholic Church in Romania is a Latin Rite Christian church, part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Curia in Rome. Its administration is centered in Bucharest, and comprises two archdioceses and four other dioceses...
Saint Joseph Cathedral. Among the politicians who attended the ceremonies were Nicolae Filipescu, Constantin Dissescu, Take Ionescu
Take Ionescu
Take or Tache Ionescu was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his political career as a radical member of the National Liberal Party , he joined the Conservative Party in 1891, and became noted as a social...
, Ioan Lahovary
Ioan Lahovary
Ioan N. Lahovary or Ion Lahovari; January 25, 1844 – June 14, 1915) was a member of Romanian aristocracy, a politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania.-Life and political career:...
, and Constantin C. Arion
Constantin C. Arion
Constantin C. Arion was a Romanian politician who served as the Minister of Religion and Public Instruction from December 29, 1910 until March 28, 1921, as Minister of Administration and Interior of Romania from March 28, 1912 until October 14, 1912 and as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania...
, and the prominent intellectuals Barbu Ştefănescu Delavrancea
Barbu Stefanescu Delavrancea
Barbu Ştefănescu Delavrancea was a Romanian writer and poet, considered one of Romania's greatest figures in the National awakening of Romania.-External links:*...
and Rădulescu-Motru were also in the audience. Péladan agreed to lecture in front of Societatea Ileana at the Atheneum, and his subject of choice was The Genius of the Latin Race. The visit turned to scandal when Péladan issued a call for all Romanians to embrace Catholicism, for which the authorities asked him to leave the country before term.
Various commentators were dismissive of the visit and its importance. Art historian Theodor Enescu described its impact as "amazing", and referred to Péladan as an "unusual [funambulesc in the original] representative of French culture
Culture of France
The culture of France and of the French people has been shaped by geography, by profound historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center of high culture and of decorative arts since the seventeenth...
". He also proposed that the reception, which he called "noisy" and "exacerbated enthusiasm", was possibly due to the "complexes of a provincial culture, confronted with the promiscuous exorbitance of a great culture". This assessment was shared by literary historian Paul Cernat, who noted that the level of attention enjoyed by the French intellectual was in contrast to the latter's "rather modest value". However, Cernat argued that the visit played an important part in promoting new cultural trends, specifically notions of art for art's sake
Art for art's sake
"Art for art's sake" is the usual English rendering of a French slogan, from the early 19th century, l'art pour l'art, and expresses a philosophy that the intrinsic value of art, and the only "true" art, is divorced from any didactic, moral or utilitarian function...
and decadence
Decadent movement
The Decadent movement was a late 19th century artistic and literary movement of Western Europe. It flourished in France, but also had devotees in England and throughout Europe, as well as in the United States.-Overview:...
, "through the means of politics [italics in the original]".
As Ion Doican (or Duican), Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti contributed to Ileana essays praising various painters: Arthur Verona, George Demetrescu Mirea, and, most of all, Luchian. Ileana only published a few issues before closing down in 1901. Bogdan-Piteşti's collaborator Bacalbaşa, known by then as a dramatist, also attended, but drifted away from the group in 1900, giving up his position as editor of Ileana. A similar split occurred between Luchian and his patron, sparked by Bogdan-Piteşti's new and more lenient comments about Stăncescu, and probably lasting for several years. Over the same period, Bogdan-Piteşti became one of Literatoruls main financial backers.
Writing in 1910, at a time when Romanian art came to be me more familiar with new artistic trends (including Cubism
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
and Fauvism
Fauvism
Fauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...
, both advocated locally by art critic Theodor Cornel), Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti complained that Romanian intellectuals still considered Impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
a novelty. On the occasion, he hailed the Post-Impressionist French artists Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
and Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th...
as the models to follow. He was actively seeking to mend his split with Luchian, and, although he called the painter "inconsistent", again stated that he found him to be Romania's best new artist.
Return to politics and Vlaici
He remained noted for his political activities after returning to Romania, and was reported to have toured the countryside, rallying peasants to rebellion and calling for a radical land reformLand reform in Romania
Four major land reforms have taken place in Romania: in 1864, 1921, 1945 and 1991. The first sought to undo the feudal structure that had persisted after the unification of the Danubian Principalities in 1859; the second, more drastic reform, tried to resolve lingering peasant discontent and create...
. During the general election of 1899, he ran for a deputy seat in both Olt
Olt County
Olt is a county of Romania, in the historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia . The capital city is Slatina.- Demographics :In 2002, it had a population of 489,274 and the population density was 89/km²....
and Ilfov
Ilfov County
Ilfov is the county that surrounds Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It used to be largely rural, but after the fall of communism, many of the county's villages and communes developed into high-income commuter towns, which act like suburbs or satellites of Bucharest...
, without registering success. Reputedly, Bogdan-Piteşti passed himself off as the son of deposed Domnitor
Domnitor
Domnitor was the official title of the ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866....
Alexander John Cuza
Alexander John Cuza
Alexander John Cuza was a Moldavian-born Romanian politician who ruled as the first Domnitor of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia between 1859 and 1866.-Early life:...
. His activity in Olt resulted in violent incidents: peasants in and around Slatina
Slatina, Romania
Slatina is the capital city of Olt county, Romania, on the river Olt.The city administers one village, Cireaşov.-History:The town of Slatina was first mentioned on January 20, 1368 in an official document issued by Vladislav I Vlaicu, Prince of Wallachia. The document stated that merchants from...
were instigated to riot, and their revolt was suppressed with use of force. He was arrested for sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
, and is reported to have based his successful defense on denying he had any part to play in the events.
Overall, he claimed to have been imprisoned over forty times by Romanian authorities, and stressed that all these convictions were owed to political crime
Political crime
In criminology, a political crime is an offence involving overt acts or omissions , which prejudice the interests of the state, its government or the political system...
s—while reporting this statement, Vianu stressed that, in reality, some prison terms included in Bogdan-Piteşti's account were owed to misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
s. In time, his reputation as a convict attracted him the colloquial moniker Bogdan-Văcăreşti, after the Văcăreşti prison in Bucharest. He was also known to his contemporaries as Bogdan-Ciupeşti (from a ciupi, "to gyp").
Bogdan-Piteşti inherited a manor in Vlaici village (part of Coloneşti
Colonesti, Olt
Coloneşti is a commune in Olt County, Romania. It is composed of nine villages: Bărăşti, Bătăreni, Cârstani, Chelbeşti, Coloneşti, Gueşti, Mărunţei, Năvârgeni and Vlaici....
