Fundatia nationala de cultura si traditie populara
Yüklə 160,88 Kb.
|
- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- A wooden church and a Romanian peasant
- An Iconographical Painting School in a Transilvanian Village
- Vasile I. Bunea
- The Monastery of Nicula - Sumary
- They say it first shed by the 15-th of february 1694.
- In the Niculian icons on glass several local ethnographical elements, especially those taken from the wonderful Cristmas carols, have been successfully assimilated.
ALEXANDRU PHILIPPIDE: "The nervous verse, like his temper, when observed in passing, deceive. His poetry stimulates you to meditate. A sweet meditation like the one from the ancient philosophers’ verses" SERBAN CIOCULESCU: "Although a student of my dear friend I. A. Popescu, I cannot praise Vasile Bunea. I honestly congratulate him!" ION APOSTOL POPESCU: "Vasile Bunea- the poet, I have discovered in the years of his high- school studies, when he already surpassed the horizon of teenagers in his verses. His verses are inspired by the authentic village, which leaves a definite mark on his creation, a mark which we also find – of course- in Cosbuc’s poetry- the one without an equal." MIHAI BENIUC: "Vasile Bunea’s motivation for writing poetrycomes from his childhood in Blaga’s Lancram. Could there be a connection between the two, or a beautiful curse of the muse?" LAURENTIU FULGA: "Vasile Bunea’s writings start with the poem, continue with the literary essay and end with his scientific works, from which I cannot omit "Eminescu and the Transilvanian Folklore". One day, perhaps, his name will be signed on the cover of a book. He honestly deserves it." EUGEN BARBU: " I have received the "Nicolae Labis" literary circle as a hope to cherish. Although his poetry is sometimes bookish, it brings with it the concendence of the philosophical verse, demonstrating the possibility of an intensely prepared poetical elaboration." NICOLAE STEINHARDT: "For Vasile Bunea’s nights of poetry at the House of the Poet from the monastery of Rohia, I must thank him from the heart. He creates potry of philosophical tension." NICHITA STANESCU: " The old Bunea is not a poet. He used to be! Now, he is a spiral breathing through words. Anyway, he has long passed the border of debut of a lyrical destiny." MARIN PREDA: "I am not very good at criticism of poetry, but reading the verses of Vasile I. Bunea, I feel the nerve of an authentic poetical discourse, I am certain I am reading a poet. And not only that, he also has other writings that urge you to read, study and memorize them with the utmost attention." Thanks to projects for the future, his old and lonely parents, the sites of his childhood called him home to live among his own. Thus, in Oct. 1998, he has returned from Bucharest and resettled in Gherla, where he discretely continues his creative activity in various domains, doing what he had learned from his masters for a lifetime. Vasile I. Bunea has the following books in preparation: "J’accuse"- political- autobiographical novel " Inscriptions on a Bead of Rice"- poems In collaboration: (collectively) "The History of the Town Gherla from the Beginnings to the Present" In collaboration with the priest Gavril Pop, he has organized and arranged in a building belonging to the Museum of History in Gherla a valuable museum of icons painted on glass ( the most valuable in the area) 1, 2 or even 3 centuries old, from the School of Nicula, Laz, Maierii Albei Iulia and Fagarasi as well as other icons painted on wood, objects of cult and rare church books, with the support of the Greco- Catholic episcopate from Cluj- Gherla. He has organized together with ddr. Mihai Mester, the director of the Museum of History from Gherla a series of symposiums and scientifical colloquiums regarding the culture and traditions of the area. Many articles have been written about the prodigious activity as an icon- painter of Vasile I. Bunea, but mostly about the success of his iconographical art, in Romania as well as in the countries he has visited, he has given interviews for radio-stations and television abroad, he has taken part in TV shows on various channels in the country and the most interesting fact is that he has held conferences on the theme in the countries he has visited, popularizing this ancient art, to make the creative genius of the Romania people known. The painter Vasile I. Bunea has works in important museums and private collections in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Russia, Yugoslavia, Greece, USA, England, Cyprus, Hungary and Chehia. A special merit of Vasile I. Bunea is that: according to the requirements of modern research regarding Romanian iconography on glass, he "scientificized this craft", imposing upon the artists the obligatory dating of their works, and he personally codified his works for the purpose of individualizing them, according to thematics and representations, currents and sources of inspiration, so that the painter Vasile I. Bunea personally gave 250 such codes. Such an aspect has never before been seen in the case of other painters of icons on glass, which confers the artist priority in this field, priority he will leave behind for the posterity as his inheritance. This aspect has been relevant in the foreign press, which has written about him and signaled his presence with his personal authentic art in so many international and local exhibitions, having been solicited in many places. My explanation is a simple one, from the point of view of the art critic: he has combined the art standing at the basis of the Nicula School with his passion, meticulousness, personal works and the rigor- be it artistic or lucrative, even if it doesn’t strive towards