#Exhibit of the Month

To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, 2026 was declared by the President of Romania the Year of Constantin Brâncuși. Constantin Brâncuși, one of the greatest sculptors of the twentieth century, was born in 1876 in Hobița, Gorj County, and passed away in 1957 in Paris; he was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery. In 1904 he arrived in Paris, where he attended courses at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. There he also worked in the studio of Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), the founder of modern sculpture, and met Amadeo Modigliani (1884-1920), the Italian sculptor settled in France. Inspired by the work of these artists, he perfected his artistic training in Paris. His works are held in museums both at home and abroad, in the Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries, France, and the United States of America. For his outstanding merits he was awarded the Order of the Star of Romania in 1923; in 1931 Nicolae Iorga proposed him for the Order of Cultural Merit; and only in 1990 was he posthumously elected a member of the Romanian Academy.
One of the artist's most famous creations is the sculpture Mademoiselle Pogany, considered a national symbol of modern Romanian art. Its protagonist was Margaret Pogany (1879-1964), a young Hungarian painter who came to Paris in 1909 to study painting techniques. Visiting her studio, she asked the sculptor to make her portrait, even leaving him a photograph and a self-portrait. In 1911 Brâncuși sculpted her likeness from memory in marble and in bronze, focusing on the deep, large, almond-shaped eyes, the subdued eyebrows, the narrow nose, the small mouth, the austere hairstyle and the modest gesture of the hands, rested against the face. Between 1912 and 1933 he produced nineteen versions of Mademoiselle Pogany.

The commemorative medal "Constantin Brâncuși (1876-1976). Expoziție Filatelică Omagială - București 1976" was struck in Romania at the State Mint by the engraver Ștefan Grudinschi. Executed in bronze with a diameter of 60 mm and a weight of 113.73 g, the medal is remarkable for its memorial and artistic value. Obverse: the sculptor's bust facing left, with the semicircular legend "CONSTANTIN BRÂNCUȘI - 1876-1976." Reverse: a fragment of the triptych The Gate of the Kiss. Semicircular legend: "EXPOZIȚIA FILATELICĂ OMAGIALĂ - BUCUREȘTI 1976."
The medal "Constantin Brâncuși. Mademoiselle Pogany. Craiova Art Museum. 1987" was also executed in bronze at the State Mint (Bucharest); it has a nominal diameter of 60 mm (because of the circular cutting the actual dimensions are D: 45 mm; weight: 53.55 g). The obverse shows, in the central field, an image of the Craiova Art Museum framed by the semicircular legend "MUZEUL DE ARTĂ - CRAIOVA / 1987." The reverse depicts a replica of the sculpture Mademoiselle Pogany made by Brâncuși's pupil O. Moșescu, accompanied by the inscription "CONSTANTIN BRÂNCUȘI - M-elle POGANY / 1913."

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

“Promoters of National Identity and Values”

August 27 - September 30, 2022

On August 27, 1991, history gave us a chance - the chance to become free. And the Bessarabian Romanians proved by deed that they want to be masters of their own destiny. For them, independence in those days was identified with the exit from the darkness of the Soviet empire and the hope for a prosperous future. The will of hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the Great National Assembly Square in Chisinau won. The Bessarabian Romanians won the great battle for the tricolor, for the state language and the Latin script, they returned to national traditions and values, they regained their right to history. Three decades have passed since then. Three decades of aspirations and accomplishments, of uncertainties and achievements. And even if today we have enough reasons to be sad, if we are not rich and not as free as we would like, we still have enough reasons to be proud of our country and its people, of the progress made on the path of democratization and modernization.

All the best and most noble things that the citizens of the Republic of Moldova have done during the three decades of independence have been done under the mobilizing sign of the tricolor, of values and ideals inherited from their ancestors. Proof of this are more than 70 pieces presented at the exhibition "Promoters of National Identity and Values" organized by the National Museum of History of Moldova in cooperation with the public organization "Șezătoarea Basarabiei" ("Bessarabia Gatherings"). The exhibition brings together a series of photographs and ethnographic objects (traditional shirts, scarves, belts, and so on) from the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova and photographs of traditional shirts for women, men and children, made by members of the "Șezătoarea Basarabiei" community, which brings together people of different professions - teachers, engineers, accountants, economists, doctors, journalists, artists, researchers - who are in love with the traditional Romanian costume, active promoters of national identity and values.

Folk costume is one of the defining elements of national culture, a landmark and an emblem of national identity. Regardless of whether they are presented in a classical style and preserved or taken up and reinterpreted, the symbols of folk clothes are always current.

The exhibition "Promoters of National Identity and Values" can be visited from 27 August to 30 September, in the upstairs hall of the NMHM (31 August 1989 street, nr. 121 A).

#Exhibit of the Month

Constantin Brâncuși in Medallistics

“Promoters of National Identity and Values”

August 27 - September 30, 2022

#Exhibit of the Month