), which was, beginning in 1908, the center of his activities and his sizable art collection, as well as being among the first places in Romania where visual artists could participate in summer art camps. The summer camps he began organizing were attended by the three artists, and, in time, attracted virtually all other major en plein air
En plein air
En plein air is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors.Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid-19th century working in natural light became particularly important to the Barbizon school and Impressionism...
painters of the day: Nicolae Dărăscu
Nicolae Darascu
Nicolae Dărăscu was a Romanian painter. He was influenced by Impressionism and Neo-impressionism.-Biography:...
, Ştefan Dimitrescu
Stefan Dimitrescu
Ştefan Dimitrescu was a Romanian Post-impressionist painter and draftsman.-Biography:Born in Huşi into a modest family, he completed his primary and secondary studies in his hometown...
, Iosif Iser
Iosif Iser
Iosif Iser was a Romanian painter and graphic artist.Born to a Jewish family, he was initially inspired by Expressionism, creating drawings with thick, unmodulated, lines and steep angles...
, M. H. Maxy
M. H. Maxy
M. H. Maxy was a Romanian Cubist painter.Maxy was of German-Jewish descent. He studied first in Bucharest under Camil Ressu and Iosif Iser, then in Berlin under Arthur Segal.-External links:*...
, Theodor Pallady
Theodor Pallady
Theodor Pallady was a Romanian painter.-Biography:Pallady was born in Iaşi, but at a young age, his family moved to Dresden, where he studied engineering at the Dresden University of Technology between 1887 and 1889. At the same time, he studied art with Erwin Oehme, who, recognising his artistic...
, as well as Camil Ressu
Camil Ressu
Camil Ressu was a Romanian painter and academic, one of the most significant art figures of Romania.-Early life and career:Born in Galaţi, Ressu originated from an Aromanian family that migrated to Romania from Macedonia at the start of the 19th century. His father, Constantin Ressu, who was a...
.
Political-cultural circle
In 1908, his villa on Bucharest's Ştirbey-Vodă Street (near the Cişmigiu GardensCismigiu Gardens
The Cişmigiu Gardens are a public park near the center of Bucharest, Romania, spanning areas on all sides of an artificial lake. The gardens' creation was an important moment in the history of Bucharest. They form the oldest and, at 17 hectares, the largest park in city's central area...
) began hosting regular gatherings of intellectuals. Among those who attended in successive stages were the writers Macedonski, Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi was a Romanian writer, best known for his contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest , he explained that his pen name was related to Argesis, the Latin name for the Argeş River.-Early life:Along with Mihai Eminescu, Mateiu Caragiale, and...
, Mateiu Caragiale
Mateiu Caragiale
Mateiu Ion Caragiale was a Romanian poet and prose writer, best known for his novel Craii de Curtea-Veche, which portrays the milieu of boyar descendants before and after World War I. Caragiale's style, associated with Symbolism, the Decadent movement of the fin de siècle, and early modernism, was...
, Victor Eftimiu
Victor Eftimiu
Victor Eftimiu was an Albanian-Romanian poet, playwright, and a contributor to Sburătorul, a Romanian literary magazine. His works have been performed in the State Jewish Theater of Romania....
, Benjamin Fondane
Benjamin Fondane
Benjamin Fondane or Benjamin Fundoianu was a Romanian and French poet, critic and existentialist philosopher, also noted for his work in film and theater. Known from his Romanian youth as a Symbolist poet and columnist, he alternated Neoromantic and Expressionist themes with echoes from Tudor...
, Gala Galaction
Gala Galaction
Gala Galaction was a Romanian Orthodox clergyman and theologian, writer, journalist, left-wing activist, as well as a political figure of the People's Republic of Romania...
, George Bacovia
George Bacovia
George Bacovia was a Romanian symbolist poet. While he initially belonged to the local Symbolist movement, his poetry came to be seen as a precursor of Romanian Modernism and eventually established him in critical esteem alongside Tudor Arghezi, Lucian Blaga and Ion Barbu as one of the most...
, Ion Minulescu
Ion Minulescu
Ion Minulescu was a Romanian avant-garde poet, novelist, short story writer, journalist, literary critic, and playwright. Often publishing his works under the pseudonyms I. M. Nirvan and Koh-i-Noor , he journeyed to Paris, where he was heavily influenced by the growing Symbolist movement and...
, Claudia Millian, N. D. Cocea
N. D. Cocea
N. D. Cocea was a Romanian journalist, novelist, critic and left-wing political activist, known as a major but controversial figure in the field of political satire...
, Ion Vinea, F. Brunea-Fox, Eugeniu Ştefănescu-Est, A. de Herz, Ion Călugăru
Ion Călugăru
Ion Călugăru was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and critic. As a figure on Romania's modernist scene throughout the early interwar period, he was noted for combining a picturesque perspective on the rural Jewish-Romanian community, to which he belonged, with traditionalist and...
, and Adrian Maniu. It also hosted the artists Luchian, Artachino, Verona, Maxy, Iser, Steriadi, Dimitrescu, Pallady, Ressu, Dărăscu, Nina Arbore, Constantin Brâncuşi
Constantin Brancusi
Constantin Brâncuşi was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris...
, Constantin Medrea, Dimitrie Paciurea
Dimitrie Paciurea
Dimitrie Paciurea – 14 July 1932) was a Romanian sculptor. His representational and symbolic style contrasts strongly to the more abstract style of his contemporary and co-national Constantin Brâncuşi....
, Maria Ciurdea Steurer, Oscar Han
Oscar Han
Oscar Han was a Romanian sculptor and writer. A student of Dimitrie Paciurea at the Academy of Arts in Bucharest, he was a member of the Group of Four together with painters Nicolae Tonitza, Francisc Şirato and Ştefan Dimitrescu...
, Nicolae Tonitza
Nicolae Tonitza
Nicolae Tonitza was a Romanian painter, engraver, lithographer, journalist and art critic. Drawing inspiration from Post-impressionism and Expressionism, he had a major role in introducing modernist guidelines to local art.-Biography:...
, Ion Theodorescu-Sion
Ion Theodorescu-Sion
Ion Theodorescu-Sion was a Romanian painter and draftsman, known for his contributions to modern art and especially for his traditionalist, primitivist, handicraft-inspired and Christian painting. Trained in academic art, initially an Impressionist, he dabbled in various modern styles in the years...
, Friedrich Storck and Cecilia Cuţescu-Storck, as well as Abgar Baltazar, Alexandru Brătăşanu, Alexandru Poitevin-Skeletti, George Demetrescu Mirea, Rodica Maniu, and Marcel Janco
Marcel Janco
Marcel Janco was a Romanian and Israeli visual artist, architect, art theorist and cultural promoter, known as the co-inventor of Dadaism and a leading exponent of Constructivism in Eastern Europe. His first contribution came in the 1910s, when he joined up with poets Tristan Tzara and Ion Vinea...
