National Painting Collection

The Permanent National Art Exhibition includes works from three generations of artists, reflecting the entire trajectory of Bessarabian art, with each period showcasing the main directions and priorities of its time. These moments are evident in the similarities of trends in the works of Bessarabian and Romanian artists from 1918-1940, alongside the cardinal changes during the period when the region became the Moldavian SSR, marked by Stalinist reprisals, war horrors, and the 1946-1947 famine, which caused ruptures in culture. This was a time when intellectuals, shaped by the European atmosphere of pluralism, were imposed vulgar aesthetic criteria. The period of the last generation coincides with the years of independence, when a dynamic shift towards pluralism was confirmed, freeing itself from Soviet ideology, while also modifying the formal artistic language of a series of artists who drew upon contemporary art to overcome cultural isolation and engage in the broader European art dialogue.

Developing as an artistic phenomenon in the context of Eastern and Western European cultures, yet distanced in time and space, Bessarabian art began in the 1880s and was fully formed in the 2nd and 3rd decades of the 20th century, marking the peak of interwar plastic arts in the region.

The main trends of the Bessarabian period are reflected in the adoption of well-known European trends and styles – Symbolism, Post-Impressionism, Art Nouveau, and Expressionism – which coexisted alongside the democratic realism trend. In the context of Bessarabian modern art from 1888 to 1918, influences from Eastern art and centers where future painters studied, such as St. Petersburg (Nicolai Gumalic, Eugenia Maleșevschi, Lidia Arionescu Baillayre, Gavriil Remmer, Vladimir Ocușco), Munich (Moissey and Şneer Kogan), Amsterdam (Auguste Baillayre), Odessa (Pavel Piscariov, Vasile Blinov), and Moscow (Alexandru Plămădeală), stand out.

Vladimir Ocușco’s work The Plowman (1896) recalls the works of Nicolae Grigorescu, and the work of Pavel Piscariov, The Seamstresses (1903), is characteristic of the traditional painting of Ukrainian peredvijniki artists. From the same period is Lidia Arionescu-Baillayre’s Portrait of a Woman (1904), one of the few preserved works of the artist, which carries the imprint of neo-impressionist treatment.

Eugenia Maleșevschi, descended from a Polish noble family, a graduate of the Odessa Drawing School and Ilya Repin’s workshop at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, displays the traditions of the academic school she studied in her work Portrait of an Unknown Woman (early 20th century).

With the political changes and Bessarabia’s union with Romania, the artistic life from 1918 to 1940 was much more diverse and richer in artistic manifestations. The establishment of the School of Fine Arts in 1919 marked a new page in the development of local artistic culture. A qualitative leap occurred, marked by the emergence of new subjects and new ways of treatment in the works of Bessarabian artists. The works of painters show distinct searches for new artistic means of expression, characteristic of Post-Impressionism, Art Nouveau, Expressionism, etc., which coexisted with the “democratic realism” trend. In painting, sculpture, scenography, book and easel graphics, and decorative arts, works were created that demonstrated the peak of Bessarabian plastic arts development.

Alexandru Plămădeală and Auguste Baillayre were two prominent figures who marked the evolution of plastic arts in Bessarabia between 1918-1940. Established on different aesthetic platforms regarding studies and creation, the former opted for a realistic treatment of the surrounding world, while the latter favored creative freedom and the application of stylization.

Alexandru Plămădeală (1888-1940), best known as a sculptor, but also practicing painting, is present in the exhibition with his Self-Portrait (1918), where the sculptor’s skill matches that of a talented painter. Painted in a free, pastose style using color correlations reminiscent of plein air painting, the self-portrait stands out among the works of Bessarabian artists from this period.

Auguste Baillayre (1879-1961) – one of the most important and brilliant figures of early 20th-century Bessarabian culture, born in France, raised in Georgia, and educated in St. Petersburg, Grenoble, and Amsterdam – became in Chișinău the intellectual and spiritual inspirer of many talents. His works Portrait of His Wife (1921), painted in Chișinău, and Self-Portrait with Masks (1945), created after his return to Bucharest, reflect two entirely different cultural environments.

