Temporary Exhibitions
A representative of the golden generation of fine arts in the Republic of Moldova, Eleonora Romanescu revitalized artistic heritage through the freshness and intensity of her chromatic harmonies, based on simultaneous contrasts of overwhelming aesthetic variety. A true poet of color, the artist showed the same dedication in easel painting and graphic art as well as in decorative arts—tapestry, restoration, and pedagogy.
Eleonora Romanescu was born on April 26, 1926, in Leușeni, Telenești district, into the family of Dumitru Romanescu and Maria Crăciun. After completing primary school in her native village, she continued her studies at the Girls’ Gymnasium in Chișinău (1937–1940), and later at the “Reuniunea Femeilor Române” High School (1941–1944). In 1944, the high school where she studied took refuge in Craiova. Upon returning to Chișinău, between 1945 and 1949, she studied at the Ilia Repin School of Fine Arts (currently the Alexandru Plămădeală Republican College of Fine Arts).
Starting in 1953, for five years, she worked as a drawing teacher at the Pedagogical School in Orhei. Between 1955 and 1957, she attended restoration (painting) courses at the I. Grabar State Central Restoration Workshops in Moscow. In 1957, she began working at the National Museum of Art of Moldova as chief custodian, later becoming a painter-restorer.
Between 1969 and 1982, she worked as a teacher at the Republican High School of Fine Arts in Chișinău. She restored numerous icons from the Răciula Monastery, saved during times of persecution against Christians. In 1991–1992, she restored the iconostasis of the Chapel of the Theological Seminary at the State University of the Republic of Moldova and painted the iconostasis of the Church of Saints Constantine and Helena in Chișinău.
Her first works (still lifes) were presented at the exhibition of young artists organized in 1954. In 1958, she became a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR, and a few years later—a member of the Council of the Union of Artists of the Moldavian SSR.
Throughout her long artistic career, the artist successfully explored figurative-thematic painting, portraiture, and landscape, giving particular preference to the latter and dedicating to it her entire spiritual energy. Landscape, in its various forms, and the human being in its meaningful interaction with the surrounding world, constitute the thematic quintessence of her entire body of work.
In recognition of her merits, Eleonora Romanescu was named an honorary citizen of Telenești district, and the gymnasium in her native village of Leușeni bears her name. In this school, the artist organized a permanent exhibition and donated 44 works.
Among her awards and distinctions are: the Order “Badge of Honor” (1970); the honorary title “Master of Arts” (1976); the State Prize for the cycle “Native Land” (1976); the title “People’s Artist of the Republic of Moldova” (1986); the Order of the Republic (1996); the Prize of the Union of Artists of Moldova (1996); the Eminescu Prize (1997); the Iurie Matei Prize (2005). In 2013, for achievements in culture and art, she was awarded the National Prize of the Republic of Moldova, and in 2018 she received the Order of Cultural Merit of Romania, Commander rank, Category C – Fine Arts.
Her works are held in the collections of the National Museum of Art of Moldova, the Art Museum in Cluj-Napoca, Constanța, the exhibition hall of the Chamber of Deputies of the Romanian Parliament, the Art Museum in Moscow, as well as art museums in Kyiv, Lviv, Uzhhorod (Ukraine), and the Art Museum in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
She passed away on November 4, 2019, in Chișinău, at the age of 93.
Eleonora Romanescu rightfully belongs among both Bessarabian and universal colorists; her landscapes, portraits, and still lifes present subtle chromatic problems—analyses and juxtapositions of nuances—which, taken together, form a coherent statement that clearly, warmly, and persistently expresses the specificity of her homeland.
