No. 34, 2020, EUR 18 ESHPh.

EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR

THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

In Focus:
Photography
in Romania
Guest Editor
ADRIAN-SILVAN IONESCU

12—25 44—59 74—87

CĂTĂLIN I. NICOLAE ADRIAN-SILVAN IONESCU ANDREI PANDELE
Photography and E. O. Hoppé and Romania Photography in the ‘Golden
­Archaeology in ­Romania Age Ceausescu’ (1965–1989)
60—73
26—43 ADRIANA DUMITRAN 88—101
CAMELIA NEAGOE Iosif Berman: The Fulfillment EUGEN NEGREA
Discovering South-Eastern of a Photojournalist ­Career The Association of
­Transylvania in a Late in Interwar Romania ­Photographer ­Artists of
19th ­Century Photo ­Romania 1956–2020
Collection

1 PhotoResearcher No. 34, 2020

 Editorial

The area of expertise and research of most art photography historians stops at Vienna
or – at best – Prague or Budapest. The Great History of Photography lacks information
about the Eastern part of the continent where there were accomplished photographers
to rival their Western colleagues.
Romania is a case in point; it is one of the countries about which little is known
of the contribution it made to photography from the earliest days. In an attempt to re-
dress the balance, this entire issue of PhotoResearcher is dedicated to the photography
produced in Romania during the last one hundred and fifty years. I am deliberately spec-
ifying ‘produced in Romania’ and not ‘Romanian photography’ because some of the first
generation of artists I will talk about were born in the neighbouring empires – the Holy
Roman Empire of the German Nation (later Austro-Hungarian, and German Empires),
and Russian and Ottoman Empires – before the unification of the Romanian Principalities
in 1859, or were foreigners who happened to visit our lands and sometimes settle there.

In the east of Europe – the almost forgotten history of photography

Photography was embraced by the Romanian Principalities immediately after its in-
vention had been publicised in Paris in 1839. Magazines in the capital of Wallachia
(Bucharest) and Moldavia (Jassy) rushed to herald the birth of the new invention and
even provided many details on how photography could be carried out.1 By 1840, both
the Mihaileana Academy of Jassy and Saint Sava College of Bucharest had already
purchased two complete daguerreotype sets to be used for educational purposes. While
the first person to use the Saint Sava College daguerreotype is still the subject of debate,
it is known that the Professor of Natural Science Dr. Teodor Stamaty was the first per-
son to use a camera in Moldavia. He took cityscapes and exhibited them in the Great
Hall of the Mihaileana Academy in early October 1840.2 The Library of the Romanian
Academy in Bucharest still holds one of Daguerre’s brochures: Historique et description
des procédés de Daguerréotypie et du Diorama, stamped with Saint Sava College’s seal
on two pages. The same institution has another booklet by Daguerre: Nouveau moyen
de préparer la couche sensible des plaques destinées a recevoir les images photo-
graphiques, published in Paris in 1844. This gives an indication that the stir generated
by the new technique was still making waves in Wallachia.

The first professional photographer to arrive in Bucharest, in 1843 was … a woman: Ger-
man-born, Wilhelmine Priz.3 She opened up the path many others were to follow. One of
the most prominent was Carol Popp de Szathmari (1812–1887), a painter from Cluj, who
took up residence in Bucharest in 1842, opened a photo studio and enjoyed a notable
success. We are not aware of when Szathmari actually began photographing, but the first
images attributed to him are two calotypes dated with 1848 that are signed by the author.

1—
   ‘Dagherotipie’, in: Cantor de Avis şi Comers, Bucharest, No. 93 / 8 July 3—   Vestitorul Românesc, Bucharest, No. 23 / 19 March 1843; George Porta,
1839; ‘Descrierea adevăratului metod a D. Dageru’, in: Albina Românească, Jassy, ‘Aspecte din istoricul fotografiei în România’, in: Fotografia No. 10 / 1970, 576;
No. 69 / 31 August 1839; No. 70 / 3 September 1839; No.71 / 7 September 1839. Constantin Săvulescu, Cronologia ilustrată a fotografiei românești, Bucharest
2—    Albina Românească No.79 / 6 October 1840. 1985, 7.

3 PhotoResearcher No. 34, 2020

fig. 1 He made a name for himself as a pioneer and was the first war photographer to
Carol Popp de Szathmari, Turkish document the 1853–1854 Russian-Ottoman War. He took pictures of the Imperial troops
­cavalrymen, Lower Danube, 1854, salt
print 13.3 × 22 cm. Author’s collection. in the Wallachian and Moldavian provinces after Russia had occupied the region in
June 1853. The war that was waged initially on the borders of the lower Danube later
developed into the major European conflict that became known as the Crimean War.
These first battlefield photographs were executed in the wet collodion technique
(_ fig. 1). Soon thereafter, Carol Popp de Szathmari completed an album of 200 pic-
tures just in time to be displayed at the Exposition Universelle de Paris in the summer
of 1855. Szathmari won a medal for this set of photographs and it appears that both
Napoleon III and Queen Victoria granted Carol Popp de Szathmari a private audience.
The two regents each received an album with these photos and other copies were offered
to Tsar Alexander II and Emperor Franz Joseph I.

