#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

“Walking around Chișinău of the 20th century”

January 4 - February 15, 2021

Chișinău is without a doubt a city of contrasts. This is a locality that exists between "was" and "is". We are keenly experiencing this contrast, we see and feel it every day, and the architecture of the city clearly indicates a transition from the old to the new, being a witness and the main indicator of change.

In the pictures of the beginning of the last century, it appears as a small but very pretty town, and today we are increasingly confronted with the nostalgic expression "here was...": "here was the Diocesan House", "here was the Swiss Hotel", "here was a girls' gymnasium, and in this place the deputies of Sfatul Țării voted for the Union in 1918". Of the pearls of architecture that once delighted citizens, today we have only pictures left. These pictures are the subject of the collection catalogs and today, the unknown treasures of architecture and urban life, reflected in 48 images, are brought to the public's attention in an exhibition dedicated to Chişinău of the 20th century.

Chişinău is an open-air museum where thousands of people lived, loved, created with wisdom and humility the image of a city "carved in white stone". Each street retains the footsteps of those who admired it, whether they were commoners or nobles. Each villa retains a vivid memory of its owners, and some are still waiting for them, and the holy churches of Chişinău are illuminated by the thoughts of those who admired them or crossed their threshold.

This exhibition is a challenge for all of us to rediscover Chișinău at the time when we have and devote so little time for beauty. This is an invitation to take a virtual walk through the streets from the old days and recall known or forgotten views, places loaded with history or feelings. And, like any place that tends to affirm its authenticity through culture, Chișinău, today, perhaps more than ever, needs the exercise of memory in order to survive and develop.

#Exhibit of the Month

Constantin Brâncuși in Medallistics

“Walking around Chișinău of the 20th century”

January 4 - February 15, 2021

#Exhibit of the Month