. Also in 1908, following Iser's proposal, Bogdan-Piteşti sponsored a Bucharest exhibit showcasing works by the well-known European painters Demetrios Galanis
Demetrios Galanis
Demetrios Galanis was an early twentieth century Greek artist and contemporary and friend of Picasso. In 1920, the year he completed his `Seated Nude', he exhibited alongside such major figures of modern art as Matisse and Braque, while from 1921 on he also exhibited alongside Juan Gris, Dufy,...
, Jean-Louis Forain
Jean-Louis Forain
Jean-Louis Forain was a French Impressionist painter, lithographer, watercolorist and etcher.-Overview:Forain was born in Reims, Marne but at age eight, his family moved to Paris. He began his career working as a caricaturist for several Paris journals including Le Monde Parisien and Le rire...
and André Derain
André Derain
André Derain was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse.-Early years:...
.
After 1910, his patronage took on new forms. Literary critic Şerban Cioculescu
Şerban Cioculescu
Şerban Cioculescu was a Romanian literary critic, literary historian and columnist, who held teaching positions in Romanian literature at the University of Iaşi and the University of Bucharest, as well as membership of the Romanian Academy and chairmanship of its Library...
noted that, at least initially, the relationship between the collector and the young impoverished writer Mateiu Caragiale included a financial aspect, with Bogdan-Piteşti inviting the destitute poet to dinner and providing him with funds. He was also providing lodging and materials for various disadvantaged painters, as reported by his close friend Arghezi, and took a special interest in promoting the poetry of Ştefan Petică (as well as that of Arghezi himself). Arghezi claimed that the influence exercised by his patron over Luchian, as well as his moral support, were "decisive". In his memoir of the period, linguist Alexandru Rosetti mentioned that the collector had "over a dozen artists" invited for supper each day.
His religious conversion saw him publicly expressing opinions against Eastern Orthodoxy
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
, and its predominant local branch, the Romanian Orthodox Church
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
. Paul Cernat noted that this was part of his search for a religious alternative, which in turn reflected a Symbolist-influenced choice in favor of cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality. This is contrasted with communitarian and particularistic theories, especially the ideas of patriotism and nationalism...
. However, Gala Galaction, who was later ordained an Orthodox priest, recorded that the circle could accommodate people of very diverse backgrounds, citing, alongside himself, the Roman Catholic priest Carol Auner, the Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
sculptor Storck, and the anarchist activist Panait Muşoiu. According to Cernat, Bogdan-Piteşti's Bohemian
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
society also grouped people believed associated with the illegal activities, and was noted for its "libertine
Libertine
A libertine is one devoid of most moral restraints, which are seen as unnecessary or undesirable, especially one who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behavior sanctified by the larger society. Libertines, also known as rakes, placed value on physical pleasures, meaning those...
" atmosphere. Galaction himself recalled that, alongside literary men and artists, the salon accommodated "a dozen con artists and prostitutes."
A dandy
Dandy
A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self...
, Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti himself led a life of luxury, marked by excess, and had become a drug addict. He was a homosexual
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, which did not prevent him from marrying a young woman named Domnica (commonly known under the hypocoristic
Hypocoristic
A hypocorism is a shorter form of a word or given name, for example, when used in more intimate situations as a nickname or term of endearment.- Derivation :Hypocorisms are often generated as:...
Mica). According to memoirist Constantin Beldie, she was of Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
origin, and had previously been a prostitute at a nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
. Herself a libertine, Domnica was described as "androgynous
Androgyny
Androgyny is a term derived from the Greek words ανήρ, stem ανδρ- and γυνή , referring to the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics...
".
Cantacuzino Conservative and Seara
Around 1912, Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti's political influence was on the rise, after he began associating with a grouping of the Conservative Party around the Mayor of Bucharest, Grigore Gheorghe Cantacuzino. Bogdan-Piteşti became the publisher of SearaSeara (newspaper)
Seara was a daily newspaper published in Bucharest, Romania, before and during World War I. Owned by politician Grigore Gheorghe Cantacuzino and, through most of its existence, managed by the controversial Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti, it was an unofficial and unorthodox tribune for the Conservative...
, but was reportedly a front for Cantacuzino, who thus tested his agenda on the Romanian public. Searas main negative campaign at the time focused on the Take Ionescu
Take Ionescu
Take or Tache Ionescu was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his political career as a radical member of the National Liberal Party , he joined the Conservative Party in 1891, and became noted as a social...
-led Conservative-Democratic Party, which at the time shared power with the Conservatives, against Cantacuzino's wishes. It notably published gossip and lampoons on Ionescu, on Alexandru Bădărău (head of Public Works) and on young Conservative Democrat Nicolae Titulescu
Nicolae Titulescu
Nicolae Titulescu was a well-known Romanian diplomat, at various times government minister, finance and foreign minister, and for two terms President of the General Assembly of the League of Nations . He was a member of the Freemasonry.-Early years:...
.
By then, like many "Germanophile
Germanophile
A Germanophile is a person who is fond of German culture, German people, and Germany in general, exhibiting as it were German nationalism in spite of not being an ethnic German or a German citizen. Its opposite is Germanophobia...
" Conservatives, Bogdan-Piteşti came to support the Romanian Kingdom
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
's alliance with the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
and Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. This view was popularized through the means of his literary club, and support for the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
was also voiced by Arghezi and by Seara. In September 1914, a German consortium purchased the paper together with Cantacuzino's main gazette Minerva, and Bogdan-Piteşti was kept as a simple columnist.
Throughout the interval, Bogdan-Piteşti was himself an outspoken Germanophile. His circle, which was already hostile to the National Liberal
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
cabinet of Ion I. C. Brătianu
Ion I. C. Bratianu
Ion I. C. Brătianu was a Romanian politician, leader of the National Liberal Party , the Prime Minister of Romania for five terms, and Foreign Minister on several occasions; he was the eldest son of statesman and PNL leader Ion Brătianu, the brother of Vintilă and Dinu Brătianu, and the father of...
, welcomed the diverse environments who resented the country's potential participation in the war: the pro-German Conservatives, the supporters of proletarian internationalism
Proletarian internationalism
Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is a Marxist social class concept based on the view that capitalism is now a global system, and therefore the working class must act as a global class if it is to defeat it...
, and the committed pacifists
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
. The artistic clientele associated with the politicians was also represented in the group, and, in Cernat's view, was not in a position to distance itself from its patrons' options. Suspicions soon arose that Bogdan-Piteşti himself had become a mere agent of influence
Agent of influence
An agent of influence is a person whose political actions and arguments are alleged to serve the interests of a foreign power, and to be directed or manipulated by the intelligence agency of that power...