Ernest Lacan – the editor of the Paris magazine La Lumière and author of Esquisses
photographiques. À propos de l’Exposition Universelle et de la Guerre d’Orient, published
in Paris in 1856 4 – commented favourably on Szathmari’s album and praised his set of
photographs. However, it took almost 50 years for Constantin Săvulescu and other 20th
century Romanian historians of photo­graphy 5, to prove to their British colleagues and
other Western historians that the first war photographer of the conflict was actually
Carol Popp de Szathmari, and not Roger Fenton who did not go to Crimea until 11 months
later, in the spring of 1855, after he had been commissioned to photograph the war effort.

4—
   Ernest Lacan, Esquisses photographiques. À propos de l’Exposition
Universelle et de la Guerre d’Orient, Paris 1856, 155–167.

4 PhotoResearcher No. 34, 2020

 Apart from the professional photographers who would pass by, Jassy also had
some local talents to be proud of. These dilettantes included the Grand Logothetes
(the ruling prince’s chief adviser on foreign affairs) Constantin Sturza-Şcheianu (1797–
1877), who loved the calotype and produced several remarkable portraits on silver
iodide coated paper; seven have survived and can be found in the Etchings Department
of the Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest. Executed in 1852, in sizes rang-
ing from 21.2 × 15.8 cm to 22 × 16 cm, the portraits prove that he had definitely used a
large camera (_ fig. 2). Sturza-­Şcheianu
was an eccentric Grand Boyar who dedi-
cated most of his time and energy to his
hobby: photography.6 That benchmark
titles about the beginnings of photogra-
phy: Traité pratique de Photographie by
Marc Antoine Gaudin (1844) and La Pho-
tographie des commençants by H. de la
Blanchere (1863) were included in his fa-
mous library, is another indication of his
keen interest in the new technique.
At the outbreak of the next Oriental
War (1877–1878) between the Russian and
the Ottoman Empires, photographers re-
turned to the battlefield. It should be men-
tioned that Romania’s involvement led to
the country’s independence from the
Turks and this war is therefore known as
the War of Independence in Romanian
history books. ­Szathmari, by now the official painter and photographer at the court of
Prince Carol I, accompanied the Prince during the military campaign and took a set
fig. 2 of photos. Franz Duschek (1830–1884), another Bucharest photographer, was assigned
Constantin Sturza-Șcheianu, Portrait of
a young lady, 1852, calotype 22 × 16 cm. to accompany the Russian armies (_ fig. 3).7 Both assembled their sets of photo-
Library of the Romanian Academy. graphs in lavishly bound albums.

5—   C. Săvulescu, ‘The First War Photographic Reportage’, in: Image No. 11973; 211–237; Idem, ‘Szathmari: From a War Photographer to a Ruling Prince’s Court
Idem, ‘Carol Popp de Szathmari, primul fotoreporter de război?’, in: Magazin Painter and Photographer’, in: Anna Auer, Uwe Schögl, Jubilee – 30 Years ES-
Istoric No. 12 / December 1973; Idem, ‘Early Photography in Eastern Europe HPh Congress of Photography in Vienna, Salzburg 2008, 80–89; Idem, ‘Carol
– Romania’, in: History of Photography vol. 1, No. 1 / January 1977; Idem, ‘The Szathmari (1812–1887): Pioneer War Photographer During the Danubian War
First War Correspondent – Carol Szathmari’, in: Interpressgrafik – International Campaign’, in: Centropa Vol. 9, No. 1 / January 2009, 5–16.
Quarterly of Graphic Design No. 1 / 1978; Săvulescu 1985 (reference 3) 18–27; 6—    Et. Lonyai, ‘Primii amatori fotografi români’, in: Revista Fotografică
Karin Schuller-Procopovici, ‘Ein Land aus dem Bilderbuch. Das R ­ umänienalbum Română No. 44 / 1937, 661; Petre Costinescu, ‘Constantin Sturza-Scheianu,
des Carol Szathmari (1812–1887)’, in: Bodo von Dewitz, Reinhard Matz (ed.), S­ ilber Romanian Calotypist’, in: History of Photography Vol. 11. No. 3 / July–September
und Salz. Zur Frühzeit der Photographie im deutschen Sprachraum 1839–1860, 1987, 247–254.
exhibition catalogue, Köln, Heidelberg 1989, 452–453; Maria Georgescu, ‘Carol 7—   Borislav Dranovski, Tzvetana Belicikova (eds.), Pred ­fotoobektiva na
Pop de Szathmari, reporter photographe de guerre’, in: Review of Military ­istoriata. Neizvestni fotografii ot Rusko-turscata osvoboditelia boina 1877–1878 g.,
History, Special issue, 2003; Adrian-Silvan Ionescu, ‘Early Portrait and Genre Varna 2008; Adrian-Silvan Ionescu, Penel și sabie. Artiști documentariști și
Photography in Romania’, in: History of Photography, Vol. 13, No. 4 / October– corespondenți de front în Războiul de Independență (1877–1878), Bucharest
December 1989, 285; Idem, ‘Szathmari, War Photo­grapher’, in: Adrian-Silvan 2002, 126–136.
Ionescu (ed.), Războiul Crimeii. 150 de ani de la încheiere, Brăila 2006,

