Art, Politics and the Museum: Tales of continuity and rupture in modern Romania Gabriela Nicolescu This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology Goldsmiths College, University of London 2015 Declaration This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically stated in the text. This dissertation received approval to reach an extended word limit of 95,000 words. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of the author. Abstract This thesis provides an exploration of moments of abrupt political change in modern Romania through an analysis of the multiple transformations that have occurred in the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant (NMRP). It traces the paradoxical process by which a museum, perceived as an ‘immutable institution’ not only reflected, but also became a stage for supporting the shift from monarchy to communism and the ensuing of the post-communist order. It reveals how the present-day NMRP is a mixture of institutions, fragments and deletions, a problematic assemblage of people and practices. This mix has resulted in the formation of conflicting and often contradictory views on representation: be they views of the peasant, the past, or the aesthetics of display. Such conflicts in turn exemplify tensions about Romanian identity and modernity more generally. The thesis is based on an analysis of a broad range of contemporary and archival material, such as photography relating to exhibitions and events, films, descriptions of museum displays, labels, and artefacts themselves. This analysis works in combination with ethnography and with reflection on the experience of curating a contemporary exhibition within the museum. In this exhibition, objects and words were used to explore the juxtaposition of concurrent views about the past and the co-existence of different pasts in the present. It is suggested that an understanding of how oppositions work together in the confined space of the museum enables clearer perceptions of social and political tensions within contemporary Romanian society. List of Illustrations Most of the images presented in this thesis are archival images. Permission to reproduce them has been granted by the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant. All the other images belong to my personal archive, unless otherwise stated. Image on the front cover - The Museum of the Romanian Peasant’s carriage passing in front of the Government Building, 1991. The Image Archive of the NMRP, Fonds Dinescu-Caraman, Film 400/ Image 1989. Introductory Chapter Figures 0.1 and 0.2 Two images of Piaţa Victoriei..........................................9-10 Figures 0.3 The NMRP building in 2010.............................................................11 Figure 0.4 A fair in the rear courtyard of the NMRP...........................................32 Figure 0.5 Celebration for the opening of the MNA, 1912..................................34 Figure 0.6 Ceaușescu opening the Museum of the Party, 1966...........................35 Figures 0.7 Objects in Relation and Context exhibition.......................................37 Figure 0.8. Map of the museum’s main building.................................................42 Chapter One Figures 1.1 and 1.2 Priests in the Museum of the Party.......................................55 Figures 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 Priests in a devastated museum.....................................56 Figure 1.6 Drawing of a flame at the back of an emptied room...........................58 Figure 1.7 The director’s office............................................................................59 Figure 1.8 The destruction of Vacărești Monastery.............................................60 Figure 1.9 Museum staff praying with the priests in the museum.......................65 Figure 1.10 An important figure in the Piaţa Universităţii movement................68 Figure 1.11 Handwriting in published books.......................................................69 Figures 1.12 Bernea, Liiceanu and Pleșu sitting together....................................73 Figure 1.13 and 1.14. The back view of the Museum..........................................76 Chapter Two Figure 2.1 A peculiar label.................................................................................101 Figure 2.2 White-coated muzeografi with Horia Bernea ..................................102 Figures 2.3, 2.4, 2.5 Preparations for opening an exhibition room....................103 Figure 2.6 Researchers and ‘clothes on the line’, 1991-1993............................105 Figures 2.7 and 2.8 Watching Purification.........................................................106 Figure 2.9 Image from The Room of the Nun curated by Irina Nicolau.............107 Figure 2.10 The Time Room curated by Irina Nicolau.......................................108 Figure 2.11 Bullets in the walls and burned buildings, Bucharest 1991............110 Figure 2.12 A carriage in the city centre, winter of 1991...................................111 Figures 2.13 and 2.14 Commemoration of December 1989...............................112 Figures 2.15 and 2.16 Archives in the Stores of the Village Museum...............115 Figure 2.17 Muzeografi in the Village Museum’s stores, 1990.........................116 Figure 2.18 Dusty staircases in the Village Museum, 1990...............................117 1 Figures 2.19 and 2.20 Stores in the Village Museum, 1990...............................118 Figure 2.21 Bernea’s wall paintings and aquarelle maps...................................121 Figure 2.22 Coat on the floor, image from Places exhibition............................122 Figure 2.23 Four old men walking away, image from Places exhibition..........123 Figures 2.24 and 2.25 Installation of textiles and crosses in the NMRP...........126 Figure 2.26 Collage of images and texts in Icons II Room, the NMRP............127 Figure 2.27 Framed pictures in the Windows Room in the NMRP....................128 Figure 2.28 Bernea and a researcher displaying plates with crucifixes.............130 Figures 2.29 and 2.30 The Stores of the NMRP................................................133 Chapter Three Figure 3.1 The facade of the Museum of Folk Art in 1963................................140 Figures 3.2 – 3.5 Images from the 1957 exhibition....................................145-146 Figures 3.6 and 3.7 Muzeografi and extra curriculum work..............................156 Figure 3.8 The cover of File 218 in the MFA Archive.......................................160 Figures 3.9 and 3.10 Ornament of the Head Exhibition, 1961...........................161 Figure 3.11 ‘Tovarăș [comrade] Matiș at her work place’, 1963.......................165 Figure 3.12 A temporary exhibition in Bucovina...............................................170 Figure 3.13 Newspaper articles in the MFA Archive.........................................173 Figure 3.14 Document attesting a donation of Romanian folk art.....................174 Chapter Four Figure 4.1 A ceramic plate from the Various Collection...................................187 Figures 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 Korean and Japanese objects in the Foreign Country Collection............................................................................................................190 Figure 4.5 Ceramic tractor from the Various Collection in the NMRP.............192 Figures 4.6, 4.7 and 4.8 The Valorization of Folk Art Exhibition...............193-194 Figure 4.9 Newspaper image showing a woman dressed in an artizanat blouse..................................................................................................................198 Figures 4.10, 4.11, 4.12 Covers of Western magazines..............................199-200 Figures 4.13 and 4.14 The car from which clothes made by cooperatives of production are sold.............................................................................................219 Figure 4.15 The driver of the car shown in Figures 4.13 and 4.14.....................220 Chapter Five Figure 5.1 The statue of Marx, Engels and Lenin with noses broken................226 Figures 5.2 and 5.3 Statue of three communist leaders in the back garded of the NMRP in the early 1990s...................................................................................228 Figures 5.4, 5.5 and 5.6 Objects in Room 45, in early 1990s.....................231–234 Figure 5.7 ‘Engineer in the field’ from Room 45...............................................235 Figure 5.8 The Plague, Political Installation Room in the NMRP....................236 Figure 5.9 Lenins in the Plague Room...............................................................237 Figure 5.10 Collection attendant in the stores....................................................245 Figure 5.11 Image from researchers’ office.......................................................252 Figures 5.12, 5.13, 5.14 and 5.15 Researches’ office.........................................253 Figure 5.16 Collection of fine art in artists’ offices in the NMRP.....................254 Figures 5.17 and 5.18 Inscriptions on artists’ doors...........................................254 2 Figures 5.19, 5.20 and 5.21 Muzeografi’s offices in the NMRP…...................256 Figure 5.22 Radio speaker donated by a volunteer............................................258