perfection. Another great "discovery" of the painter Vasile I. Bunea is the adding of a metallic tinge to the colors through a procedure known only by him at the moment, which enhances the value of his work and gives different warmth of color to the scene. His endeavors, taken very seriously help us reach the conclusion that he creates with great passion and infinite love towards God. I cannot end these quotes from his Curriculum Vitae without noting a few thoughts myself which I have written about the artist about a year ago: " A polyvalent personality- writer, poet, painter, Vasile I. Bunea, after a long stay in Bucharest, has answered the calling of his origins, returning to Gherla, his native town. Lead by his romantic vocation, he came back with the thought of resuscitating the icon- painter school from the village Nicula in his mind, the school of "popular art" having a prodigious history. He partially succeeded and partially the results are still expected. Beyond this mostly administrative ambition, his success is totally in the artistic domain. This retrospective exhibition- which ahs been organized with the occasion of the inauguration of the Transilvanian Cultural Center for Conserving and Valorizing Tradition and Popular Creation- Cluj, fully illustrates the quality of his art. He is no more merely the formerly known "peasant- painter", nor is he the conquering monarch, hard- working calligrapher working in the monastery, but this time he is the erudite intellectual who learns from the intelligence and follows the model of other painting "schools" like the one in Faragas or Maierii Albei Iulia, and returns at the same time, obsessively, underlining through own achievements- the deep artistic values of the school of Nicula. His work springs from carefully selected sources and is loaded with the incandescence of his own spirit. Thus he proposes a formula which can be very actual and is the fittest to be mentioned under the generic "Tradition and Modernity". He is the only bridge to reunite, reorganize and rule over these three centuries of history, a period during which the Nicula painting school has reached its peak." Univ. Prof. Vasile Radu - art critic - Director of the Center of Popular Creation - Cluj, Romania
Having entered the history of this people more that three centuries ago, thanks to a miraculous icon representing the Mother of our Lord, the: Nicula phenomenon , has carved in the conscience of the Romanian oeople and has become well-known by foreigners, comes back to our attention again for the possibility to receive thegreatness it once had, has in the present and will always in the universality. PILGRIMS AT THE GATES OF NICULA MONASTERY
Later it was donated to the church of Nicula, an authentic Romanian village, situated 3 km. away from Gherla, where there was a wooden church builit in the year 1557. About this oasis of enchanting originality and beauty, a place of Romanian spirituality of the most authentic class, speaks also the Hungarian historian Jozsef Kadar who recognizes not only its vocation but also its values. Thus, the beginnings of the Nicula Monastery were lost in the mists of those times, the only known information being that with the passing of thecenturies and historical vicissitudes a new wooden construction has been erected on the place of the first one. It is also known that beginning with the year 1659, near the Nicula Monastery a school functioned, which had an important role in thew elevation of the cultural and literacy level among the peasants. Being a place of cult and instruction, the first school of icon painting on glas and wood was grounded, immediately after the first great miracle happened with the authentic icon painted by priest Luca from Iclod. The Weeping Icon After this Holy Icon protected and helped the Romanian people in so many challenges, such as the repeated incursions of the peasants and the Turks, the coming of armies of ather nationality and creed, on the 15-th of February 1694, a group of Austrian officers entered to see the wooden church of Nicula. On the sight of this icon of unsual beauty, walking around it with hidden thoughts looking at it carefully and observing its every detail, to everyone’s astonishment they saw the Holy Mother of the icon weep ! There vere real tears flowing from her blakj eyes ! Stupified by what happened, the foreign officers ran to the village priest named Mihaiu (a sixty years old man, known in the area as religious, honest and kind) who arrived to the site together with the firstforeign witnesses. They saw the icon weeping. The news spread quickly in the small village Nicula. The women came to wipe with their hand-made linen handkerchiefs the tears of the Mother of God, who not stop crying. The first phenomenon peresisted with short intrerruptions until the 12 – th of March, that is, 26 days. Sometimes the interruptions were of a few days, other times the weeping was unintterrupted, it went on day and night, period during which the pilgrimage has been constant, people coming from every village in the area. Thousands and thousands of Christians came, sick people were brought who were haled by Holy Mother’s tears. To authenticate this God-Given miracle, the fact was also confirmed in a protocol signed by the officers of the garrison from Dej, but the hidden thoughts for which the Holy Mother had stared to weep were only to be materialized in the count of Cornis’s decision to move the icon from the Monastery of Nicula to his castele in the villageBenediug. With great ceremony, accompanied bz the music of a marching band, with church sons in a solemn procession of adoration and glorification in which thousands of Christians from the valley of the Somes took