5 PhotoResearcher No. 34, 2020

fig. 3
Franz Duschek, Grand Duke Serge,
­Bulgaria, 1877, albumen print from a
wet collodion glass plate 12.8 × 20.4 cm.
Library of the Romanian Academy.

Romania has always been an ethnographer’s paradise and photography provides

an ideal way of recording it. One of the first photographers to explore the richness of
the country’s typologies was Ludwig Angerer (1827–1879). He arrived in Bucharest as
a military pharmacist with the Austrian troops that occupied the Romanian Princi-
palities during the Crimean War.8 Throughout the 19th and the first part of the 20th
century, it became trendy to capture scenes of picturesque villagers in their tradition-
al attire, street traders, peddlers, all kinds of craftsmen, wagons and carts full of wares,
fair days and gipsies.9 C. P. de Szathmari (_ fig. 4), Franz Duschek, Andreas D. Reiser,
K. F. Zipser (_ fig. 5), and Herman Leon outdid each other in taking iconic images
of the southern part of Romania.10 August Meinhardt (1845–?), Wilhelm Auerlich (1853–
1917), Leopold Adler (1848–1924), Emil Fischer (1873–1965), Alexandru Roșu (1854–1913),
and Camilla Asbóth (1838–1908), as well as Theodor Glatz (1818–1871) and his close
associate Carl Koller (1838–1889),11 were particularly active in Transylvania. Carl
Schäffer worked in Herculane in the Banat region, and succeeded to produce sets of
carte-de-visite pictures showing traditional local costumes.12 Alexandru Bellu (1850–
1921), a boyar indulging in his hobby for photography, managed to capture images of
the farmers and gipsies working his estate in Urlați, Prahova County. He identified
himself with his all-consuming hobby as early as in 1875, but his pictures were only to
gain public recognition after the turn of the century; more precisely, after he published

8—   Anton Holzer, ‘Im Schatten des Krimkrieges. Ludwig Angerer Foto­ Werk des Zeichenlehrers, Malers und Fotografen Theodor Glatz’, in: Adrian-­
expedition nach Bukarest (1854 bis 1856). Eine wiederentdeckte Fotoserie im Silvan Ionescu (ed.), Szathmari: Pionier al fotografiei și contemporanii săi/
Bildarchiv der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek’, in: Fotogeschichte Heft 93, Pioneering Photogrpaher and his Contemporaries, Bucharest 2013, 152–158;
2004, 23–50. Idem, ‘Aus der Frühzeit der Fotografie in Siebenbürgen. Zu Leben, Werk und
9—   Uwe Schögl, ‘Sinti und Roma in der Historischen Fotografie’, in: Nicole Umfeld des Zeichenlehrers, Malers und Fotografen Theodor Glatz (1818–1871)’,
Fritz (ed.), Otto Mueller. Gegenwelten. Sinti und Roma in der Historischen in: Zeitschrift für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde 38. (109.) Jahrgang (2015),
Fotografie, exhibition catalogue, Ravensburg 2014, 30–49. 104–148; Idem, ‘Fotografische Ateliers in Hermannstadt 1860–1918. Einige An-
10—    Adrian-Silvan Ionescu, ‘Fotografie und Folklore. Zur Ethnofotografie im merkungen zur Erfassung des historischen Fotomaterials im Hermannstädter
Rumänien des 19. Jahrhunderts’, in: Fotogeschichte Heft 103, 2007, 47–60. Staatsarchiv’, in: Monica Vlaicu (ed.) 120 de ani de arhivă publică în Transilva-
11—   Konrad Klein, ‘Foto-Ethnologen. Theodor Glatz und die frühe ethno- nia / 120 Jahre öffentliches Archiv in Siebenbürgen, Sibiu 1996, 160–169.
graphische Fotografie in Siebenbürgen’, in: Fotogeschichte Heft 103, 2007, 12—
   KIonescu 2007 (reference 10), 57; Cristian Graure, Istoria artei fotografice
23–45; Idem, ‘Ein siebenbürgischer Fotopionier. Anmerkungen zu Leben und din Banat între 1839 și 1918, Timișoara 2017, 209–211.

