M. H. Maxy - From Avant-garde to socialism exhibition, opened at National Art Museum

From Avant-garde to Socialism exhibition was opened on Wednesday night in the space of temporary exhibitions on the ground floor of the National Gallery of the National Art Museum of Romania.

The exhibition presents the work of the artist Max Herman Maxy in two distinct sections, following the chronological line of his biography and bringing together 95 paintings, 50 graphic works and scenography projects, objects of applied art, a selection from the avant-garde magazines, such as Integral , Contemporanul, unu, Punct, as well as a selection of documentary films made in the 40s and 50s significant for the climate of the respective eras, Agerpres informs.

Silviu Vexler, the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, said that the M. H. Maxy - From Avant-garde to Socialism exhibition is open "at a very interesting moment, in terms of place, time and space, not only physically but also morally and spiritually".

"We will soon begin to mark 145 years since the first Jew in Romania received citizenship, after a long period of time that stretched over many centuries and which, unfortunately, is marked mainly by painful moments. One of the most emblematic images for this whole process can be found in this building and has been, over time, much too little highlighted. It is a painting by (Nicolae, ed. n.) Grigorescu, The Jew with the Goose. Apart from the image of that Jew, for those who had the curiosity to read the history of the painting or to look closely at that paper that was designated, was a petition addressed to the Romanian Parliament to receive citizenship," said the president of FCER.

He added that the exhibition opened at this moment and dedicated to a Jewish artist "is primarily a message of hope".

"Next to Marcel Iancu, next to Victor Brauner, Maxy forms the most visible triad of Jewish artists who lived and created in Romania. However, the work they created is far, far too little known. Their relationship with Romania and the relationship with society deserves to be discovered. Moreover, all the paintings in this exhibition cannot be seen and truly understood without also seeing the context in which they were created, the symbolism that is linked to those moments," Silviu Vexler said.

Calin Stegerean, manager of the National Art Museum of Romania, recalled that Max Herman Maxy was the first director of MNAR, "the one who led the activities of organizing the activity of the museum and what it meant to exhibit, restore and preserve the works of art. But I don't think we would have made this exhibition if that was his only merit, although many of the coordinates that he established in the 50s have remained to some extent valid even today. Max Herman Maxy was one of the great figures of Romanian culture, being what is called, above all, a leader," Calin Stegerean stressed.

He said that he was always fascinated "by the loyalty that not only Maxy, but Jewish artists had for Romania and for Romanian culture".

Max Herman Maxy was one of the exceptional figures of the 20th century art in Romania, his life as an artist taking place in two distinct eras, equal in duration: in monarchical Romania from 1923, that of the return from his studies in Berlin until the year 1947 and the one that followed with the establishment of the communist regime in that year and until his death in 1971. In both periods he was a leading figure, either as one of the leaders of the avant-garde artistic movement of the inter-war period, or as the director who led the establishment and operation of Romania's most important art museum from the communist period (the current MNAR).

The exhibition will be open until April 30, 2023 and will include educational activities and conferences supported by academician Ion Pop, Dr. Alexandra Chiriac and Calin Stegerean.