The exhibition "Ion Vlasiu. The man among the trees"
The National Art Museum of Romania and the Mures County Museum invite you to the opening of the exhibition "Ion Vlasiu. The Man among the Trees", on Sunday, April 28, 2024, at 18.00, at the ground floor of the National Gallery, with an opening speech by Călin-Alexiu Stegerean, general director of MNAR, Ötvös Koppány Bulcsú, director of the Mureș County Museum, Dorel David Morar and Cora Fodor, curators of the exhibition, Ioana Vlasiu, art historian and critic, daughter of the artist.
With this project, the National Museum of Art of Romania continues the series of exhibitions dedicated to the presentation of the work and biography of sculptors who have made an innovative mark on the Romanian arts in the 20th century. Ion Vlasiu (1908-1997) was deeply concerned with the condition and limits of sculpture, and his vigorous and original artistic language was affirmed by a modernism strongly rooted in the tradition of anonymous carvers. Trained at the School of Fine Arts in Cluj, Ion Vlasiu made a name for himself in the generation that began around 1930 through the modernism of his sculpture in wood and stone. He understood carving not only as a technique, but as a way of accessing the primordial "voices" of matter, to which he thus gave voice, freeing them. The artist alternated carving with modelling, sculpture with painting, the tendency towards abstraction with the figurative, but found himself firmly in the vigour of the anonymous peasant art that became a reference point for his artistic approach.
The exhibition presents a selection of works representative of the artist's wide-ranging creative career, with a focus on the period from the 1960s to the 1970s, marked by his participation in the Venice Biennale. With a stake that involves the visitor in a fascinating visual experience, the exhibition path is structured by the two curators in two sections. The first section, built around the restitution of the image of the artist's studio in Bistra Mures, develops the stylistic and thematic directions approached by the artist.
The second section focuses on the theme of styli, often addressed by the artist in sculpture, painting and graphics. Produced between 1968 and 1976, and exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1976, "The Stigmata of War" is an emblematic work, synthesising Ion Vlasiu's vision of sculpture. In the family collection, the work benefited from a sophisticated restoration process undertaken by sculptor Dorel David Morar and was included in an exhibition dedicated to the artist in 2023 in Târgu Mureș.
"MNAR aims at a thematic and organizational openness for projects involving collaboration with other museums in the country and abroad, and this exhibition can be a model of exemplary collaboration with the team of the Mures County Museum-Art Department. As in other fields of activity, creativity and efficiency are rather the fruit of the collaboration of multiple human and material resources, and the exceptional character of this exhibition results from the fruition of research and the important heritage of our museums" says Călin-Alexiu Stegerean, MNAR Director.
"This exhibition project is the result of a joint effort to bring to the forefront the life and remarkable work of the artist Ion Vlasiu. Ion Vlasiu, sculptor, painter and prose writer born in 1908 in Lechința de Mureș is a complex character in the gallery of outstanding artists that the School of Fine Arts in Cluj gave him and who strongly marked the course of Romanian art. Ion Vlasiu's creation is deeply rooted in the Transylvanian landscape and culture, but is expressed in a modern manner that combines tradition with innovation. The exhibition at the National Art Museum of Romania will give the public the opportunity to connect with Ion Vlasiu's artistic universe and discover the complexity and beauty of his work, which represents an important contribution to Romania's cultural heritage" says Koppány Bulcsú ÖTVÖS, Director of the Mureș County Museum.
Mrs. Cora Fodor is a historian and art critic, PhD, researcher at the Mures County Museum, Art Department, expert accredited by the Ministry of Culture in modern Romanian art, curator and collaborator in the organization of the museum's permanent exhibition, as well as numerous monographic and thematic exhibitions. She has published numerous studies, articles and art reviews dedicated to modern and contemporary Romanian art.
Mr. Dorel David Morar is a sculptor, member of the U.A.P.R. Târgu Mureș branch and museographer at the Mureș County Museum, Art Section. In the museum he is mainly dedicated to the museum education section (introduction, discovery and understanding of visual language). She has participated in the organization of several permanent and temporary exhibitions, including: Ion Vlasiu Gallery, Tonitza Exhibition. Images of Childhood, organized in Targu Mures and toured in Bucharest.
The exhibition presents works from the patrimony of the National Art Museum of Romania, the Mures County Museum, the Cluj-Napoca Art Museum, the Brukenthal National Museum, from the Vlasiu family collection and from private collections.
The exhibition remains open until 28 July 2024, on the ground floor of the National Gallery.