6 PhotoResearcher No. 34, 2020

fig. 4 sets of illustrated postcards with idyllic rural scenes and displayed them at the Roma-
Carol Popp de Szathmari, Gipsy nian General Exposition of 1906. Admittedly, his output was strongly influenced by
­comedians with dancing bear, c. 1863,
carte-de-visite. Author’s collection. his friend, the great painter Nicolae Grigorescu and his pictures – especially the rural
compositions.13
fig. 5
The well-heeled society of Bucharest and other major cities loved to have their
K. F. Zipser, Woodcutters, c. 1870,
carte-de-visite. Library of the portraits taken during carnival in the costume they had worn to the latest masked
­Romanian Academy. ball.14 It was the photographer’s task to decorate his studio to match the period of the
costume and the sitter’s stance and pose. In Bucharest, Szathmari, Duschek, Ioan and
Mihai Spirescu, Moritz Wandelmann, and Franz Mandy had to cater to all the fantasies
of their clientele, and the same applied to Nestor Heck in Jassy, C. Hanny in Craiova,
and Fridolin Hess in Timișoara.
Mandy, who was to become the Royal Household Photographer, took many cos-
tumed portraits of Her Royal Highness Princess Marie, the wife of the Crown Prince
Ferdinand. Eager to pose in her multiple outfits, the Princess would willingly cooperate
with the photographer in the quest for the most suitable corners of the palace and ap-
propriate furniture to match what she was wearing and the period it was meant to portray.
Dramatic actors developed a taste for photography and wanted to have quin-
tessential portraits taken showing them in character. Matei Millo, for instance, com-
missioned Szathmari with a set of portraits portraying him dressed in the various

13—
   Petre Costinescu, Documente în alt-negru. Un fotograf de la sfârșitul
veacului trecut, Bucharest 1987, 7–10, 12.
14—
   Adrian-Silvan Ionescu, Balurile din secolul al XIX-lea, Bucharest 1997,
17, 28–43.

7 PhotoResearcher No. 34, 2020

 costumes of the characters he had played successfully on stage that were
later assembled to form one large composition.15 Other actors, like Constan-
tin Dimitriadi, Ștefan Iulian and Fany Tardini posed at Szathmari’s studio
for the same purpose. At the turn of the century, Ion Livescu, Petre Liciu and
Constatnin Nottara would come to Wandelmann to ask to be captured play-
ing their signature roles: Napoleon in a period play, the Jewish village bar-
tender from a comedy by V. Alecsandri, and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, or Luca
Arbore from The Blizzard by Barbu Delavrancea (_ fig. 6).

Modernity around 1900 and the consequences of two World Wars

Urban photography was only of limited interest in the early days. However,
the changes that took Bucharest and other main cities by storm, transform-
ing them from oriental backwaters with narrow, winding lanes and low hous-
es without any planning, surrounded by large gardens, to a rigorous urban-
ism with wide boulevards, bordered by substantial, eclectic European style
palaces and mansions, a mixture of public and private buildings, rekindled
the interest for the cityscape. Szathmari, Duschek, Mandy, Andreas D. ­Reiser,
Moritz Benedict Baer (1811–1887), Eduard Pesky (1835–1909), Ioan Spirescu
and Gustav Waber were the 19th century photo-artists who captured the new
architecture of Bucharest.16 Carl Muschalek (1857–1904) and Emil Fischer
fig. 6 made a similarly outstanding photo documentation of Brașov.17
Moritz Wandelmann, Constantin Historic monuments, like the Metropolitan Church at Curtea de Argeș, the
Nottara playing the part of Luca
Arbore from ‘The Blizzard’ by Barbu ­Bucharest churches of Stavropoleos, Radu Vodă, Bucur, Zlătari, St. Dumitru, St. Spiridon
­Delavrancea, c. 1900, cabinet card. and Mitropolitan Cathedral were to be captured through the lenses of Duschek, Szath-
mari, Baer and Ioan Spirescu (_ fig. 7).18
Author’s collection.

War photography expanded greatly during the Great War. Professional photographers
and cameramen were mobilized; however – more often than not – they were spared
from fighting directly on the front line in exchange for newsreels, documentation and
capturing images of the war. The Photographic Service of the Romanian Army was
created a few months after Romania entered WWI on 29 November 1916 (_ fig. 8).19
The photographers in uniform documented life on the front line, from the rank and
file to the upper echelons, capturing the various aspects of the unfolding war.