part, on the 12-th of April 1694, the Holy Icon was placed in the chapel of the castle from Benediug, in the presence of authorities and military as the civilians, disappointed because of the injustice that the God-given gift was being taken from them. During the time in which the holy icon harbored in this village, other facts had occurred. Thus, the count Cornis Sigismund, who could not father children through the fervent prayers addressed to the icon of the Holy Mother the gift of God to have a son born in his family. To prove its miraculous powers a churchly commission came to Benediug made of three Jesuit fathers who, after learning the truth, wanted to take the icon to to Cluj. Against this proposal protested first of all the count Cornis and the Christians from the surrounding villages, among whom the most vehement the people of Nicula, coming out with scythes, hoes and pitchforks to Benediug making a big uproar. To avoid certain confessional social turbulence, the authorities decided that the icon was to be given back to the Nicula Monastery, which happened on the first Sunday after Christmas of the year 1695 to the satisfaction and joy of those who knew to protect and this spiritual treasure. We must also mention the historically important and truly authentic fact that the Emperor of Vienna himself ordered that the icon should return to the church of its origin "where any believer of any nationality has the right to go and devote themselves to the Holy Icon". This decision was made as a consequence of the Nicula trial filed against the count of Benediug. The decision made by the Emperor was convenient to both parties and as aconsequence the wifw of the count tried to convince her husband to rebuild the old wooden chuch, the one still standing today, and offered the two bells as a gift, one of them having been made in 1410, the one from their castle, and the other one especially meant for the monastery. An Iconographical Painting School in a Transilvanian Village Right after the conflict hat faded away a paintingf school started to develop at the monastery and even in the village Nicula – iconographical painting on glass, where, at the beginning the miraculous icon had been reproduced, and later, other individual or group biblical themes have been painted. The school became soon enough famouus all over the world, the tradition of which is still kept today by the hard work of a small group of people. In the year 1948, after the coming to power of the totalitarian communist regime, by the initiative of the people living in the Nicula monastery and with the support of the villagers, the miraculous icon had ben hidden at various conspirative addresses in the vilasge Lunca Bontului until the year 1964, then under the pressures of the atheist communist authorities for preventing the pilgrimage of thousaunds every year to the religious celebration on the 15-th August- the day of the Holy Virgin Mary- the icon was moved for a long time into the chapel of the Ortodox Archiepiscopate from Cluj. In was entrusted to the Restauration Laboratory near the Transivanian Museum of History from Cluj-Napoca in the year 1991, from where the rejuvenated, splendidly reconditioned face was brought back to the Holy Monastery of Nicula on the 24-th March 1992. After the mass held for the Celebration of the Mother of our Lord, in which thousands of Christians tok part, the procession started towards Nicula Monastery. The icon of Nicula appears, from religious point of view, as an affirmation of the Mystical Resurrection of Christ, or as an action of the visual memory of the apostolic creed. Last but not least, it appears to us as a capacity to accept the manifestation of the divine of the saints’ gift, through matter. The first grerat Romanian researcher, who preoccupied by the subject was prof. Ion Apostol Polescu, who managed to print the first treaty about the Nicula phenomenon entitled " The Art of the Icons on Glass from Nicula ". Thanks to its open attitude towards the nation and the world, the Nicula phenomenon was re-vigorated through the emergence of new and valuable , among whom we mention: Maximoaie, Chiforoaie, Gheorghe Feur-the ringer, the monk Harion Muresan, Marian Mustea – senior and others. With the gift I have managed, I have managed to make this elevated popular art known, the Nicula phenomenon, in countries like Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Cyprus, Greece, ( in perspective: Austria, England and Argentina) where not only did it have success, but the works have ben purchased by great museums of the capitals, by great and holy places of cult, imposing themselves through their force, religiousness and acxcuracy as values among univesal values. Vasile I. Bunea painter and vriter TECHNICAL FILE The icons have been painted with good quality oil paints, which guarantee a long tenacity (of several centuries, as the paintings in Nicula have shown) and a more accentuated chromatics in time. They have been painted on a specially chosen glass, with a greenish hue at the edge of the carving that confer it qualities specific to this craft. The drying of the painting has been done exclusively in a natural way, artificial thermal agents having been entirely avoided. The thickness of the glass varies according to the size of the painting’s theme. Usually the thickness of the glass is of 3 mm. The specific weight of a regular icon is of 800 gr. together with the framework. The icons have been framed in a framework made of fir slats (well dried for 2-3 years), given a specific tinge, with a thickness of 2.5 cm, characteristic to the craft practiced in this century. The works are provided with well-fixed climbers that permit their suspension in an