Şneer Kogan (1875-1940) is better known and appreciated as an expressionist graphic artist, based on his studies at the Royal Academy of Arts in Bavaria (Munich), with painting being rare in his creations. The canvas Model. Ecaterina Grosu (1920-1922) features dark brown tones typical of his other works.

Pavel Șillingovschi (1881-1942), in his Portrait of His Wife (first half of the 20th century), executed in an impressionistic manner, was influenced by the trends of the "World of Arts" association in St. Petersburg. He donated approximately 200 engravings by old European and Russian masters from the 17th-18th centuries, as well as his own personal paintings and graphic works, to the National Museum of Art of Moldova.

Boris Nesvedov (1903-1963), a graduate of the School of Fine Arts in Auguste Baillayre's workshop, presents his Self-Portrait (1928-1933), which reflects through fine painting and a laconic color range, the hardness of the drawing and the convincing expressiveness of the face.

Dimitrie Sevastianov (1908-1956), a graduate of the Bucharest Academy of Fine Arts, presents Odalisque (1936), a work that fits into the themes favored by Romanian artists in the early 20th century, while Hămurar (1956) exemplifies the period of "art for the people."

Moisei Gamburd’s (1903-1954) work Eliminating Illiteracy (1946) represents the socialist realism period. A graduate of the School of Fine Arts in Chișinău and the Academy of Arts in Brussels, known as a poet of the Bessarabian peasantry, he became one of the promoters of this method during the Soviet period.

Antoine Irisse (1903-1957), a French painter with Bessarabian origins, studied at the School of Fine Arts in Auguste Baillayre's workshop and at La Grande Chaumière Academy in Paris. Girl with Mandolin (1949) is a fauvistic work characteristic of his entire creative period.

Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu (1920-2021) was one of the masters who marked the evolution of contemporary art in Moldova. She studied at the School of Fine Arts in Chișinău, under professors Alexandru Plămădeală and Auguste Baillayre, and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Iași, in Jean L. Cosmovici’s workshop, assisted by Corneliu Baba. Works such as Masquerade (1956) and The Little Breakfast (1979) reflect different periods and stylistic manners. An important place in her creations is taken by Citations from the History of Art (1978), offering a new stylistic direction and reinterpretation of Western Renaissance art messages.

Mihai Grecu (1916-1998), who studied at the Bucharest Academy of Arts in Francisc Șirato’s workshop, went through three distinct periods in his creative evolution: the 1950s-60s – mastering professional plastic language in composition and color; the 1960s-75 – experiments in decorative coloring; and the 1977-85 period – an increased interest in new colorants and collage, while simultaneously addressing folk art traditions through the symbolism of its message. Works like Maternity (1943), Autumn Day (1964), and Recruits (1965) reflect his creative evolution.

Glebus Sainciuc (1919-2012), a master of portraits and papier-mâché masks, demonstrates the specific interest in subjects like in Still Life with Fish (1958) and Portrait of Painter Igor Vieru (1967).

Igor Vieru (1923-1988) presents a visionary perspective in Autumn at Cernoleuca (1979) and A Bit About Water and Horses... (1981), using symbolism and the conventionality of motives. These paintings refer to timeless space, to the eternity born in rural traditions, becoming a metaphor.

The artistic trends during the Khrushchyov thaw period, beginning after 1956 in the USSR, are typical for works by Rostislav Ocușco (1897-1966), such as Hydroelectric Plant in Dubăsari (1959), characterized by contrasting color, and Olga Orlova’s (1932) Portrait of S. Melcan, Cattle Breeder (1964), as well as the traditional works of Mihail Petric (1922-2005) like Morning on the Nistru (1957), showing the impressionistic vision of Anatol Grigoraș (1919-2002) in Still Life Flowers on Moldovan Carpet Background (1964).