15—
   Adriana Dumitran, ‘Lumea scenei în fața aparatului de fotografiat: Matei 17—   Nicușor Dănuț Ivănuș, Dorina Negulici, Brașovul de altădată în colecția
Millo văzut de Carol Szathmari’, in: Studii și Cercetări de Istoria Artei. Teatru, Emil Fischer / Dar ehemalige Kronstadt in Emil Fischers Sammlung, Brașov
Muzică, Cinematografie, Serie nouă, vol. 10–11 (54–55), 2016–2017, 3–22. 2005; Camelia Neagoe, ‘Contribuții la istoria fotografiei brașovene’, in: Radu
16—
   Adrian-Silvan Ionescu, ‘Romanian Architecture and Cityscape: The Popica (ed.) Un secol de artă brașoveană 1815–1918, Brașov 2018, 34–62.
Legacy of Nineteenth-Century Photographers’, in: Micheline Nilsen (ed.), Nine- 18—    Ionescu 2014 (reference 16), 56, 58–61; Ioan Crăciun (ed.), Ioan Spirescu.
teenth-Century Photographs and Architecture. Documenting History, Charting Mănăstirea Curtea de Argeș, Bucharest 2013; Calinic Argeșeanul, Suferințele
Progress and Exploring the World, Burlington 2013, 217–232; Idem, “‘The City și biruințele Catedralei de la Curtea de Argeș, Curtea de Argeș 2017.
of Pleasure’: Romantic Bucharest Through the 19th Century Travellers” Eyes 19—    Adrian-Silvan Ionescu, The Great War. Photography from the Romanian
and Pioneer Photographers’ Lenses’, in: Studii și Cercetări de Istoria Artei, Front, 1916–1919, Bucharest 2014.
Artă Plastică, serie nouă, vol. 4 (48), 2014, 29–74; Emanuel Bădescu, Radu
Oltean, Carol Popp de Szathmari: Fotograful Bucureștilor / Photographer of
Bucharest, Bucharest 2012.

8 PhotoResearcher No. 34, 2020

 A real treasure trove was recently discovered in a pho-
to studio in the tiny provincial town of Slobozia: the huge
archive of Costică Acsinte (1897–1984), former war reporter
during WWI and portrait-maker the rest of his life.20
The inter-war period saw the development of the stu-
dio portrait, of the street snapshot, and of photojournalism,
as well as propaganda and documentary photography.21

When talking about documentary and art photography, it is

necessary to mention Adolphe A. Chevallier (1881–1963)22
(_ fig. 9), Iosif Berman (1890–1941)23, Nicolae Ionescu
(1903–1974)24 and Willy Pragher (1908–1992)25. In 1941, Pragh-
er published a bilingual monograph: ­Bukarest, Stadt der Ge-
gensätze / București, orașul contrastelor where he registered,
with humour and kind understanding, the ups and downs of
the national psyche. It is during this inter-bellum period that
the Romanian photographers began to organise themselves
in societies emulating the medieval guilds, and to publish
specialised magazines.26

fig. 7 Is avantgarde photography possible under

Carol Popp de Szathmari, The Towers a totalitarian regime (1947–1989)?
of the Curtea de Argeș Cathedral, 1866,
albumen print from a wet collodion After the communists took over power in Romania in the last days of December 1947,
glass plate 23 × 17.8 cm. Library of the all the private photo studios, which had flourished in the inter-bellum period, were
Romanian Academy.
nationalized. Most of the former owners, who were actually skilled photographers,
were kept and put in charge of the artistic and technical matters of the workshops. Any
photographic activity, except portraiture and wedding pictures, was kept under the
vigilant eye of the censors. It was only safe to take landscape and cityscape pictures
and most amateur photographers focused on scenes of this kind.
High-quality materials, such as films, photographic paper, and chemicals, were
scarce and difficult to find. Colour photographs were seldom made for the same rea-

20—    Cezar Popescu (ed.), Foto Splendid. Colecția Costică Acsinte. Viața 23—   Ioana Popescu, ‘Iosif Berman. A Photo-Album’, in: Martor no. 3, 1998;
socială, vol. I, Bucharest 2015; Idem, Foto Splendid. Colecția Costică Acsinte. Ștefania Ciubotaru (ed.)., România interbelică în fotografiile lui Iosif Berman,
Doamne și domnițe, vol. II, Slobozia 2016. exhibition catalogue, Bucharest 2013; Adriana Dumitran (ed.), Iosif Berman:
21—
   Adrian-Silvan Ionescu, ‘Photography in Romania in the First Half of maestrul fotoreportajului românesc interbelic / Master of the Romanian
the 20th Century’, in: PhotoResearcher No. 14, 2010, 15–24; Idem, ‘1900–1938, Interwar Photojournalism, Bucharest, 2013; Idem, ‘Arta fotografică a lui Iosif
The History of Romanian Photography’, in: Václav Macek (ed.), The History Berman (1890–1941)’, in: Studii și Cercetări de Istoria Artei, Artă Plastică, serie
of European Photography 1900–1938, Bratislava 2010, 498–506; Idem, nouă, vol. 4 (48), 2014, 75–88.
‘Photographers in Romania 1840–1940. A Dictionary’, in: Muzeul Național XX, 24—   Emanuel Bădescu, Nicolae Ionescu. Bucureștiul de altădată/ Bucharest
2008, 68–70. of Yore/ Bucarest d’autrefois, Bucharest 2002.
22—    Constanti Horghidan, Artistul fotograf Adolphe A. Chevallier în colecția 25—   Kurt Hochstuhl, Josef Wolf (eds.), Refractări. Willy Pragher – spații
mea, Piatra Neamț 2018. vizuale românești 1924–1944, Alba Iulia 2007; Willy Pragher, Bukarest, Stadt
der Gegensätze/București, orașul contrastelor, Berlin [1941].
26—   Ionescu (reference 21), 19–20; Idem, Commercial and Art Photography
in Romania 1900–1950, in: Muzeul Național XXIII, 2011, 60–62, 64–65.

