"Romania Agfacolor. 1940-1948" outdoor photography exhibition, dedicated to the early days of colour photography in Romania and curated by Renascendis Association - Photography Archive, will be on display as of Wednesday until 7 September on the fence of Sutu Palace.
The exhibition features selected images from an archive consisting of 267 Agfacolor slides, most of which were taken between 1941 and 1948, and are attributed to an amateur Romanian photographer from Bucharest.
It showcases rare early colour images of 1940s Romania - including Bucharest, Sibiu, Brasov, Fagaras, Constanta, Mamaia, Ploiesti and Alexandria - which are part of a broader collection of Agfacolor slides from a family archive now partially lost and scattered.
The preservation and public display of this photographic collection is the result of a fortunate accident: the slides were discovered in 2023 at a flea market, during an acquisition campaign run by Renascendis Association via the Photography Archive platform.
The amateur photographer responsible for this archive was Gheorghe Neagu, a Bucharest resident, captain in the 21st Artillery Regiment, and participant in the Second World War.
While colour images of Romania during WWII do exist, though not in large numbers, most were taken by foreign photographers. This is the first known case of a Romanian photographer using Agfacolor film in the 1940s.
According to a Renascendis Association press release, the images in the exhibition form a visual chronicle of a family's beginnings, set against the backdrop of the war and the post-war period. The main figures are Gheorghe Neagu and his wife, Colette (Coleta).
The Agfacolor frames in the archive cover a wide range of subjects: family portraits and scenes, spectacular rural landscapes, and urban life moments, many of which depict aspects later lost during the socialist regime, captured during the family's travels across 1940s Romania. A significant portion of photographs taken during his military campaigns are preserved at the "King Ferdinand I" National Military Museum.
As part of the Summer School programme at the Museum of the Municipality of Bucharest, a series of workshops connected to the exhibition will take place, including 'Agfacolor Travel Journal' - storytelling and collage workshops for children and teenagers aged 12-16, scheduled for Wednesday, 27 August, and Thursday, 28 August, starting at 10:30 AM.
The exhibition is organised as part of a project of the same name, co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN).
Agfacolor films were the first commercially available colour photographic films in Romania, introduced in the late 1930s, but used only in small quantities by a limited number of photographers. Most were designed for use as slides. Their high price, inability to be printed on colour paper, as well as the need for a diascope or projector for viewing contributed to their limited use.
Comentează