This small private museum, on Maria Rosetti Str, No 29, Bucharest, is surprisingly rich and varied, with a great number of rare exhibits, all the result of the long time passion of collector Vasile Grigore. Over the years, this devouted collector has gathered several hundred works of art, ranging from Japanese art to creations signed by the Romanian masters, and for his museum he has selected around 500 of the best. It is certainly a pity that this kind of cultural institutions do not receive the attention they certainly deserve and the idea of this collector is one to be imitated by others.
According to the museum's own website - www. muzeul-vasile-grigore.ro - Vasile Grigore wanted to offer all artlovers a chance to discover the treasures of his collection, gathered over many years and with a lot of financial sacrifices - and even more. But throughout the years the only reason, besides to love for art, was the fact that he wanted to have only the best of the best, focusing on two distinct and totally different fields : Romanian art and Japanese art. Surely, these are not the only types of works, but make up for the majority of the exhibits.
The museum was officially opened to the public in 2004, and the villa that hosts it was the best place to exhibits the few hundreds artworks. In the large five halls - but also in the hallways inbetween - visitors have the chance of discovering step by step the most of the Vasile Grigore Collection, divided into seven distinct sections : painting, graphics, sculpture, Romanian folk art, European decorative arts, Oriental and Far-Eastern works of art. From the very first visit, you will be amazed by the richness and variety of the works presented here, and you can not stop wondering how hard it was for the collector to amass this type of objects.
A major part of the museum's collections are the works of Romanian art, focusing on the creations of the greatest masters. We can begin the discovery with the selection of works by the interwar Romanian painters, such as Theodor Pallady, Gheorghe Petrascu, Iosif Iser, Nicolae Tonitza, some of the works present here being rare and highly valuable.Those who truly appreciate Romanian art can continue their visit admiring the works of several contemporary Romanian artists, all famous names, both in Romania and abroad : Alexandru Ciucurencu, Comeliu Baba, Gheorghe Vanatoru, Ion Musceleanu, Lucian Grigorescu, Constantin Blendea, Henry Catargi, Ion Popescu Negreni, Ion Irimescu, Mihai Buculei, Vladimir Predescu, Traian Bradean, Jean AI. Steriadi. An impressive selection of art, as some of the paintings and drawings are simply astounding. Also fascinated by Romanian folk art, Vasile Grigore has managed to aquire some interesting exhibits in this field, and his folk collection is definetelly impressive. The best seem to be the icons - on wood and glass - followed by the ceramics and carpets selections.
But the "Vasile Grigore" Art Museum in Bucharest is also special for it's large, really large collection of Japanese art, maybe the largest private collection of this kind in Romania. The best part of it are definetely the famous ukyo-e, traditional Japanese paintings, as well as the collection of Japanese and Chinese ceramics, many of them amazingly delicate and beautifully decorated. Besides the Oriental art, the museum has a rich selection of English, Russian, German and French ceramics, much more "classical" in style and decorations, managing to achieve a surprising and interesting contrast to the Eastern creations of the same kind. Also, the large art collection is suplemented by the collection of music records - a large and diverse one, containing some rare, now alsmost unique recordings - next to the large collection of books. Here you can also find some rare titles and editions, and it is impressive that one person could love art, music and literature so much as to dedicate his whole life to collecting these and finally opening a museum, for all to enjoy them. In the past, it was a tradition for collectors to do that, but after the Second World War this tradition vanished. It it nice and encouraging to see that there are still people like Vasile Grigore.
It is an interesting and diverse museum, which dserves to be more, much more popular than it is now. Certainly, a visit here, even just for the Romanian and Japanese works of art - interesting pairing, by the way - is to be made as soon as possible. Nothing to lose, so much to gain. Let us just hope that more and more such private collection will be presented to the public eye and taste in the near future, for we can never have too many of these. A great effort, a great museum, a great collector.
2007-12-21