9 PhotoResearcher No. 34, 2020

 sons and the high costs involved. Only a
few art photographers exhibited colour
pictures in that period.
The Romanian photographers de-
cided to organize themselves in a natio­
nal guild once again and Asociaţia Artiş-
tilor Fotografi (The Art Photographers’
Association) was founded in 1956. The
Minister of Culture’s approval for its
functioning was issued with the Order
No. 1657 of 28 November 1956. The head-
quarters of the organization was in Bu-
charest, the capital city. There were also
branches throughout the country. These
fig. 8 were designated by the area’s name – such as Banat, Dobrudja, Moldavia, Muntenia
The Photographic Service of the (Wallachia), Oltenia (Little Wallachia) and Transylvania – and were based in the most
­Romanian Army, French General
Henri M. Berthelot decorating some important cities of those regions (Timişoara, Constanţa, Jassy, Ploieşti, Craiova and
Romanian generals and senior officers Cluj-Napoca).
with the Legion of Honour, Mărășești
The magazine: Fotografia. Caiet selectiv (Photography. Selective Copybook)
1917, gelatin silver print 11.5 × 16 cm.
Author’s collection. started to be published in January 1968; it later simplified its title into Fotografia. The
first editorial board was composed of Sylviu Comănescu, Napoleon Frandin and
­Leonida Tănăsescu. Beginning with 1959, The Art Photographers’ Association organ-
ized large international exhibitions in Bucharest, sometimes itinerated in the province.

Books on technical topics and manuals for apprentice photographers were published
in the 1960s–1980s to encourage youngsters to take up photography as a pastime or as
a profession. Sylviu Comănescu (1914–1999 [?]), long-time president of The Art Pho-
tographers’ Association, was one of the most prolific authors in this respect.27 He was
followed by Eugen Iaronici (1913–1993), who mostly dealt with aesthetics and art pho-
tography criticism.28 The first album on contemporary Romanian art photography was
published in 1964 under the editorship of Spiru Constantinescu, who was president
of the photographers’ association both before and after WWII.29

27—    Sylviu Comănescu, Evitarea greşelilor la fotografiere (Avoiding ­Mistakes 28—   Eugen Iarovici, Fotocompoziţia (The Photographic Compozition), ­Editura
while Photographing), Editura Tehnică, Bucharest 1962; Idem, Evitarea greşelilor Meridiane, Bucharest 1966; Idem, Farmecul luminii (The Light’s Charming),
în laboratorul fotografic (Avoiding Mistakes in the Dark Room), Editura Tehnică, Editura Tehnică, Bucharest 1970–1971; Idem, Fotografia, limbaj specific (The
Bucharest 1963; Idem, Drumeţind cu aparatul fotografic (Hiking with the Camera), Photography and its Special Language), Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1971;
Editura Consiliului Naţional pentru Educaţie Fizică şi Sport, Bucharest [1968]; Idem, Portretul modern (The Modern Portrait), Editura Tehnică, Bucharest 1972;
Idem, Cum alegem aparatul fotografic (Haw to Chose a Camera), Editura ­Tehnică, Idem, Măiestria în fotografie (Masterying in Photography), Editura Tehnică,
Bucharest 1969; Idem, Procesul pozitiv (alb-negru) (The Black and White Bucharest 1977; Idem, Fotografie şi industrie (Photography and Industry),
[­Positive] Processing), Editura Tehnică, Bucharest 1978; Sylviu ­Comănescu, ­Editura Tehnică, Bucharest 1985; Idem, Fotografia şi lumea de azi (Photography
Eugen Iarovici, ABC-ul fotografului amator (The A.B.C. of the Amateur Photo­ and Nowadays Life), Editura Tehnică, Bucharest 1989; Emilian Cristea, Eugen
grapher), Editura Tehnică, Bucharest 1968; Dinu Teodor Constantinescu, Fotografia Iarovici, Munţii şi fotografia (Mountains and Photography), Editura Tehnică,
şi ­arhitectura (Photography and Architecture), Editura Tehnică, Bucharest 1984. Bucharest 1980.
29—   Spiru Constantinescu, Arta fotografică în România (Art Photography in
Romania), Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1964.

