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The ninth Art Safari artwork event will open its doors on May 12 at the Dacia-Romania Palace in downtown Bucharest, with 14-plus million euro worth of Romanian and international art put on display in five pavilions, including a Pablo Picasso - Salvador Dali exhibition tandem, a first for Romania.
The public will also have the opportunity to enjoy an exhibition dedicated to the 20th-century phenomenon artist and designer of the first modernist buildings in interwar Bucharest - painter, architect and art theorist Marcel Iancu, but also heritage paintings by classic master Theodor Aman.
A display of photos by famous photojournalist Barbara Klemm will reveal document photos from pre-reunification West and East Germany, and communist Romania; Irina Dragomir, one of the stars of Romanian contemporary art, will be featured in a stand-alone section at Art Safari.
Art Safari general manager Ioana Ciocan told the press conference dedicated to the announcement of the event that the exhibition will be open to the public for almost three months as to the initially planned 10 days, following the organizers' decision to extend the opening period due to the very high demand for visiting.
Manager of the Museum of the Bucharest Municipality Adrian Majuru praised the Art Safari concept.
"Why Art Safari and why is Art Safari important from the point of view of the Museum of the Bucharest Municipality? We need optimism, and this is the best and most appropriate concept that can shape various tiers in the city of Bucharest as the meeting ground for various art, heritage and contemporary art currents, and the joint message should be that of a cosmopolitan city, where one can experience Western, as well as Levantine artists, where one can get in direct contact with what is happening in other art schools around the world, and obviously serving as a representation space of what we can really become, this is the Art Safari concept that can be also found in some big cities in Western Europe and which is also very firmly positioned in Bucharest," Majuru said.
* The Museum Pavilion "Theodor Aman. The First Modern Romanian Artist", curated by Elena Olariu, is dedicated to the first great master of Romanian painting, showcasing more than 100 paintings and graphic art works borrowed from national museums and private collections.
According to exhibition curator Elena Olariu, Theodor Aman captures the lifestyle of the 19th-century Romanian social and cultural elite, depicting personalities of the time, social or historical events or simply beautiful women.
"It is a great Aman retrospective. I think that such an exhibition can be mounted only once in 100 years," said Ioana Ciocan, who also mentioned two landmark paintings that are on the show, specifically "The Proclamation of the Union of the Principalities", loaned from the National Museum of History (valued at over 310,000 euros) and "Hora/The Round Dance" (300,000 euros), hailing from a private collection.
* The Central Pavilion "Picasso, Dali & Falla - The Three-Cornered Hat" will exhibit 75 works featuring the graphic designs of Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali conceived for the "Three-Cornered Hat" - the famous ballet show that marked Manuel de Falla's triumphant debut on the international stage. Picasso and Dali were commissioned to create the sets and costumes, and Picasso even designed the dancers' makeup.
Curated by Oscar Carrascosa, this Art Safari section is organized in partnership with the Spanish Embassy and the Cervantes Institute, "bringing together drawing, painting and music", as remarks ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain in Bucharest, Manuel Larrotcha Parada.
"The exhibition is a unique opportunity to present the Spanish artistic heritage in Romania. Art Safari offers us the opportunity to present for the first time in Romania this magnificent exhibition that brings together painting, music and ballet, in graphic works by two fundamental visual artists of the Spanish and universal art of the twentieth century - Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, in parallel with the music of Manuel de Falla, a prominent composer of the same period," said the Spanish diplomat.
* The Anniversary Pavilion "Barbara Klemm. Light and Dark. Photographs from Germany" showcases a photo exhibition signed by German press photographer Barbara Klemm and curated by Matthias Flugge, with 155 pictures of which 25 taken in Romania in the '70s and' 90s.
"The exhibition marks 30 years of German-Romanian partnership and friendship in Europe," ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bucharest Peer Gebauer said at the opening of the event.
Gebauer praised Barbara Klemm's unique black-and-white photographic style, mentioning that she left behind a trove of photographs of "historical value".
* The Guest Pavilion "Marcel Iancu. Reconstructing Romania - Israel Arts" accommodates an exhibition dedicated to an artist-phenomenon of the twentieth century, Bucharest-born multidiscipline artist Marcel Iancu who lived his last 43 years in Israel.
According to curator of the Art Safari exhibition, Raya Zommer-Tal, on display are 75 works from both his European and Israeli period, in the first comprehensive presentation of his seven-decade artistic activity in his native city of Bucharest.
Israel's ambassador in Bucharest David Saranga said that Marcel Iancu, "a phenomenal artist of the 20th century," is a "living bridge" between the Romanian and Israeli people.
"Iancu represents a living bridge between our peoples. Marcel Iancu's artistic creation begins in Romania, continues through Europe, to finally reach accomplishment in Israel. A complex, visionary artist, Marcel Iancu breaks the molds of his time to create his own artistic identity.(...) Iancu not only defined avantgarde art in Romania and Israel, but also raised it to international recognition, bringing modernity to Bucharest and leaving a unique architectural heritage we can witness on the streets of the city to this day," said David Saranga.
* With the works of Irina Dragomir, the Contemporary Pavilion "Red, Yellow and Blue" curated by Alexandru Radvan immerses the viewer in an explosion of color.
"In these times when everything is on the move, everything is dynamic (...) a stable artist like Irina Dragomir provides certain guarantees. She steadfastly pursues her artistic path, very methodically, working precisely yet with a special ludic penchant," Alexandru Radvan said.
The artworks on display at Art Safari are valued at over 14 million euros, with Marcel Iancu's Self-Portrait from the permanent collection of Romania's National Museum of Art being among the most expensive ones.
Art Safari will be open for visit from May 12 to August 7, Thursday through Sunday, at the Dacia-Romania Palace in the Old Center of Bucharest.
A cultural project funded by the Ministry of Culture, Art Safari Bucharest unfolds under the auspices of the Bucharest City Hall and UNESCO Romania and is organized in partnership with the Museum of of the City of Bucharest.
Alongside curated exhibitions in Bucharest or abroad, Art Safari promotes educational content for all ages, including art workshops for children and guided tours for children and teenagers. In its eight editions so far, Art Safari has registered 231,000 visitors. AGERPRES
