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- Title
ASPECTE PRIVIND EVOLUȚIA ARTEI OFICIALE ÎN ROMÂNIA COMUNISTĂ ÎN PERIOADA 1965-1974.
- Authors
Deheleanu, Adrian
- Abstract
A definite relationship of determination between the geopolitical map and the cultural map of the world always existed. The centers of political power, voluntary or involuntary, have contributed to the development of models to be followed for the artistic milieu. For the European culture a major role was played by the division after WW II, when the states of Central and Eastern Europe came under the influence of the USSR. Following the establishment of the communist regime in Romania, the evolution of the Romanian fine arts began to differ significantly from that of the fine arts in the countries left outside the totalitarian bloc. Starting from the premise that this evolution was determined by specific sociocultural rules, the article analyzes the relationship between the sphere of power and the artistic sphere throughout the Ceauşescu period of the communist regime. It proposes a synthetic vision combining art history with political science and sociology. The cultural revolution was also continued by the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, within the project of training the new man. The rise to power of Nicolae Ceausescu was established on the background of a trend of de-Stalinization initiated since the time of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. From the evolution of culture standpoint, but not only of it, this meant an openness to the West, simultaneously with the exacerbation of nationalism. Until the mid--1970s, there was a relaxation of the artistic milieu, inasmuch as the regime gave the illusion that political interference in art would be increasingly limited. The management of the artistic discourse was no longer done by force, by constraining from the center, but was directed from within. Even so, the opening period did not turn out to be very long. The moment of glory of the Ceausescu regime came with the condemnation of the 1968 armed intervention of the Warsaw Pact in Czechoslovakia, except Romania. This demarcation toward Moscow established a positive image of Nicolae Ceausescu among the Western countries, but, at the same time, it coincided with the opening of the path from hero to idol. Hence, at the beginning of the 70's of the 20th century, the raher short but fertile contact of the Romanian artistic milieu with the European cultural context quickly gave birth to some promising signals within the art of the moment. An international level production emerges, confirmed also by exhibitions organized abroad and several international awards obtained by Romanian artists in Paris, Edinburgh, Berlin, etc. But this inflorescence will not have time to be fully fulfilled in those few years of "socialist liberalism" authorized by the regime for political reasons which the intellectuals of the time can neither understand nor influence in their true motivation. One can notice, for the period between 1971 and 1974, more and more signs of the reappearance of the "cult of personality", as well as those of the orientation of the Romanian ruling class towards a presidential regime, de facto enthroned in 1974, along with the election of Nicolae Ceausescu as the first president of the Socialist Republic of Romania. From this point on, the conscious edification of the "myth of the Leader" is put into action by the regime's ideologues by means of an offensive again official culture. Propaganda through the media, collective art exhibitions, collective volumes of "homage" literature and collective art albums "in homage to the Leader" are multiplying. Two important speeches by Nicolae Ceausescu had a significant role in leading toward nationalism and the cult of personality: the Theses of July from Neptune (1971) and the Theses from Mangalia (1983). In 1971, Ceausescu called for the "continued growth of the party's leading role" in all areas of culture, including "cultural factors", as well as for an increasing role of the Academy of Sciences in debating the ideological issues of artistic creation and cultural activities. Especially manifested in literature, sociology and history, the so-called proto-chronism finds a visual pendant in the group of neo-traditionalist or neo-folklorizing artists -- a form of manifestation that could be said to be a cultural reflection of the "neo-traditionalist society" of which some political scientists speak. In connection with Romania of that period. Appreciated by the authorities as much as the proto-chronists were, these artists practice a mixture of elements of folk extraction and vaguely modernist stylistic features, in naive compositions, on the verge of amateurism and kitsch.
- Subjects
ROMANIA; POLITICAL oratory; POLITICAL scientists; POLITICAL sociology; ART exhibitions; ART history
- Publication
Banatica, 2023, Vol 33, p589
- ISSN
1222-0612
- Publication type
Article