. According to Zambaccian, Bogdan-Piteşti hinted that his support for Germany was "not in return for just nothing". At the time, through the means of notes in his scattered personal diaries, Caragiale reputedly accused Bogdan-Piteşti of having been financed by Germany to promote her interests in Romania and aid in her propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
effort. Such assessments, accompanied by Caragiale's allegation that Bogdan-Piteşti was not knowledgeable in art, arguably reflected the conflicts between the two literary figures, and their overall reliability remains doubtful. However, Caragiale is believed to have borrowed, and never returned, some 10,000 lei
Romanian leu
The leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...
from Bogdan-Piteşti, probably diverted from a German source.
Libertatea and German propaganda
Between October 1915 and June 1916, he went on to create and manage another press venue, Libertatea ("Freedom"), whose political director was the retired statesman Nicolae FlevaNicolae Fleva
Nicolae Fleva was a Wallachian-born Romanian politician, political journalist and lawyer. Known especially for his involvement in political incidents, and for a stated patriotism bordering on demagogy, he tested all political formulas that Romania's two-party system would allow...
, later replaced by Arghezi. In February 1916, Galaction and Arghezi launched Cronica, another review with a pro-German agenda, and which may itself have been published with discreet assistance from Bogdan-Piteşti. Although Bogdan-Piteşti, Domnica and Caragiale paid a mysterious visit to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in early 1916, they were never listed as foreign spies by Siguranţa Statului counter-intelligence
Counter-intelligence
Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...
. Bogdan-Piteşti's name surfaced in a February 1916 conversation between German statesman Matthias Erzberger
Matthias Erzberger
Matthias Erzberger was a German politician. Prominent in the Centre Party, he spoke out against the First World War from 1917 and eventually signed the Armistice with Germany for the German Empire...
and Raymund Netzhammer, the Catholic Archbishop of Bucharest
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest, Romania was established on 27 April 1883. There had been a Catholic presence in the city since at least the 18th century, but it was only in 1847 that Bishop Josephus Molajoni was able to establish his residence there...
and loyal German subject: Erzberger wanted to how the Romanian agitator could benefit the Central Powers cause, but was informed by Netzhammer that Bogdan-Piteşti was unreliable for the cause. Allegations later surfaced that Bogdan-Piteşti had been discovered among those bribed by the German manager of Steaua Română company, Albert E. Günther. The original dossier attesting this was destroyed, but secondary sources claim that Bogdan-Piteşti alone received 840,000 lei from Günther's hands.
The contributors to Seara and Libertatea were, in general, outspoken social and cultural critics, with personal political goals. Historian Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia is a Romanian historian, known especially for his works debunking Romanian nationalism and Communism.-Bibliography:* Eugen Brote: Litera, 1974...
assess that, although Bogdan-Piteşti took German money on principle, his switch from the Francophile
Francophile
Is a person with a positive predisposition or interest toward the government, culture, history, or people of France. This could include France itself and its history, the French language, French cuisine, literature, etc...
s may also have reflected a genuinely Conservative political credo. Boia thus notes that Seara was supportive of the Central Powers from the 1914 build-up to the war
Causes of World War I
The causes of World War I, which began in central Europe in July 1914, included many intertwined factors, such as the conflicts and hostility of the four decades leading up to the war. Militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism played major roles in the conflict as well...
, even before Cantacuzino had come to decide which side he liked. The core group of contributors to Seara included socialists of various hues. Noted among them were Arghezi, who claimed that Serbian nationalism
Serbian nationalism
Serbian nationalism refers to the ethnic nationalism of Serbs. Originally arising in the context of the general rise of nationalism in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, under the influence of Serbian linguist Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and Ilija Garašanin....
was the actual cause of war, and Felix Aderca
Felix Aderca
Felix Aderca or F. Aderca Aderca, also known as Zelicu Froim Adercu or Froim Aderca; March 13, 1891 – December 12, 1962) was a Romanian novelist, playwright, poet, journalist and critic, noted as a representative of rebellious modernism in the context of Romanian literature...
, who depicted the German Empire as the more progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
belligerent. A distinct trend was illustrated by two leftist refugees from the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, who wanted Romania to join the Central Powers and help liberate Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
, as opposed to freeing Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
from the Austro-Hungarians; they were Alexis Nour, from the Poporanist
Poporanism
The word “poporanism” is derived from “popor”, meaning “people” in the Romanian language. The ideology of Romanian Populism and poporanism are interchangeable. Founded by Constantin Stere in the early 1890s, populism is distinguished by its opposition to socialism, promotion of voting rights for...
faction, and the old anarchist Zamfir Arbore
Zamfir Arbore
Zamfir Constantin Arbore was a Bukovinan-born Romanian political activist originally active in the Russian Empire, also known for his work as an amateur historian, geographer and ethnographer. Arbore debuted in left-wing politics from early in life, gained an intimate knowledge of the Russian...
. Searas regular correspondent from the eastern Romanian region, Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
, was the Jewish
History of the Jews in Romania
The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....
socialist poet Avram Steuerman-Rodion
Avram Steuerman-Rodion
Avram Steuerman-Rodion, born Adolf Steuerman or Steuermann and often referred to as just Rodion , was a Romanian poet, anthologist, physician and socialist journalist...
, who reported on the Moldavian intellectuals' growing preference for neutrality. Seara counted among its contributors a mainstream Conservative and academic, Ilie Bărbulescu, who believed that the Transylvanian project was impractical or cautioned about the dangers of Russian expansionism
Expansionism
In general, expansionism consists of expansionist policies of governments and states. While some have linked the term to promoting economic growth , more commonly expansionism refers to the doctrine of a state expanding its territorial base usually, though not necessarily, by means of military...
. Two distinct voices were those of poet Dumitru Karnabatt, who identified the Entente Powers
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
with Pan-Slavism
Pan-Slavism
Pan-Slavism was a movement in the mid-19th century aimed at unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South Slavs had been ruled for centuries by other empires, Byzantine Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Venice...
or British Imperial
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
interests; and Ion Gorun, the Transylvanian writer and Habsburg loyalist
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
. Searas cultural page notably hosted contributions by Vinea and the young poet Jacques G. Costin.
The left-wing proccupations were an important feature of Libertatea: its opening manifesto called for a large-scale social reform, which it claimed was more important than the National Liberal ideal of recovering Transylvania from its Austro-Hungarian overlord. It enlisted contributions, generally less political than Seara articles, from literary figures such as Vinea, Demostene Botez, I. Dragoslav
I. Dragoslav
I. Dragoslav or Ion Dragoslav, pen names of Ion V. Ivaciuc or Ion Sumanariu Ivanciuc , was a Romanian writer...
, Adrian Maniu and I. C. Vissarion.
Bogdan-Piteşti regularly published his own articles in the two newspapers he directed, signing them with the pseudonym Al. Dodan. The early texts express his Russophobia
Russophobia
Russophobia refers to a diverse spectrum of prejudices, dislikes or fears of Russia, Russians, or Russian culture. Its opposite is Russophilia....
and commiseration over France's alliance with Tsarist autocracy
Tsarist autocracy
The Tsarist autocracy |transcr.]] tsarskoye samoderzhaviye) refers to a form of autocracy specific to the Grand Duchy of Muscovy . In a tsarist autocracy, all power and wealth is controlled by the tsar...
