The Blessed Vladimir GHIKA – DRAWINGS

The exhibition, drawn from the Archives of the Roman-Catholic Archdiocese, features two hundred drawings, etchings and objects donated by private collectors after 2010; together they shed light on the personality and interests of Vladimir Ghika, a Roman Catholic priest who died in prison during the early years of the Communist regime. Most of the drawings were conceived in the aftermath of World War One to illustrate books written by him - La Visite des pauvres and Les Intermèdes de Talloires. Although the two books were published without the respective illustrations, the drawings reveal Ghika’s interest in both using visual means to persuade readers of the importance of practicing Christian virtues in everyday life and in the visual relationship between text and image, in the design of a book page.

The exhibition also includes etchings made after the original drawings for Les Intermèdes de Talloires which were published separately as a bibliophile edition by Victor Jacquemin in Paris in 1923. Other drawings, labelled by their author as “decorative phantasies”, capital letter designs, ex-libris, stamp sketches, kirigami–like paper cuts, etc. are illustrative of Ghika’s willingness to practice some of the skills he had acquired as a young man. They reveal a passion for detail and symmetry, for giving religious sentiments a visual expression.

A priest turned martyr of his faith by the Communists, Vladimir Ghika (1873-1954) was the son of Prince Ioan Ghika and Alexandrina, neé Moret de Blaramberg. After early (art) studies, Ghika pursued scholarly academic studies in law, philosophy, and theology which he channeled into a life genuinely devoted to fellow human beings.

13 June to 2 September 2018
National Museum of Art of Romania, Kretzulescu Rooms
Curator: Anna Mária Orbán
Tickets: 4 lei
Free: every first Wednesday of the month