The various trends in the paintings of this generation are reflected in the stylization of form and color decoration by Gheorghe Jancov (1921-1984) in Worker’s Portrait (1966), the asceticism of forms in Damian Iancu’s (1932-2009) Master in Sports L. Reabova (1971), lyrical and poetic representations in Ion Jumati’s (1909-1997) Friends (1968), traditional interpretations in Self-Portrait (Aunt Anica) (1968) and Still Life (1992) by Ana Baranovici (1906-2002), as well as in Eleonora Romanescu’s (1926-2019) works Mother’s Portrait Maria (1972), Codrean Landscape (2009), and in the new colorants applied in Ada Zevin’s (1918-2005) Portrait of Dr. Efimia Serbin (1972) and Blue House (1983).

In the late 1960s-1970s, a new generation of plastic artists emerged with a fresh perspective on painting. This group includes Aurel David (1935-1984) with his lyrical and poetic work Afternoon (1964), continuing with Boris Kolomeeț (1936-2000) and his On the Road (1980), and Iurie Șibaev (1930-1986), with Vâlcov. Fishing Boats (1980). Vilhelmina Zazerscaia (1927-2023) also contributed with her work The Spring (1985). Elena Bontea’s (1933) creation stands apart with her work Song (1984), influenced by the stylized forms of folk art.

An important aspect of national painting is the work of painters born during the war. This theme is abstractly explored in the paintings of Sergiu Cuciuc (1940-2022), such as Memories (1991).

In the final year of the decade (1989), essential trends emerge in painting, touching on avant-garde and symbolic artistic currents, which, while dispersing or intersecting, maintain ties to earlier themes. A neorealist interpretation can be seen in Petru Jireghea’s (1941-2023) White Church (1992), while other artists advocate for decorative, pastose painting, such as Sergiu Galben (1942) in Vineyards in Ialoveni (1992), Dimitrie Peicev (1943-2023) in Birthday (1977) and Hora (1987), Ludmila Țoncev (1946-2017) in Still Life with Baskets (1988), and Inesa Țîpin (1946-2013) in Danaia (1984-2001).

Meanwhile, some artists embrace abstract composition, with consistent works by Mihai Țăruș (1948) in his Self-Portrait (1979), Gheorghe Oprea (1946) in Jacob’s Ladder (2014), and Vladimir Palamarciuc (1945) in Composition (2015).

Cardinal changes in the artistic life of Moldova occurred during the period of independence. Vernissages confirm the emergence of a new generation of plastic artists opting for a new creation paradigm. These moments are evident in the works of Andrei Sârbu (1950-2000), one of the artists who contributed to renewing the plastic language in Bessarabia. His works Sonnet. Oda and Yellow Quince (1992) testify to his full artistic maturity.

The poetic synthesis and metaphorical, sacred character of Tudor Zbârnea’s (1955) work, contributing to Chișinău’s artistic thought, is presented in the exhibition with Frozen Face (1995).

Experiments and new trends in national painting convey a common message for the artistic environment without deviating from the continuity of earlier processes, each presenting the most individual qualities of their stylistic manner: Ghenadie Jalbă (1956) in The Little Horse (2001), Simion Zamșa (1958) in Sacrifice (2009).

The exploration of new expressive plastic techniques and individual methods of establishing one’s path in art is highlighted in the paintings of Ilie Cojocaru (1950) in Muse (1990), Anatol Rurac (1957) in Melancholy (1992), Andrei Mudrea’s (1954-2022) Brightness (2008), Vasile Dohotaru’s (1955) Portrait of a Ballerina (1995), Ion Morărescu’s (1956) White Church (1990), and Anatol Danilișin’s (1960) Between Hills (2005).

The exhibition concludes with the works of the youngest representatives of national art: Veaceslav Fisticanu (1960) in Chaos - Order (2014), Dumitru Bolboceanu (1960) in Clouds Falling (1993), Fioghen Calistru (1962) in Dried Flowers (1990), Iurie Platon (1963) in History of an Autumn, Part I (1990), and Leonardo Guțu (1959) in Pines (1990). Their works reflect a diverse thematic range, from figurative art to abstract, with a primary focus on the emotional expressiveness of color.