Radio România Internațional

Tag: correspondence

  • Queen Elisabeth and King Carol I

    Queen Elisabeth and King Carol I

    Wedded in 1869, King Carol I and Queen Elisabeth, Romanias first royal couple, generally had a calm and warm marriage until the late 1890. Proof in this respect, among other things, is brought by the 2 volumes recently released by Humanitas Publishers, comprising the correspondence exchanged by the two spouses and entitled “With warm love, Elisabeth. Always faithfully yours, Carol.



    Born in Neuwied in 1843, Elisabeth sought and managed to encourage artists and arts in her new country. She was in fact keen on literature and writing easily in German, Romanian, French and English using the pen-name Carmen Sylva. It is in arts that she sought refuge after the death of her only child, princess Maria, at the age of 5, in 1874. She would express her need for maternal love years later, in her relationship with one of her ladies in waiting, Elena Văcărescu. Born into an eminent family of local noblemen and scholars and awarded twice by the French Academy for her literary skills, Elena Văcărescu was for a brief period involved in a politically unacceptable romance with Carols adopted nephew, crown prince Ferdinand, the heir to Romanias throne.



    This is actually the trigger of the correspondence between the King and the Queen included in the second volume of the book “With warm love, Elisabeth. Always faithfully yours, Carol, as historian Alina Pavelescu tells us:



    Alina Pavelescu: “This is the volume where the human dimension of the protagonists is best revealed. Their letters revolve around the scandal prompted by Prince Ferdinands romance with Elena Văcărescu. (…) The affair resulted in Queen Elisabeth being exiled for several years, and most of the correspondence dates back to this exile, a period when her perfect marriage with King Carol I experienced its biggest crisis, perhaps even bigger than the fact that the queen could no longer have children and therefore heirs to the Romanian throne. The King displays a great deal of composure and reason and patience in trying to make her understand what she had done wrong, and in the way he tries to put behind some of the most delicate and potentially unforgivable moments in his relationship with his wife.



    But what was the actual story behind Prince Ferdinands engagement to Elena Văcărescu? Romanița Constantinescu, one of the editors of the correspondence volume, explains:



    Romanița Constantinescu: “Actually that marriage was not as unlikely as it seems today, and apparently the whole situation was on the edge. Around Easter time in 1890, Ferdinand got engaged to Elena and asked the Kings permission to marry her. Although concerned with the political consequences, the King did not reject the idea out of hand, primarily out of love and respect for the Queen, who encouraged the affair, and for his nephew, the crown prince, as we learn from these letters. He left the decision to his Council of Ministers, and as we know the Council, chaired at the time by general Ioan Emanoil Florescu, did not approve the engagement.



    Romanias politicians denied the marriage in order to avoid a prospective competition for influence over the throne between the local noble families related to Elena Văcărescu. Apart from the suffering inflicted on the two lovers, this decision affected Queen Elisabeth as well, who was forced into exile in several European countries, to return to Bucharest only in 1894. Silvia Irina Zimmermann, the other editor of the correspondence volume, tells us more about the Queens exile:



    Silvia Zimmermann: “These are not only the letters of a queen, but also the letters of a skilled writer and fine artist. We thought that period had been a bleak time, a break with literature, but the letters tell us something else. Queen Elisabeth spent her exile years in Italy, in Venice and Palanzza, until June 1892, and at her mothers estate in Neuwied until the end of July 1894. In one letter, the Queen tells her husband she was so ill and upset that she lost all inspiration and drive for writing. However, her exile years were particularly productive both in terms of literature and in terms of decorative arts, with some of the most outstanding works still on display in Romanian museums. During these years, Queen Elisabeth worked on 3 poetry volumes and 2 plays, published under the pen-name Carmen Sylva between 1891 and 1893.



    Also during those years, the Queen started writing a number of texts which, after her return to Romania, were included in her memoirs and in her fairy tale collections. In other words, Queen Elisabeth was able to convert the trials of her exile into works of art. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • La correspondance comme art et liant entre les générations

    La correspondance comme art et liant entre les générations

    Le Musée national d’art contemporain de
    Bucarest (MNAC) continue d’être près des gens. Cette fois-ci, un nouveau projet
    a attiré notre attention. Baptisé « L’art par correspondance », il vise à
    tisser des liens authentiques entre les seniors, les enfants et l’art contemporain,
    d’abord à travers une série d’activités pilotes. Démarrées en janvier 2021,
    elles font partie d’une démarche de longue haleine. En clair, il s’agit de
    faciliter les échanges entre enfants et seniors par le biais de la
    correspondance, de créer des liens émotionnels entre eux, mais aussi avec l’art
    contemporain, à une époque où la solitude pèse lourd, surtout sur les
    communautés isolées.




