{"id":7900,"date":"2025-11-26T16:01:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T16:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=7900"},"modified":"2025-11-26T16:01:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T16:01:21","slug":"the-varied-depictions-of-the-traditional-blouse-ia-on-display-in-bucharest-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=7900","title":{"rendered":"The varied depictions of the traditional blouse ia on display in Bucharest exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

The exhibition RomanIa \u2013 Identity representation of traditional dress in art<\/em>, currently on view at the National Museum of Art of Romania (MNAR), gathers a variety of artistic representations of the traditional blouse ia<\/em>, from painting and sculpture, to drawing, photography, installation, film, music, posters, fashion, books, albums, and more.<\/p>\n

It includes works by Henri Matisse, Nicolae Grigorescu, Theodor Pallady, Iosif Iser, Marcel Iancu, and Mircea Cantor, among others, gathered from 25 museums from Romania and five museums from abroad: Centre Pompidou and Fondation Louis Vuitton in France; the National Art Gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria; the Hryhorii Galagan Regional Art Museum of Cernihiv, Ukraine, as well as the Republic of Moldova.<\/p>\n

“The fact that we were able to put together an exhibition where we have one work from Ukraine says a lot about the fight for normality. This exhibition is a normal one, but, of course, in the current historical context, of Romania’s economic deprivation and of the geopolitical situation, it is completely abnormal,” the MNAR interim director Erwin Kessler explained at the opening of the show.<\/p>\n

Kessler recounted how, just hours after becoming interim director, he emailed the Centre Pompidou president to remind him about an earlier discussion about creating an exhibition that would properly contextualize La Blouse Roumaine<\/em>. He soon received a positive answer, and the exhibition went forward, despite others doubting that it would, he explained.<\/p>\n

“The exhibition is large, dense, and very disturbing in many cases. [\u2026] Even if in places it will seem that we have dug a hole for all of us, I said that without seeing the abysses, you cannot see the beauties. We have parts of the exhibition that are very good, we have ugly parts, because we have ugly parts in our history,” he said.<\/p>\n

The ‘Mona Lisa of the exhibition’, as Erwin Kessler called it, is Henri Matisse’s La Blouse Roumaine<\/em>, on loan from the Centre Pompidou. The work, which leaves France for the first time for this exhibition, inspired Yves Saint Laurent’s 1981 fall-winter collection, which paid homage to the French artist. This was followed by numerous iterations of various elements of the traditional dress by other fashion designers.<\/p>\n

The show traces the ia’s<\/em> prominent place as a subject in local art beginning with the 16th century. One of the first works displayed is a fragment of a fresco mural depicting Lady Roxanda (before 1526), the daughter of the 16th-century Wallachian ruler Neagoe Basarab and later a first lady of Wallachia. The portrait, the work of Dobromir the Painter (Dobromir Zugravu), was removed from the church of the Curtea de Arge\u015f Monastery in 1883. It shows the official image of a voivode’s wife of the era, wearing an embroidered ia<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Various examples of high-profile personalities wearing the ia<\/em> are included in the exhibition. Among them is the Portrait of Mari\u0163ica Bibescu<\/em> by Constantin Lecca. A member of a local aristocratic family, she became the wife of Gheorghe Bibescu, a prince of Wallachia between 1843 and until the Revolution of 1848, when he was dethroned.<\/p>\n

Daniel Constantin Rosenthal – Revolutionary Romania\u00a0\u00a9 Muzeul Na\u021bional de Art\u0103 al Rom\u00e2niei<\/em><\/p>\n

Similarly, Revolutionary Romania<\/em>, the Eug\u00e8ne Delacroix-inspired work by Daniel Constantin Rosenthal, depicts the country as a determined young woman wearing a blouse typical of the Muscel region. The work was created in Paris several years after the 1848 Revolution. The model was Maria Rossetti, born in Great Britain as Mary Grant, to Scottish-French parents, and the wife of revolutionary C.A. Rossetti.<\/p>\n

Members of the Romanian royal family, from Queen Elisabeth, the wife of King Carol I, to Queen Marie, the wife of King Ferdinand I, have donned the traditional blouse and costume in various photos and official portraits. It is the case of Princess Elisabeth in Traditional Costume<\/em> by George Peter Alexander Healey, or of Portrait of Queen Marie in National Costume<\/em> by Albertine (Tini) Rupprecht, two works included in the exhibition. Later, during the interwar period, representations of the traditional blouse reconceived the ia<\/em>, as was the case with works pertaining to the Avant-garde movement.<\/p>\n

The exhibition also highlights how the traditional costume was deployed for various ends by political figures, among them Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the founder and leader of the interwar ultranationalist and anti-Semitic organization the Iron Guard. Later, the official art of the Communist regime also deployed the traditional blouse as an element of national identity. The appropriation of the ia<\/em> as an instrument of propaganda is presented through various contemporary works, and the show also documents the “excesses connected to the ia<\/em> as a fixed identity brand.”<\/p>\n

The exhibition was put together using private funds entirely, the MNAR director explained, pointing to the support from Fundatia Amzei.<\/p>\n

The exhibition is curated by Erwin Kessler, alongside a team that includes Judit Balint, M\u0103lina Con\u021bu, Alina Petrescu, Emanuela Cernea, and Costina Anghel.<\/p>\n

Throughout the duration of the exhibition, several other events will be organized, including debates, concerts, and film screenings on the topic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It can be visited until February 8, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

(All photos courtesy of MNAR)<\/em><\/p>\n

simona@romania-insider.com<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The exhibition RomanIa \u2013 Identity representation of traditional dress in art, currently on view at the National Museum of Art of Romania (MNAR), gathers a variety of artistic representations of the traditional blouse ia, from painting and sculpture, to drawing, photography, installation, film, music, posters, fashion, books, albums, and more. It includes works by Henri […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}