Lena Constante
Lena Constante
Biography
Lena Constante (born Elena Constante), (she/her) visual artist, (b. 1909, in Bucharest, Romania, d. 2005) of Romanian ethnical background, from a family of Aromanian immigrants from Macedonia, has lived in Romania[1]. Graduates from university studies at the School of Fine Arts in Bucharest[2], studying together with Cecilia Cuțescu-Stork under prof. Dimitrie Gusti (the founder of the National Village Museum of Bucharest, Romania). Goes to Paris where she studies studies fresco and museography[3].
Arrest under communist regime
In 1945, she worked as a set designer at the Țăndărică Theater in Bucharest, together with Elena Pătrășcanu, thus entering the circle of the communist Minister of Justice, Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, which led to her arrest and sentence to 12 years in prison. When Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej imprisoned Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, considering him a potential rival, everyone in his circle suffered the same fate, including Lena Constante and Harry Brauner, who was also sentenced to 15 years. She was released in 1962, and in 1963 she married Harry Brauner. In 1968, at the retrial of the Pătrășcanu trial, both were found not guilty. Constante was the wife of the musicologist Harry Brauner, and the sister-in-law of the painter Victor Brauner. Accused of treason, espionage and bourgeois nationalism, she was sentenced to 12 years in prison[4], and for 8 years she sat alone in a cell, in one of the most resounding Stalinist trials staged by the new communist power in Romania. She was released in 1962, and how she lived her life behind bars she told in the volumes "Silent Escape. 3,000 Days Alone in Romanian Prisons" and "Impossible Escape", currently published by Humanitas Publishing House[5].
Artistic disciplines:
Artistic practice
She worked carpets with stylized folk motifs in her own workshop, having personal exhibitions of tapestries in Bucharest in 1934, 1935, 1946, 1970, 1971, and in 1947 in Ankara. She was an artist well known for her original tapestry works and folkloristic activity; she was also a puppet theater set designer and one of the founders of the well-known Țăndărică theater of Bucharest, Romania.
Although a member of the Union of Visual Artists of Romania, Lena Constante could not exhibit her paintings for political reasons. This led her to work as a "craft", turning to tapestry, using authentic folk materials, creating collages from fabrics. Fragments of folk costumes, towels and peasant embroideries lose their initial utility in Lena Constante's collages, being charged with new aesthetic values, while preserving their authenticity.
Of particular importance among Lena Constante's artistic works are the icons on glass, reproductions of over 650 peasant icons on glass and wood, from the period when she worked in Dimitrie Gusti's monographic team – 1932, the illustrations for children – a first refuge in Lena Constante's artistic expression, censored by the authorities for political reasons, and the drawings from prison.
“Alone in a cell, there is nothing left for you to do but sit for hours on end, frozen in a chair, waiting… Any occupation is impossible and forbidden. Sometimes I would find bone chips in my plates. Rubbed by the crumbly cement of the table, the bones would take on the desired shapes. I would make miniature instruments, measuring about three centimeters. I would work in secret. With my ear constantly on the alert. If you were caught, you would receive punishments and the surveillance would become harsher.” (Lena Constante)[6]
Notable themes
Recurring themes in Lena Constante's practice include folk motifs and imaginary as a refuge against prison isolation.
Works in collections and public recognition
- exhibited nationally and internationally, at museums, art galleries.
- works in art museums collections and private collections.
A selection of works are in the depot of the Romanian National Museum of Contemporary Art - MNAR, occasionally exposed in temporary exhibitions.
Selected exhibitions
Scarce information.
Press
- Codruț Constantinescu, Radiography of a silent escape”, in “22” magazine, May 8, 2013; Archived August 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.[7]
- Marius Mihet, Una cosa mentale, in ”România literară”, nr. 35/2013 Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine[8]
Gallery Representation
- None currently known.
For further commercial and non-commercial inquiries, feel free to contact NPK
Hashtags
(artistic practices, currents, techniques, themes - applicable hashtags for this artist)
- ↑ https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Constante
- ↑ Țarălungă, Ecaterina (2019). Enciclopedia identității românești. 2: Personalități. AGIR. p.207
- ↑ Deac, Mircea; Octavian, Tudor (2007). 300 Romanian Painters: Dictionary of Modern Romanian Painting. Noi Media Print. p. 21.
- ↑ https://dosaresecrete.ro/lena-constante-a-fost-condamnata-la-12-ani-de-inchisoare-de-comunisti/
- ↑ https://humanitas.ro/autori/lena-constante
- ↑ https://www.cosminnasui.com/2021/05/lena-constante/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20140827082846/http://www.revista22.ro/radiografia-unei-evadari-tacute-25627.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160304204125/http://www.romlit.ro/una_cosa_mentale