    Mălina Ionescu, responsable du volet
    éducation au sein du Musée national d’art contemporain de Bucarest, explique : « Ce
    modèle de collaboration est largement utilisé à l’étranger, depuis un certain
    temps. Notre programme « Community Art » s’adresse aux milieux scolaires en
    général, mais nous essayons également d’atteindre les communautés scolaires qui
    n’ont pas la possibilité de venir ici, à savoir les communautés défavorisées ou
    celles qui n’habitent pas Bucarest. Comme nous connaissons les enfants de
    Teach for Romania et les seniors de Seneca Anticafe,
    nous avons pensé que le musée pourrait très bien jouer le rôle de liant entre
    eux. Ce liant est donc la correspondance, car, malheureusement, pour le moment,
    la visite du musée et le contact direct entre les deux groupes de bénéficiaires
    sont impossibles dans le contexte de la crise sanitaire actuelle. »


    Notons que Seneca Anticafe est une
    librairie en ligne dont une partie des recettes sert à envoyer des colis
    alimentaires aux personnes âgées ; Teach for Romania,c’est le
    nom du programme qui aide les jeunes dont le talent et les aptitudes leur
    permettront de devenir des enseignants inspirants, promoteurs d’une pédagogie
    innovante.






    Le projet se propose de créer des équipes
    formées de seniors et de juniors qui, six mois durant, échangent leurs
    réflexions par le biais des lettres. Les enfants ont appris des notions d’art
    contemporain à partir desquelles ils ont écrit des lettres à thème, lors d’un
    atelier virtuel, organisé sur Zoom.






    Mălina Ionescu, notre interlocutrice, détaille
    : « Jusqu’à présent, nous n’avons eu qu’un seul atelier, pendant lequel
    les enfants ont présenté aux seniors l’ensemble du projet. Nous leur avons
    proposé la correspondance comme moyen de créer des liens entre des personnes
    appartenant à des tranches d’âge qui pourraient leur être très familières :
    petits-enfants, pour les seniors et grands-parents, pour les enfants. Ils ont
    donc endossé ces rôles et ont, bien sûr, interagi en tant qu’amis éloignés. Le
    projet a commencé avec les enfants. Lors du premier atelier, nous leur avons
    expliqué ce que signifie une correspondance, en général. N’oublions pas que la
    notion de courrier n’est plus si familière de nos jours, vu que la
    communication est presque entièrement numérique. Nous avons également parlé de
    la façon dont une lettre peut devenir une forme d’art. Et là, on se réfère tant
    à la lettre en soi qu’à l’expédition de la missive. Le projet n’en est qu’à ses
    débuts. »






    La phase pilote du projet rassemble 30 seniors
    seuls de Giurgiu, inscrits dans le programme « Nos grands-parents »,
    et 30 enfants de 12 à 13 ans, de deux écoles des villages de Herăști et
    Izvoarele, du département de Giurgiu, incluses dans le programme « Teach
    for Romania ».






    L’enthousiasme initial mis à part, on
    ignore comment cette correspondance va se dérouler, avoue Mălina Ionescu, qui ajoute
    : « La première proposition était de considérer que la lettre est en
    elle-même une forme d’art, au-delà, bien sûr, de son tout premier rôle, à
    savoir celui de vecteur de communication. Communiquer par des lettres, c’est
    quelque chose de nouveau pour les enfants. Notre approche légèrement différente
    de ce qu’est la correspondance postale, à savoir la lettre, l’enveloppe et
    l’envoi postal a représenté le premier pas vers la notion de mail-art. La
    lettre peut devenir une forme d’expression artistique, lorsqu’on se rapporte au
    signe graphique comme à une image, autrement dit si l’on s’intéresse non
    seulement au contenu, mais aussi à la forme qui l’accompagne. Pour les enfants,
    le papier à lettre et l’enveloppe sont devenus des feuilles à couvrir de
    dessins, de peintures. Nous leur avons présenté plusieurs exemples de jeu avec
    l’enveloppe et l’écriture. On leur a également fourni des crayons de couleur et
    de l’encre de différents types pour qu’ils puissent aller au-delà d’une simple
    lettre où tout ce qui compte, c’est le message transmis par les mots. »






    Mălina Ionescu nous a parlé de la
    prochaine étape du projet : « Nous espérons que les seniors seront très
    réceptifs, qu’ils se laisseront prendre au jeu. Nous souhaitons qu’ils prennent
    plaisir à échanger avec les juniors, qu’ils portent un regard différent sur la
    correspondance postale et qu’ils comprennent que la lettre peut servir de forme
    d’expression personnelle. Pour la prochaine étape, notre objectif c’est
    d’organiser, lorsque ce sera possible, des rencontres entre seniors et juniors,
    par le biais des visites du musée et des ateliers, qui permettront aux gens de
    se rapprocher les uns des autres, mais aussi du musée. »




    Dans les mois qui viennent, les enfants
    pourront participer à un atelier Zoom pour fabriquer différents objets et
    écrire des lettres, qui parviendront aux seniors au même moment où ils
    recevront le colis alimentaire envoyé régulièrement par Seneca. L’échange de
    lettres sera possible grâce aux bénévoles de Seneca et de Teach for Romania. (Trad. Mariana Tudose)