10 PhotoResearcher No. 34, 2020

fig. 9 The sole positive aspect during the period of communist rule was that art pho-
Adolphe Chevallier, Peasant woman tographers were encouraged to publish albums with their works. These were mostly
boiling milk for preparing cheese, Valea
Bistriței, 1925, illustrated postcard. monographic volumes on topics such as historic places, peasant art and traditions,
Author’s collection. or cityscapes of local towns and European capitals. Dan Eremia Grigorescu (1918–
1990) and Ion Miclea (1931–2000) distinguished themselves in this respect. Both trav-
elled extensively abroad and took masterful pictures in Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice,
­Istanbul, Leningrad, Munich, China, Africa, and the United States, publishing their
outstanding pictures in lavishly illustrated albums.30 Grigorescu also contributed his
pictures to important Romanian art and literary magazines such as Secolul XX and
Arta. He authored a charming album with picturesque scenes of the Danube Delta31
and also illustrated a work on Constantin Brancusi’s masterpieces by the outstanding
Romanian art critic Dan Hăulică.32 Miclea journeyed widely in Romania and produced
imposing albums with fabulous landscapes, peasant art and architecture in Transyl-
vania, and historic monuments. He also cooperated with Radu Florescu, a well-known
Romanian archaeologist and art historian, to illustrate books on the ancient art of the
Dacians, the former inhabitants of what is now Romania.33 Inspired by Brancusi’s

30—    Dan Eremia Grigorescu, Paris, Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1970; 33—   Ion Miclea, Dulce Bucovină (Sweet Bukowina), Editura Meridiane, Bu-
Idem, Veneţia, Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1971; Idem, Florenţa, Editura Me- charest 1976; Idem, Sibiel, Editura ‘Transilvania’, Sibiu 1979; Idem, Curțișoara,
ridiane, Bucharest 1974; Idem, Roma, Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1976; Ion Editura ‘Transilvania’ , Sibiu 1981; Idem, Rășinari, Editura ‘Transilvania’ ,
Miclea, Istanbul, Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1970; Idem, Leningrad, Editura Sibiu 1983; Idem, Romania / La Roumanie: Eternal Land / Terre éternelle,
Meridiane, Bucharest 1970; Idem, München, Editura Meridiane, Bucharest Editura ‘Transilvania’ , Sibiu 1980; Idem, Sibiu, Editura Dacia, Cluj 1972; Idem,
1972; Idem, Pekin, Editura Meridiane Bucharest 1973; Idem, Africa, Editura Alba-Iulia, Editura Sport-Turism, Bucharest 1985; Idem, Cluj-Napoca, Editura
pentru Turism, Bucharest 1974; Idem, Ngorongoro, Editura Ion Creangă, Sport-Turism, Bucharest 1985; Idem, Baia-Mare, Editura Sport-Turism, Bucha-
Bucharest 1974; Idem, Castelele Rinului (Rhin’s Castles), Editura Meridiane, rest 1986; Idem, Buzău, Editura Sport-Turism, Bucharest 1988; Idem, Focșani,
Bucharest 1976; Idem, Statele Unite ale Americii (The United States of Ameri- Editura Sport-Turism, Bucharest 1989; Ion Miclea, Radu Florescu, Dragomirna,
ca), Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1976. Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1976; Idem, Prezenţe musulmane în România
31—
   Dan Grigorescu, În Delta Dunării (In the Danube Delta), Editura Meridi- (Muslem Traces in Romania), Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1976; Idem, Pro-
ane, Bucharest 1967. bota, Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1978; Idem, Geto-Dacii, Editura Meridiane,
32—    Dan Hăulică, Brancusi ou l’anonymat du génie, Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1980; Idem, Preistoria Daciei (Dacian Prehistory), Editura Merid-
Bucarest 1967. iane, Bucharest 1980; Idem, The Art of Dacian-Roman Antiquity, Meridiane
Publishing House, Bucharest 1986; Idem, Histria / The City of Histria, Editura
Meridiane, Bucharest 1989.

11 PhotoResearcher No. 34, 2020

 monumental sculptures at Târgu-Jiu – the ‘Endless Column’ and the ‘Table of Silence’
– Miclea compiled an attractive album, Brâncuși la Tîrgu-Jiu.34
Hedy Löffler (1911–2007), another outstanding photographer from the communist
era, focused her interest on local touristic attractions as the author of albums on the
mountains or the beautiful Black Sea Coast, or depicting Bucharest, the capital city.35

