Cultural Cold War Diplomacy between Socialist Romania and the US: The Case of the Artist Corneliu Petrescu

• In Event: Transnational and Trans-Ideological Connections: Cultural Relations between the Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe and the Capitalist West I

Abstract

This presentation discusses the case of the Romanian visual artist Corneliu Petrescu (1924-2009) who had an international career during the Cold War, having more exhibitions abroad than in socialist Romania . His case is atypical for the situation of Romanian visual artists during communism, but at the same time provides an illuminating entryway in the informal cultural relations between socialist Romania and “capitalist countries”. Petrescu had, through his first career, that of researcher at the Parhon Institute, several foreign collectors who helped him organize exhibitions in The Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria and the United States. Among the most prominent collectors of Petrescu was Geoffrey Tyler, a close friend, but also an executive for the missions of the IMF to Romania in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. Petrescu “enjoyed enormous freedom and privileges compared to ordinary citizens, even before he met Geoffrey Tyler: he could write letters to Western Europe and America and, crucially, receive replies and gifts, at a time when all correspondence was monitored and intercepted.” Because of his contacts with foreigners, his relationship with the Securitate began in 1974 and lasted until 1989. He gave many notes detailing his trips abroad and his contacts both with foreigners and with Romanians who lived in exile, and was also helped by the secret police to organize exhibitions in foregin countries with the purpose of changing the perspective of foreign regimes on Romanian art.

Author

• Caterina Preda, U of Bucharest (Romania)