  • Contemporary art at the time of the pandemic

    Contemporary art at the time of the pandemic


    The National Museum of
    Contemporary Art in Bucharest has never ceased to be close to people in many
    ways, and we’ve grown accustomed to that. This time, one of the museum’s new
    projects drew our attention. It is themed Art through correspondence.
    The project seeks to create a genuine bond between seniors, children and
    contemporary art. Initially, the project has been implemented through a string
    of pilot activities that took off in January this year but which are
    nonetheless part of a long-term undertaking. The eventual aim of the project is
    bringing together, through correspondence, the children and the elderly, also
    creating emotional ties between people of those age brackets as well as a bond
    of a different order, between those people and contemporary art, at a time when
    the feeling of loneliness takes its toll on people’s psyche, especially in the
    isolated communities. Mălina Ionescu is the head of the National Museum of
    Contemporary Art’s education section.

    Malina Ionescu:

    It is
    a model of working together that in recent years has been used on a large
    scale, abroad. And because we, at the museum, through our ‘Community Art’ program, have been trying to
    relate to school communities in a broader sense and we have also been trying to
    reach out to the school communities that do not have the possibility to come to
    us, be they underprivileged communities or communities lying outside Bucharest,
    and then we thought that, because we know the children with Teach for Romania or
    the elderly people with the Seneca Anticafe, the museum would be a proper bond
    when it comes to having the two relate to one another. We have been doing that
    through correspondence, sadly, because this is the context that we’ve got and
    because the direct contact with the museum, but also between the two groups of
    beneficiaries, is, as we speak, impossible.


    For a six-month timespan,
    the project seeks to form senior-junior teams that on a monthly basis will
    convey their thoughts through letters turned works of contemporary art.
    Children have learned notions of contemporary art, based on which they created
    thematic letters as part of a workshop Malina Ionescu gave on Zoom.

    Malina Ionescu:


    For the time being, I’ve only had one
    workshop with the children, and I also
    had one presentation of the whole project for the seniors. The suggestion has
    been made, that of the correspondence, to the children as well as to the
    seniors, it was presented to them as an opportunity to befriend correspondents
    belonging to age brackets that could be very familiar to them, nephews, for the
    elderly, and grandparents, for the children. They placed themselves in such positions,
    of grandparents and nephews and of course, that of distance friends. The
    project began with the children, we’ve had the initial workshop where we span
    the yarn of what having a correspondence meant, in general, since the concept
    is quite unfamiliar, given that, almost all correspondence and communication
    are digital, we also spoke about how a letter can in fact become a work of art,
    in its own right, but also through the process of posting it as the letters are
    to be received by the senior. The project is still in its early days.


    The project’s pilot stage brings
    together 30 lonely grandparents in Giurgiu county, currently on a program
    labelled Our grandparents, there are 30 schoolchildren aged 12 and 13, from the
    Herasti and Izvoarele villages, Giurgiu county, who are registered with two
    schools that have been included in the Teach for Romania project.


    The parties involved have
    got enthused in the beginning. However, nobody knows what turn the
    correspondence project is going to take.

    Malina Ionescu:


    The
    first suggestion was to view correspondence as a form of art, rather than view it
    as a form of communication. Of course, the challenge we’ve had was twofold,
    since for the children, communication itself was something unusual, under that
    form, the written one, a physical one, that is, while for the elderly, it was
    not, whereas the fact that we have come
    up with an approach that was slightly off-the-beaten-track as regards what a
    letter and an envelope meant and the idea of posting it, that was a primary contact
    with what mail-art meant, the letter which itself can turn into a form of
    artistic expression, when we relate to the graphic and the visual sign as if
    they were an image and not just an ordinary form of the written text, capable of
    conveying the content alone and when the text and the form to go with it become
    just as important as the message itself, through drawings, through
    interventions. What they in fact did was to view the page and the envelope as
    pages on which they could draw and paint. We presented children with various
    means of playing, with the envelope and with the letter, with the message, and
    we made available for them all sorts of colors and pencils and ink, enabling
    them to go beyond the letter where all that matters is what you convey through
    words alone.


    Malina Ionescu tells us what is expected from the next step to be taken
    as part of the project.


    We hope the
    elderly will be quite responsive as well and, when it comes to the next
    letters, they will answer too and will be encouraged to go beyond the
    correspondence proper with a child and what they would like to convey to that
    child and
    use that medium as a form of
    personal expression, since that’s what it’s all about after all. And what we
    most want is that, in the next stage of the project, when it is possible, we should
    bring the children and the elderly together at the museum, for a couple of
    workshops and visiting sessions so that certain bonds may become stronger, between
    them, but also between them and the museum.


    Each of the coming months
    will see a workshop for children being held on Zoom. Children will create all
    sorts of materials and will write letters that will be sent to the seniors
    together with the usual food parcel Seneca sends them every month. The exchange
    of letters will be made possible through the Seneca volunteers and through
    Teach for Romania.