, the world's "most savage, most ignorant and bloodiest oligarchy". By 1915, assessing that Romania's national interest rested with the Habsburgs and the Germans, and arguing that Romanian peasants were worse off than their counterparts in Transylvania, he was urging his countrymen to ponder the benefits of Bessarabia's annexation to Romania.
Wartime, disgrace and death
The neutrality years also rekindled controversy over Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti's daily affairs. A scandal erupted after the banker Aristide Blank brought Bogdan-Piteşti to court on charges of blackmailBlackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
; the plaintiff enlisted the services of lawyer Take Ionescu
Take Ionescu
Take or Tache Ionescu was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his political career as a radical member of the National Liberal Party , he joined the Conservative Party in 1891, and became noted as a social...
, and the defendant lost the trial and was sentenced to a jail term. Throughout the scandal, Seara hosted articles by Arghezi, in which the latter professed his patron's innocence. In 1916, just before Romania entered the war as an Entente country, Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti was again involved in a legal dispute with the Francophiles Take Ionescu and Barbu Ştefănescu-Delavrancea, being represented in court by Constantin Dissescu.
After Romania suffered heavy defeats in her confrontation with the Central Powers, Bogdan-Piteşti, like Arghezi, Macedonski, Galaction and Mateiu Caragiale, remained in German-occupied Bucharest. Despite this choice, he kept a low profile, and, according to popular but unverifiable rumors, was even arrested once the occupation authorities angrily discovered his political uselessness. When Romania recovered possession over its southern areas during the closing stage of the Romanian Campaign
Romanian Campaign (World War I)
The Romanian Campaign was part of the Balkan theatre of World War I, with Romania and Russia allied against the armies of the Central Powers. Fighting took place from August 1916 to December 1917, across most of present-day Romania, including Transylvania, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian...
, he was prosecuted for treason and served a jail term in Văcăreşti. Reportedly, this last sentence, passed in 1919, was not related to the accusation of treason, but merely to his fraudulent activities, and only by coinicidence did Bogdan-Piteşti share a prison with the convicted collaborationist
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
journalists (Arghezi, Karnabatt, Ioan Slavici
Ioan Slavici
Ioan Slavici was a Transylvanian-born Romanian writer and journalist. He made his debut in Convorbiri literare , with the comedy Fata de birău...
).
Tudor Vianu claimed that Bogdan-Piteşti spent his last years "in ignominy", and Cernat described his position as that of "a pariah". He died four years after the war ended, at his house in Bucharest, after suffering a myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
. According to Cernat, his death came suddenly, while he was conversing on the phone (he defined the circumstances as "grotesque"). Bogdan-Piteşti's last wish was for his collection to pass into state property and be kept as a museum.
Role and influence
Bogdan-Piteşti was the subject of fascination in the literary and artistic community. Lucian BoiaLucian Boia
Lucian Boia is a Romanian historian, known especially for his works debunking Romanian nationalism and Communism.-Bibliography:* Eugen Brote: Litera, 1974...
writes about his seductive "legend", which fused an "imaginative and generous intellectual" with a "con artist" who "lived life as he saw fit". According to Paul Cernat, his influential circle was "an excellent medium of transmission for the modern spirit, an informal institution and one of the first coagulant factors for [Romania's] first post-symbolist modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
." Critic Theodor Enescu proposed that, alongside Macedonski's own group, the Ştirbey-Vodă Street salon was the only important manifestation of culture in the period between the decline of the trend-setter and pro-Conservative Junimea
Junimea
Junimea was a Romanian literary society founded in Iaşi in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi...
and the establishment of the modernist literature
Modernist literature
Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...
magazine Sburătorul
Sburatorul
Sburătorul was a Romanian modernist literary magazine and literary society, established in Bucharest in April 1919. Led by Eugen Lovinescu, the circle was instrumental in developing new trends and styles in Romanian literature, ranging from a new wave of Romanian Symbolism to an urban-themed...
. Cernat also noted that, while the writer Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti was "neglectful and improvident" when it came to preserving his own works, his essays and prose poetry
Prose poetry
Prose poetry is poetry written in prose instead of using verse but preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery and emotional effects.-Characteristics:Prose poetry can be considered either primarily poetry or prose, or a separate genre altogether...
had genuine value. Art historian Petru Comarnescu
Petru Comarnescu
Petru Comarnescu was a Romanian literary and art critic and translator.Born in Iași into a family that was related to the metropolitan bishop Veniamin Costache, he studied at the University of Bucharest law , philosophy and philology before going in 1931 on a two-year scholarship to the United...
stated his belief that the controversial patron had "critical intuitions" that were superior to those of collectors Zambaccian and Ioan Kalinderu, while his colleague Nicolae Oprescu assessed that, without Bogdan-Piteşti, Ştefan Luchian
Stefan Luchian
Ștefan Luchian or Lukian was a Romanian painter, famous for his landscapes and still life works.-Early life:He was born in Ștefănești, a village of Botoșani County, as the son of Major Dumitru Luchian and of Elena Chiriacescu. The Luchian family moved to Bucharest in 1873 and his mother desired...
would be lost to Romanian art.
The art environment both cherished and rejected its anarchist patron. In his moments of glory, he received homages from many of his writer friends, under the form of notebooks written especially for him. At a later date, all sides of the dispute were united in expressing criticism for at least some of Bogdan-Piteşti's deeds. According to Galaction, he was a "hajduk
Hajduk
Hajduk is a term most commonly referring to outlaws, highwaymen or freedom fighters in the Balkans, Central- and Eastern Europe....
", who "robbed and gave away." Zambaccian defined his fellow collector as "a man created from a mold in which the evil and the good genius were present in equal measure. [...] Cynical and suave, generous on one side, a con artist on the other, Al. Bogdan-Piteşti relished the abjection that he served with cynicism". The nationalist journalist Pamfil Şeicaru would refer to him as "a scoundrel", while, on one occasion, Macedonski argued that Bogdan-Piteşti was "a wonderful prose writer and an admirable poet". Benjamin Fondane
Benjamin Fondane
Benjamin Fondane or Benjamin Fundoianu was a Romanian and French poet, critic and existentialist philosopher, also noted for his work in film and theater. Known from his Romanian youth as a Symbolist poet and columnist, he alternated Neoromantic and Expressionist themes with echoes from Tudor...
, the younger modernist poet, praised Bogdan-Piteşti for his taste and patronage, while reflecting that: "He was made of the greatest of joys, in the most purulent of bodies. How many generations of ancient boyars had come to pass, like unworthy dung, for this singular earth to be generated?" Writer and critic Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the Sburătorul literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the uncle of Horia Lovinescu, Vasile Lovinescu, and Anton Holban...
