Radu Varia (born 1940) is a Romanian art critic and art historian.
Born in Iaşi, Varia holds a degree from the University of Bucharest and a doctorate in History of Art and Civilization from the University of Paris. A friend of Salvador Dalí's, the two collaborated in preparing the 1974 opening of the Dalí Theatre and Museum in Figueras. [1] Dalí also dedicated a 1972 poem to Varia, who awakened the painter's interest in Romanian language and culture. [2] [3] He has also helped set up every major exhibit of Horia Damian's work since the early 1970s. [4] Among these have been shows at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, the Musée National d'Art Moderne (Centre Pompidou) and Grand Palais in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Documenta IX in Kassel, the Venice Biennale, the São Paulo Art Biennial or the Mogoşoaia Palace. The last, taking place in 2009, brought together for the first time Damian's work from 1930 to 1946. [5] Additionally, he has made a thorough study of the works of Constantin Brâncuși, writing essays and books on the subject, in particular the 1986 Brâncuși that appeared first in the United States, later in France and Japan. [6] Varia has lectured widely since the 1970s, including at an afternoon tutorial held by Marshall McLuhan at the University of Toronto; at Waseda University in Tokyo; at the Museum der Weltkulturen in Frankfurt; [4] at the Romanian Academy in Bucharest, [7] at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh., [8] at the Shenzhen University in China. He is married to soprano Mariana Nicolesco. [1]
In 2012 he is elected Honorary Member of the Royal Scottish Academy,. [9] [10] In 2011 he was awarded, by the President of Romania, the Order of Cultural Merit [11] and received the Silver Medal of the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. [12] He is also a Knight of the Legion of Honour (2000) and, since 2005, a Commander of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity. [13] [14] In 2015 he was awarded the Mihai Eminescu International Academy Prize. In 2018 he was elected Doctor Honoris Causa of Chisinau Academy of Arts. [15] In 2018 he was also elected Member of the European Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in Paris [16] and Member of the Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea in Salzburg. [17] By unanimous vote of the city councilors, on September 24, 2020, the critic and art historian Radu Varia became Honorary Citizen of Iași. [18] [19]
On Salvador Dalí:
On Horia Damian:
Constantin Brâncoveanu was Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714.
The National Museum of Art of Romania is located in the Royal Palace in Revolution Square, central Bucharest. It features collections of medieval and modern Romanian art, as well as the international collection assembled by the Romanian royal family.
Ignat Bednarik was a Romanian painter who worked in almost every genre of painting before devoting himself purely to watercolor. He was also interested in decorative art, design, interior decoration and book illustration. In his lifetime, he produced more than 3,000 works of art.
Gheorghe Petrașcu was a Romanian painter. He won numerous prizes throughout his lifetime and had his paintings exhibited posthumously at the Paris International Exhibition and the Venice Biennale. He was the brother of N. Petrașcu, a literary critic and novelist.
Nicolae Dărăscu was a Romanian painter. He was influenced by Impressionism and Neo-impressionism.
Ștefan Dimitrescu was a Romanian Post-impressionist painter and draftsman.
George Ștefănescu-Râmnic was a contemporary Romanian-German painter.
Mariana Nicolesco was a Romanian operatic soprano who had an international career after she studied in Rome on a scholarship. She was a regular performer at La Scala in Milan where she performed Baroque opera such as Euridice in Rossi's Orfeo, Mozart roles such as Cinna in Lucio Silla in 1984, and contemporary including the world premiere of Luciano Berio's La Vera Storia in 1982.
Romanian architecture is very diverse, including medieval, pre-World War I, interwar, postwar, and contemporary 21st century architecture. In Romania, there are also regional differences with regard to architectural styles. Architecture, as the rest of the arts, was highly influenced by the socio-economic context and by the historical situation. For example, during the reign of King Carol I (1866–1914), Romania was in a continuous state of reorganization and modernization. In consequence, most of the architecture was designed by architects trained in Western European academies, particularly the École des Beaux-Arts, and a big part of the downtowns of the Romanian Old Kingdom were built during this period.
Horia Hulubei was a Romanian nuclear physicist, known for his contributions to the development of X-ray spectroscopy.
Tudor Cataraga was a sculptor from the Republic of Moldova.
Horia Damian was a Romanian painter and sculptor.
Henry Mavrodin was a Romanian painter, designer, essayist, and university teacher. He was born in Bucharest, Romania, on 31 July 1937, and died on 18 May 2022, at the age of 84.
Alma Redlinger was a painter and illustrator from Romania.
Nicolae Ghica-Budești was an influential Romanian architect who helped define the Neo-Romanian style. He studied ancient monuments in Wallachia, writing four volumes documenting the architectural history of the region. The "Muntenia and Oltenia evolution in architecture" was based on his work. His masterpiece is the Museum of the Romanian Peasant which took more than two decades to complete.
Marian Zidaru is a Romanian artist.
Victor Spinei is Emeritus Professor of history and archaeology at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, member and vice president of the Romanian Academy. He is a specialist on the history of Romania and the Romanian people in the Early and High Middle Ages, the history of migratory peoples in Eastern and Southeastern Europe during this period, and the production and circulation of cult objects in Eastern and Southeastern Europe during the Middle Ages.
Andrei-Nicolae Pippidi is a Romanian historian and Professor Emeritus at the University of Bucharest, specialised in South-Eastern European history of the 15th–19th century, in Romanian history of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, and in the relationship between South-Eastern Europe and the Occident.
The Romanian pavilion houses Romania's national representation during the Venice Biennale arts festivals.
Romanian Revival architecture is an architectural style that has appeared in late 19th century in Romanian Art Nouveau, initially being the result of the attempts of finding a specific Romanian architectural style. The attempts are mainly due to the architects Ion Mincu (1852–1912), and Ion N. Socolescu (1856–1924). The peak of the style was the interwar period. The style was a national reaction after the domination of French-inspired Classicist Eclecticism. Apart from foreign influences, the contribution of Romanian architects, who reinvented the tradition, creating, at the same time, an original style, is manifesting more and more strongly. Ion Mincu and his successors, Grigore Cerchez, Cristofi Cerchez, Petre Antonescu, or Nicolae Ghica-Budești declared themselves for a modern architecture, with Romanian specific, based on theses such as those formulated by Alexandru Odobescu around 1870:
"Study the remains – no matter how small – of the artistic production of the past and make them the source of a great art (...) do not miss any opportunity to use the artistic elements presented by the Romanian monuments left over from old times; but transform them, change them, develop them ..."