exhibition or in their place of keeping in a collection.The paintings are provided with cardboard on the back for protection against external agents in the exhibition environment, as well as humidity and temperature. The icons are signed by the author and dated, they are coded and registered in our catalogue, in which all the themes discovered and worked on in Nicula are put into an inventory, or they have been given new catalogue number as a new theme. They wear the official stamp of the National Foundation for Tradition and Popular Culture. In this sense the paintings have been given a tag on the back. The tag contains the identification data of the painting: the described theme, dimension, author, year of painting and the specific code of its theme. The number of icons proposed for this exhibition (it can also be itinerant), in order that the biblical theme is respected, is of 80-100 paintings, their dimensions being between: 15/20 cm. – minion icons 25/20 cm.- small icons
60/80 cm.- large icons The paintings can be presented on fixed panels, or suspended, according to how the exhibition halls permit. Inconveniences that might arise during the mounting of an exhibition can be taken care of with simple solutions on the site. The Monastery of Nicula - Sumary - Nicula is an old Romanian village which enjois an ever increasing good reputation in the world, it situated at about 5 km. From the little twon of Gherla, and at avbout 52 km. From Cluj. They say the its name comes from an anchoret called Nicolae, or, maybe from that of the poatron saint of its church, St. Nicolas. This viilage dates from the XI/th century. The villagers of Nicula are wellknown as thay are carrying one of the oldest traditions in glas painting of Transilvania. Among their basic ocupations, agriculture and animal breeding are to be firstly mentioned. Their folklore seems to be very old and very rich Their customs and beautiful traditions related to Christmas, Jesus’Resurrection, to the Pentcost, to the celebration of St. Mary, St. George, St. John an d other religious feasts, witness of a rich and bright spiritual life.
This wonderful work has been carriedout by S. Kerestesiu of Tasnad, a wellkknown artist many times reward with several medals for his previous masterpieces he of different occasions in our country or abroad (the International Exhibition in New York – 1939- for instance. One of the icons from the iconostasis represents the Holy Mothe ( 1681). On the same iconostasis one can see the Lord `s Supper, the Holy Trinity besides many other icons. In the nave we first see Jesus Almighty, the Holy Trinity, the Holy Precista Surroundded by Angel Jesus ` Baptiyement and the Assumtion of The Virgin.
Among the pilgrimages that take place yearly at Nicula, the most important one is that devoted to the Assumption of the Holy Mother, celebrated on the 15 -th of August. Lots of pilgrims pay their homage to the Saint Marie ` s Miracle Worker Icon ! painted by priest Luca of Iclod in 1681.
The icons on glas in Transylvania first appeared at Nicula by the second half of the XVII- th c. The Holy Precista with Jesus (1681) was one of the first autochtonous for the Niculian artists. They have painted several cycles of themes like: Holy Precista with Jesus, Mater Dolorosa, Jesus ‘ Resurrection, the Holy Trinity, the Descent of the Holy Ghost etc. In the Niculian icons on glass several local ethnographical elements, especially those taken from the wonderful Cristmas carols, have been successfully assimilated. The persuasive optimism of these icons is strenghtening the faithful people `s Belief that life is everlaating, and their certitude that death will be defeated, as Lord Jesus said he himself: " If a man keeps my word, he shall never se death" ( St. John, VII – 51), wordsrecalling the idea that " the last enemy that shall be abolisched is death. For God put all thinge in subjection under His feet" ( Corinthians, l, XV, 25) By their preoccupation for the human spirituality, for its adepth by means of composition, drawing and colour, the painters of Nicula are the true forerunners of some new trends in the modern art. The Museum which functions by the Monastery is one of the most endoved with icons on glass and on wood, and it preserves some maste pieces gathered from all over the Transylvanian country. Some of then are even very old (XVI-th - XVII-th c.), as for instance: the Holy Mother (1770), Mater Dolorosa, Jesus ` Nativity,the Transfiguration, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, etc. Many icons preserved in the museum of Nicula, like the Holy Mother, the Nativity, the Saviour Judge, Jesus ` Resurrection, Jesus with the Vine, the Holy Trinity with three faces ( which is an extremely rare icon), are among the finest of the kind and thev fill the lookers` souls with joy, faitth and beauty. In the same museum, one can also see icons on glass painted by the nowdays artists. In this respect we have the works of Vasile I. Bunea, Marian Mustea-senior, Pacurar Emil, Ilarion Muresanu, and Martaian Ermone, or those of Gheorghe Feur- clopotarul a wellknown artist who had been invited to exhibit his paintings in Japan, nore exactly at Hirosima and Tokio, and whose works had been beautifully gathered in an album publiched in Japan. By the Monastery of Nicula there is also a little workshop to be spoken about. It became wellknown by the composition created here and ouch appreciated either in our country or abroad.
Those nwho consider the Monastery of Nicula as " a true Bethlem of faith and beauty" are perfectly rght. So, they manage to bring their contribution to its enjoying an ever encreasing fame and appreciation. Yüklə 160,88 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
|