, himself a modernist, was bitterly opposed to the views of Bogdan-Piteşti and other intellectuals who sided with Germany: in 1922, he published the article Revizuiri morale ("Moral Revisions"), in which he attacked both the art collector and his associates Arghezi and N. D. Cocea
N. D. Cocea
N. D. Cocea was a Romanian journalist, novelist, critic and left-wing political activist, known as a major but controversial figure in the field of political satire...
. Criticism of the collector's activities was also voiced by Comarnescu and his colleague Ionel Jianu, who, while underlining Bogdan-Piteşti's qualities, spoke of his "reprovable faults" and "con artist coups", noting that his nature was that of "an exhibitionist determined to trick and scandalize", or an "enfant terrible
L'enfant terrible
L'enfant terrible is a French term for a child who is terrifyingly candid by saying embarrassing things to adults, especially parents....
".
Comparisons have been made between the Romanian collector and other controversial historical figures: Fondane drew a parallel between him and Alcibiades
Alcibiades
Alcibiades, son of Clinias, from the deme of Scambonidae , was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War...
, to which Zambaccian added that other commentators likened Bogdan-Piteşti to the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
writer and notorious blackmailer Pietro Aretino
Pietro Aretino
Pietro Aretino was an Italian author, playwright, poet and satirist who wielded immense influence on contemporary art and politics and invented modern literate pornography.- Life :...
(while he stressed that, unlike Aretino, Bogdan-Piteşti never profited from his artist friends). Comarnescu proposed that both Bogdan-Piteşti and the equally controversial Arghezi were better understood through the logic of Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
("the ancient Indian ethics"), where, he argued, "good and evil are not opposed, but collocated, combined, in a state of confusion". Discussing Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti's preference for orality
Orality
Orality is thought and verbal expression in societies where the technologies of literacy are unfamiliar to most of the population. The study of orality is closely allied to the study of oral tradition...
, his political connections and his mostly informal influence, Cernat concluded that, "the necessary changes having been made", they allowed one to compare the art collector with Nae Ionescu
Nae Ionescu
Nae Ionescu was a Romanian philosopher, logician, mathematician, professor, and journalist. Near the end of his career, he became known for his antisemitism and devotion to far right politics, in the years leading up to World War II.-Life:...
, a philosopher and far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
activist whose career spanned the interwar period
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
, and whose debut was also associated with Symbolism.
Anecdotes
Several anecdotes concerning Bogdan-Piteşti's morals and extravagant lifestyle were put into circulation from as early as his lifetime. In 1912, Macedonski published a short story titled Curcanul de Crăciun sau cincizeci de curcani într-unul ("The Christmas Turkey or Fifty Turkeys in One"), which recounted how, prompted by his mentor's request to have a turkey sent to him for the holidays, Bogdan-Piteşti had presented him with a bird stuffed with 50 gold leiRomanian leu
The leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...
. Vianu commented that such "grand feudal attitudes" made Bogdan-Piteşti an "indisputably picturesque" person. The account was partly confirmed by Constantin Beldie, who also noted that, during those years, Alexandru Macedonski was "starving" and had to provide for "a house full of children". Zambaccian rendered a story told by the actor Ion Iancovescu, according to which, during World War I, Macedonski was asked by his former protégé to provide him with a copy of Bronzes; Macedonski demanded 1 million lei in return, and Bogdan-Piteşti bluntly offered him 5 lei—reluctant but prompt, Macedonski accepted the sum, allegedly commenting that "he is capable of changing his mind, that con artist!" Bogdan-Piteşti's mood swings were also discussed by memoirist Radu Rosetti, who recorded stories that the art patron scarcely minded being cheated by some in his retinue, but that he publicly embarrassed Galaction and his own wife at parties.
The relationship between Mateiu Caragiale and his one-time patron has attracted the special interest of critics. It degenerated during the late 1910s, to the point where Caragiale, whose diary spoke of Bogdan-Piteşti's homosexuality in dismissive terms (calling him "a blusterer of the anti-natural vice"), laid out a plan to rob the house of his newly found enemy. Caragiale's diary also featured an account of Domnica Bogdan, questioning her morality.
Bogdan-Piteşti's relationships with his other protégés were not always cordial. According to an anecdote of the time, he advanced Luchian a large sum of money, which the painter used for a trip to Sinaia
Sinaia
Sinaia is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania. The town was named after Sinaia Monastery, around which it was built; the monastery in turn is named after the Biblical Mount Sinai...
. In return, Luchian allegedly promised Bogdan-Piteşti to invite him over for a stay, but failed to send him his new address. The patron was upset by this disloyal gesture, and send a telegram to reach him. Instead of an address, it read: "To the ugliest tourist in Sinaia" (a pun on Luchian's proverbial bad looks). By the mid 1910s, Luchian was incapacitated by multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
, and Bogdan-Piteşti is said to have been one of the last persons to visit him before his death in June 1916. On the occasion, the patron asked his protégé how he was feeling, addressing him with the colloquial moniker Babac ("Old man"); Luchian is reported to have answered, "I'm going away" (words which are seen as a premonition of his death).
The main printed recollection about Bogdan-Piteşti's 1919 imprisonment comes from Ioan Slavici
Ioan Slavici
Ioan Slavici was a Transylvanian-born Romanian writer and journalist. He made his debut in Convorbiri literare , with the comedy Fata de birău...
's Închisorile mele ("My Prisons"). According to Slavici, the art patron had a luxury cell with a view over Bucharest. Alexandru Rosetti, citing one of his conversations with Tudor Arghezi as a source, provided an anecdote about the prison encounter between Bogdan-Piteşti and Arghezi. In this account, a Gendarme
Jandarmeria Româna
Jandarmeria Română is the military branch of the two Romanian police forces .The gendarmerie is subordinated to the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform and does not have responsibility for policing the Romanian Armed Forces...
wrongly attempted to pushed the art patron into the same group as Arghezi, as the latter was making his way to court. Protesting this move, Bogdan-Piteşti reportedly stated: Pardon, eu sunt escroc! ("Pardon me, [but] I'm a con artist!"). Krikor Zambaccian claimed that, during his first legal confrontation with Take Ionescu
Take Ionescu
Take or Tache Ionescu was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his political career as a radical member of the National Liberal Party , he joined the Conservative Party in 1891, and became noted as a social...
, his fellow art collector had commented of the latter's deposition: "He sure is talented, that con artist!" The pro-Entente Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.-Life:Born in Răşinari, nearby Sibiu, he was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austria-Hungary. Before World War I,...
was especially critical of Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti's stance during the early stages of the World War, and, in his record of 1916 events, including the Ionescu trial, described him as a "bandit" and alleged that his defense was paid for "with German money".