Artfully mingling the practice of amateur photography with that of a dilenttante histo-
rian of photography, Constantin Săvulescu (1914–2001) authored the first well-docu-
mented papers about the beginning of photography in the Romanian Principalities and
its evolution into the Kingdom of Romania.36 He was also a distinguished landscapist.
More than 270 of his photographs were published as picture postcards or postal stationery.
His most popular postcards included: The Salt Mountain and the Salt Lakes of his native
Slănic Prahova, the Olt Valley at Gura Lotrului, Lacul Roşu (the Red Lake), the Suzana
Monastery, Călimăneşti, the Casino in Constanţa. Between 1956 and 1971, Săvulescu con-
tributed his pictures to such foreign-language magazines as Roumanie d’aujourd’hui,
Vacances en Roumanie / Holidays in Romania, A travers la Roumanie. Other pictures were
published in Flacăra (1959–1969), Arhitectura (1957), România Pitorească (1972–1978).
Professor Virgil Vătăşianu, a renowned Romanian art historian, selected some 62 pic-
tures from Săvulescu’s portfolio of historic monuments to illustrate his album Kunst­
denkmäler in Rumänien, Ein Bildhandbuch (Edition ­Leipzig, Leipzig, 1986).37
In spite of censorship and the great lack of high-quality photographic materials,
there were some opportunities for Romanian photographers to achieve fame during
the oppressive regime of 1948–1989 if they showed obedience to the Communist Par-
ty and focussed their work on acceptable topics such as depiction of the country’s
natural beauties and its ancient treasures.38

Aspects of a history of photography in Romania

The question of how to investigate all the aspects of historical and contemporary pho-
tography in Romania initially led to a somewhat unconventional approach: namely,
of exclusively selecting authors who had actually been part of the changing history of
the territory that they were now to reflect on in a (photo) historical and critical context.
In no way, should this be seen as a national (photographic) historiography; it is much
more the case that the goal followed was to provide an international platform for the
years of research and critical study that have been carried out in those places in today’s
Romania that are in possession of important photographic sources.

34—
   Ion Miclea, Brâncuși la Târgu-Jiu (Brancusi in Târgu-Jiu), Editura pentru Editura Sport-Turism, Bucharest 1984; Idem, Grădinile Bucureștiului (Bucharest’s
Turism, Bucharest 1973. Gardens), Editura Sport-Turism,Bucharest 1984.
35—
   Hedy Löffler, Brașov, Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1962; Idem, Vatra 36—   Săvulescu 1973, 1977, 1978, 1985 (reference 5).
Dornei, Slănic Moldova, Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1967; Idem, Țara ­Bârsei, 37—   Virgil Vătășianu, Kunstdenkmäler in Rumänien, Ein Bildhandbuch,
Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1971; Litoralul românesc (The Romanian Seacoast), Edition Leipzig Leipzig, 1986.
Foreword by Radu Boureanu, Lyrics by Adrian Păunescu, Editura Sport-Turism, 38—    Ionescu 2011 (reference 26), 63; Eugen Rădescu, Adrian-Silvan Ionescu,
Bucharest 1975; Idem, Sighișoara, Editura Sport-Turism, Bucharest 1976; Idem, ‘1939–1969, Romanian Photography’, in: Václav Macek (ed.), The History of
Bucureşti, Foreword by Ioan Grigorescu, Historical synopsis by Panait I. Panait, European Photography 1939–1969, Bratislava 1914, 592-596.

12 PhotoResearcher No. 34, 2020

 In Romania, as elsewhere, both archaeology and photography are essentially
children of the second part of the 19th century.
Catalin I. Nicolae, a young archaeologist, investigates the intertwined re-
lationship between the two and introduces us to the little-known – but immensely
valuable – photographic archive of the Institute of Archaeology in Bucharest.
Camelia Neagoe uncovers another trove of photo archive material and deals
with the urban iconography of Brașov, a gem of a town, as seen through the lenses of
the famous local photographers of the 19th century.
Adrian-Silvan Ionescu felt the need to draw particular attention to Emil
Otto Hoppé’s journal inspired by his travel to Romania in the summer of 1923, and how
he managed to capture not only the portrait of a new country, but also its soul. He was
to use this successful template again and again in dealing with the UK, USA, Germany,
and Africa, as well as in India, Australia, and New Zealand.
Adriana Dumitran brings Iosif Berman, and his photographic art, which
unites documentary and photojournalistic quality, to our attention once again.
Andrei Pandele, an outstanding photographer and architect, deals with the
murky world of artist photographers during the communist regime; the hurdles they
faced and had to overcome to develop into the most illustrious generation of photogra-
phers to date.
Eugen Negrea, the President of the Association of Art Photographers in
­Romania, last but not least, portrays the ups and downs of this organization that has
been dominated by huge talents – as well as huge egos – from 1956 until today.

This number of PhotoResearcher opens a window onto the photographic output in

Romania. In doing so, it paves the way for a journey to a country that, in spite of the
global pandemic, is once again attempting break away – both psychologically and
intellectually –from its position on the periphery of Europe.

Adrian-Silvan Ionescu, Ulla Fischer Westhauser, Uwe Schögl

Vienna, October 2020

13 PhotoResearcher No. 34, 2020