Culture Minister Raluca Turcan on Tuesday said that she will look into the documents of provenance of the exhibits of Romania's National Arts Museum in order to verify their authenticity after public rumours that for the Victor Brauner exhibition works with doubtful authenticity were displayed.
She added that arts specialists will check "if there is any truth" regarding the statements publicly released regarding the Brauner exhibition.
"(...) I am quite reserved about the validity of the accusation. Moreover, as minister of culture (...) I consider it worrying that a man of culture dares or reaches the point of raising a question mark over one of the most credible museums in Romania, if not the most credible, and we are talking about the National Arts Museum of Romania (MNAR). I will check with specialists if there is any shred of truth. If not, I will not encourage under any circumstances a personal conflict spilling into public view," said Turcan.
The reaction comes after arts critic Pavel Susara, chairman of the Association of Romania's Arts Experts and Valuators (AEEAR), accused the MNAR management of "serious museographic and curatorial institutional errors," by displaying "forgeries" in the exhibition "Victor Brauner. Between the dreamlike and the occult." In a letter, he called on Minister Turcan to step in to "clarify and eliminate" the problem.
In response to the post, MANR sent a press release saying that the Romulus Ladea, Zoe Vida Porumb and Victor Brauner exhibitions were using works from the MNAR collection and other museums in the country, as well as from family collection (Romulus Ladea) and works made available by the artist (Zoe Vida Porumb).
"For that, we considered the authentication by recognised experts and their presence in bibliographic sources that was not contested in scientific works. Therefore, the National Arts Museum of Romania has not been aware of the existence of some forgeries in the exhibitions it mounted," MNAR Director General Calin-Alexiu Stegerean is quoted as saying in a press statement.