Fictional character
After the World War, according to Beldie, the actor Ion Iancovescu performed an imaginary dialogue between Bogdan-Piteşti and an unnamed German official who was involved in administrating occupied Romania. In this account, the latter character accused the art collector of having used German funds to create "a petty evening gazette", which served to employ his "henchmen". To this charge, the fictional Bogdan-Piteşti replied: "I have consumed your money, this much is true, but I did not pull one on you! For how is it that you could imagine a traitor of one's country such as myself not being doubled by a con artist?" Beldie intervened in his rendition of Iancovescu's performance to add his suspicion that, instead of using money to revitalize the Central Powers' cause, Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti had directed them to increasing the size of his own art collection. A roughly similar version of this legend is included in the memoirs of Bogdan-Piteşti's National Liberal adversary, I. G. Duca, who also attributes a paradoxical patrioticPatriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
value to Bogdan-Piteşti's alleged reply: "Did you perhaps think that you might buy off some honest people in Romania? You would be dead wrong, in this land one can only buy off con artists, only con artists like me." Duca concludes: "this reply, with its admirable and atavistic national dignity, tempts me to forget, though not to forgive, the utter turpitude that we call Bogdan-Piteşti's life."
Despite their relationship having declined from friendship to hatred, Bogdan-Piteşti's style and his mundane interests are occasionally seen as sources of inspiration for Caragiale's only novel, Craii de Curtea-Veche
Craii de Curtea-Veche
Craii de Curtea-Veche is a novel by the inter-war Romanian author Mateiu Caragiale...
(completed in 1928). Some have noted that Bogdan-Piteşti has a lot in common with one of the three protagonists, Paşadia. He and his wife were both characters in Ion Vinea's novels Venin de mai ("May Venom") and Lunatecii ("The Lunatics")—Alexandru is assigned the name Adam Gună, while Mica is portrayed as Iada Gună. The novels, both of which also depict the Bogdan family's cultural circle, allude to the patron's influence in making young people reject conventionalism and accept vice as a guiding principle in art and life. They also repeat claims that Bogdan-Piteşti was abusing drugs, and that Domnica was originally a prostitute (alleging that she continued to live as a libertine
Libertine
A libertine is one devoid of most moral restraints, which are seen as unnecessary or undesirable, especially one who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behavior sanctified by the larger society. Libertines, also known as rakes, placed value on physical pleasures, meaning those...
late in her marriage). In addition, Ion Călugăru
Ion Călugăru
Ion Călugăru was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and critic. As a figure on Romania's modernist scene throughout the early interwar period, he was noted for combining a picturesque perspective on the rural Jewish-Romanian community, to which he belonged, with traditionalist and...
probably used Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti as the inspiration for Alexandru Lăpuşneanu
Alexandru Lapusneanu
Alexandru Lăpuşneanu was Prince of Moldavia between September 1552 and 18 November 1561 and then between October 1564 and 5 May 1568....
, the boyar character in his novel Don Juan Cocoşatul ("Don Juan
Don Juan
Don Juan is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630...
the Hunchback"). Literary historian George Călinescu
George Calinescu
George Călinescu was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies...
described the protagonist as defined by: "The dignity in gossip, the boyar carriage, the refinement that the apparent vulgarity cannot bring to ruin, the blasé and cynical lechery [...]." In one episode in the book, Lăpuşneanu simulates agony and receives a Catholic confession
Confession
This article is for the religious practice of confessing one's sins.Confession is the acknowledgment of sin or wrongs...
that he insists must be read in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
instead of French. His wife, known as Fetiţa ("The Little Girl"), is estranged from him and, herself an eccentric figure, is shown making an appearance on a battlefield while wearing only a swimsuit
Swimsuit
A swimsuit, bathing suit, or swimming costume is an item of clothing designed to be worn by men, women or children while they are engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, water polo, diving, surfing, water skiing, or during activities in the sun, such as sun bathing.A...
.
Tudor Arghezi dedicated Bogdan-Piteşti some of his first poetry writings. As art critic, together with Theodor Cornel, Arghezi published a comprehensive biographical study of his patron (part of their Figuri contimporane din România dictionary of 1909). He also made Bogdan-Piteşti the hero of a small eponymous poem:
Lombard bastard cu ochi de rouă, Te plouă în haina de velură, Tuşeşti şi harfa ta murmură; Căci trilurile tale oarbe Se sting pe coardele-amândouă - Dar şezi şi scutură-ţi suspinul, Cu mandolina ta bizară, Visează-ţi soarele de vară Şi din ţigare urcă-îi fumul, Priveşce-n ploaie cum e drumul Şi dormi, Noroc! Goleşte-ţi vinul. |
You bastard Lombard Lombards The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy... with the eyes of dew, It rains on you inside your velour Velour Velour or velours is a plush, knitted fabric or textile. It is usually made from cotton but can also be made from synthetic materials such as polyester. Velour is used in a wide variety of applications, including clothing and upholstery.... coat, You cough and your harp Harp The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings... mumbles; For your blind trills Extinguish themselves on both of its chords - But take a seat and shake off your sighing, With your bizarre mandolin Mandolin A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single... , Dream of your summer's sun And let your cigarette blow up its smoke, Look on through rain as the road goes And sleep, Cheers! Drink up your wine. |
Collection and estate
Colonesti, Olt
Coloneşti is a commune in Olt County, Romania. It is composed of nine villages: Bărăşti, Bătăreni, Cârstani, Chelbeşti, Coloneşti, Gueşti, Mărunţei, Năvârgeni and Vlaici....
. They comprised objects created by prominent Romanian visual artists, including, alongside his early associates, Nina Arbore, Constantin Brâncuşi
Constantin Brancusi
Constantin Brâncuşi was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris...
, Oscar Han
Oscar Han
Oscar Han was a Romanian sculptor and writer. A student of Dimitrie Paciurea at the Academy of Arts in Bucharest, he was a member of the Group of Four together with painters Nicolae Tonitza, Francisc Şirato and Ştefan Dimitrescu...
, Aurel Jiquidi, Maria Ciurdea Steurer, Constantin Medrea, Ary Murnu, Dimitrie Paciurea
Dimitrie Paciurea
Dimitrie Paciurea – 14 July 1932) was a Romanian sculptor. His representational and symbolic style contrasts strongly to the more abstract style of his contemporary and co-national Constantin Brâncuşi....
, Nicolae Petrescu Găina, Alexandru Satmari, Francisc Şirato
Francisc Sirato
Francisc Şirato was a Romanian painter, graphic artist, art critic, and designer.-External links:*...
, Cecilia Cuţescu-Storck, Jean Alexandru Steriadi
Jean Alexandru Steriadi
Jean Alexandru Steriadi was a Romanian painter and drawing artist. He made portraits and compositions based on a strong, expressive drawing; then he evoluated towards impressionistic influenced landscapes in which the subtle harmony is combined with a refined sense of picturesque...
, Friedrich Storck, Ion Theodorescu-Sion
Ion Theodorescu-Sion
Ion Theodorescu-Sion was a Romanian painter and draftsman, known for his contributions to modern art and especially for his traditionalist, primitivist, handicraft-inspired and Christian painting. Trained in academic art, initially an Impressionist, he dabbled in various modern styles in the years...
, and Nicolae Tonitza
Nicolae Tonitza
Nicolae Tonitza was a Romanian painter, engraver, lithographer, journalist and art critic. Drawing inspiration from Post-impressionism and Expressionism, he had a major role in introducing modernist guidelines to local art.-Biography:...
. Of the total, around 900 works were of Romanian provenance. Among the foreign artists whose work was featured in the collection were Georges Rochegrosse
Georges Rochegrosse
Georges Antoine Rochegrosse was a French historical and decorative painter.He was born at Versailles and studied in Paris with Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger. His themes are generally historical, and he treated them on a colossal scale and in an emotional...
and Frank Brangwyn
Frank Brangwyn
Sir Frank William Brangwyn RA RWS RBA was an Anglo-Welsh artist, painter, water colourist, virtuoso engraver and illustrator, and progressive designer.- Biography :...
. The section dedicated to newer works of art was designed and opened as the first the modern art
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
museum in Romania.
The collection included many samples of Luchian's art. Three of his famous paintings featured there were Lăutul ("Washing the Hair")—which Bogdan-Piteşti is said to have likened to the luminous oil paintings of Paolo Veronese
Paolo Veronese
Paolo Veronese was an Italian painter of the Renaissance in Venice, famous for paintings such as The Wedding at Cana and The Feast in the House of Levi...
, Safta Florăreasa ("Safta the Flower Girl")—originally part of the Luchian family collection, and a 1907 oil portrait of Luchian's cousin, Alecu Literatu ("Alecu the Literary Man"). They were accompanied by the 1906 pastel
Pastel
Pastel is an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all colored art media, including oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation....
Durerea ("The Pain"), which had been reproduced in a 1914 issue of Seara
Seara (newspaper)
Seara was a daily newspaper published in Bucharest, Romania, before and during World War I. Owned by politician Grigore Gheorghe Cantacuzino and, through most of its existence, managed by the controversial Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti, it was an unofficial and unorthodox tribune for the Conservative...
, and by the paintings De Nămezi ("Lunchtime") and Lica, fetiţa cu portocala ("Lica, the Girl with the Orange"). Among the works in the series were two portraits of Bogdan-Piteşti: an ink drawing which the politician reproduced on his 1899 political manifestos, and a since-lost oil painting.
Bogdan-Piteşti was also depicted in several published but anonymous sketches, including two 1896 vignettes published in Adevărul
Adevarul
Adevărul is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in 1871 and reestablished in 1888, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published during the Romanian Kingdom's existence, adopting an independent pro-democratic position, advocating land reform and universal suffrage...
and a 1917 drawing signed Correggio. Domnica Bogdan sat as a model for various artists, and was notably depicted in works by Camil Ressu, Pallady and the Bulgarian-born painter Pascin
Pascin
Julius Mordecai Pincas, known as Pascin, Jules Pascin, or the "Prince of Montparnasse", was born in Bulgaria to parents of four ethnicities. During World War I, he worked in the United States. He is best known as a painter in Paris, where he was strongly identified with the Modernist movement and...
. In 1920, Bogdan-Piteşti commissioned Paciurea to complete a portrait bust
Bust (sculpture)
A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, as well as a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. These forms recreate the likeness of an individual...
of Domnica. The same year, Dimitrescu painted her an oil-on-cardboard portrait in dominant shades of brown (with touches of red and gray). Bogdan-Piteşti's literary works were illustrated with drawings by George Demetrescu Mirea, Ion Georgescu and Alexandru Szathmary.
The Coloneşti manor and its art collection fell victim to neglect. According to Vianu, the collection was "blown over by the wind of devastation" as early as the interwar period
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
. In 1924, in defiance of his last request, it was subject to a public auction
Public auction
A public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government, or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a government agency with similar authority....
, a measure which drew protests from literary figures such as Cezar Petrescu
Cezar Petrescu
Cezar Petrescu was a Romanian journalist, novelist and children's writer.He was inspired by the works of Honoré de Balzac, attempting to write a Romanian novel cycle that would mirror Balzac's La Comédie humaine...
, Perpessicius
Perpessicius
Perpessicius was a Romanian literary historian and critic, poet, essayist and fiction writer. One of the prominent literary chroniclers of the Romanian interwar, he stood apart in his generation for having thrown his support behind the modernist and avant-garde currents of Romanian literature...
and Victor Eftimiu
Victor Eftimiu
Victor Eftimiu was an Albanian-Romanian poet, playwright, and a contributor to Sburătorul, a Romanian literary magazine. His works have been performed in the State Jewish Theater of Romania....
. As a result of the auction, many works passed into the collections of Zambaccian, Alexandru G. Florescu, Iosif Dona and several others. Zambaccian himself attributed the incident to the National Liberal
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
government's unwillingness to accept a donation from "a compromised person". He and several commentators place responsibility for the sales on Finance Minister
Ministry of Public Finance (Romania)
The Ministry of Public Finance of Romania is one of the fifteen ministries of the Government of Romania.The minister's seat is currently held by the Democratic Liberal Party's Gheorghe Ialomiţeanu.The following agencies are subordinated to the Minister:...
Ioan Alexandru Lapedatu, who is believed to have either hesitated in assessing the collection or to have plotted with businessmen who wanted it sold cheaply. Zambaccian was to be the eventual owner of Lăutul. It became a feature of the Zambaccian Museum
Zambaccian Museum
The Zambaccian Museum in Bucharest, Romania is a museum in the former home of Krikor Zambaccian , an Armenian businessman and art collector. The museum was founded in 1947, closed by the Ceauşescu regime in 1977, and re-opened in 1992. It is now a branch of The National Museum of Art of Romania...
, and appears in one of his portraits (painted by Pallady).
Under the communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
, the Vlaici building was transformed into a branch for the state-owned producer of agricultural machinery, and, in 2004, belonged to its successor, Agromec (although largely unused). Beldie recounted that, under Communism, Domnica Bogdan worked as a nurse for the hygiene
Hygiene
Hygiene refers to the set of practices perceived by a community to be associated with the preservation of health and healthy living. While in modern medical sciences there is a set of standards of hygiene recommended for different situations, what is considered hygienic or not can vary between...
department at the Central Hospital in Bucharest.