I feel more and more drawn to the past. The past interests me more than the future. In my case and considering my age the future is quite predictable and has little chance of being pleasant.
In fact, I've noticed more and more people looking back than forward... I think it's a kind of self-protection in the face of a future that doesn't look as beautiful as it did a few years ago.
I even heard on a radio program about a man in Paris who walks the streets and talks to... statues. He is not crazy, he simply wants to ignore the present and glorify the past, with statues being a representation of the values of the past, of philosophers, politicians, and artists.
Thinking about this past with different moral values and principles, this past when the modernization of the world began, I decided to visit a small museum that I wanted to see for many years...
Storck Museum
This museum is located in the house where two important Romanian artists lived, Frederic Storck (1872-1942) and Cecilia Cuțescu Storck (1879-1969).
The importance of these artists is not given by their value or notoriety, which is not special, but especially by the fact that they were the first, in the second part of the 19th century, who influenced Romanian society and promoted modernism both in art and in social life. In fact, Cecilia Storck was the first female teacher at an art school in Europe!
What is interesting about this museum is that it not only shows the works of art made by the two artists, but it also shows their workshops and the house they lived in.
The house itself is a museum!
I love the city I live in although I often wonder why I like it and can't find the right answer. Now I have an answer... I love it for the mix of old and new where old is my favorite. That wasn't always the case, when I was young and inexperienced the ratio was the other way around, i.e. I liked the new buildings and wondered why the old ones weren't demolished to make way for the new...
An old house very close to the museum. Who builds something like this now? Unfortunately, no one is doing anything like that, repairing, or reinforcing. Probably in a few years, it will fall apart.
As I said earlier, for many years I have been thinking and wanting to see this museum but I have never taken the thought all the way to the end. I didn't know where this museum was... and now I found out that it is in a very easy place to get there, very close to the streets I frequently walk, very close to Victory Avenue, the avenue I walk weekly.
Vasile Alecsandri Street, no. 16.
Unfortunately, this house, the Storck House, is also in a fairly advanced state of disrepair. It seems strange, but there is an explanation.
The house was donated to the Romanian state by Cecilia Storck, after her husband's death in 1946, to be turned into a museum. After Romania became a democratic state, the house was given to the painter's grandchildren. They allowed it to remain as a museum in the care of the Bucharest City Hall. In this situation, each of the two parties involved expects the others to take care of the renovation and pay for it. Because of this nobody does anything and the house continues to deteriorate and will be damaged in the next bigger earthquake.
The house is clad with bas-reliefs made by Frederick Storck, one of the first sculptors of modern Romania.
I love sculptors' houses that seem to have many of their sculptures haphazardly thrown around the yard. I find it very romantic.
Even the flower vases are made by the artist!
Now we have to get inside the house, the museum house. The collection "Frederic Storck and Cecilia Cuțescu Storck" includes works of sculpture, painting, drawings in ink and charcoal, pastels, watercolors, and gouaches.
In the first room, you will see, for the first time, the drawings, paintings, and gouaches of Cecilia Storck.
Apart from the paintings, there are small statues of the three Storcks: we can consider this museum the museum of the Storck dynasty, the first artistic dynasty in modern Romania...
Karl Storck (1826-1887) - the sculptor, was the first professor of sculpture at the School of Fine Arts founded by Theodor Aman. He is the author of the first monumental sculpture in Bucharest, which is still preserved today - the Spătarul Mihail Cantacuzino.
Carol Storck (1854-1926) - sculptor, son of Karl Storck, is the author of three of the allegories that decorate the Palace of Justice in Bucharest and the monument "Gen. Dr. Carol Davila", in front of the Faculty of Medicine in Bucharest.
Frederic Storck (1872-1942) - sculptor, son of Karl Storck, was a professor at the School of Fine Arts in Bucharest.
Cecilia Cuțescu Storck(1879-1969) - painter, wife of the sculptor Frederic Storck, was the first woman professor in a state art academy in Europe. She taught painting and decorative arts at the School of Fine Arts in Bucharest.Source
The room that caught my attention the most and that I wanted to see the most is the room with the paintings that Cecilia Storck did in Balchik, the small town in Bulgaria, on the Black Sea.
Balchik is my favorite place for seaside holidays.
It was not by chance that my visits to Balchik drew my attention to this family of artists that I had ignored before seeing... their former holiday home from here.
From the beginning of the 20th century until 1940, a region of Bulgaria where the city of Balchik is located belonged to Romania. This city, loved by painters because of its light and scenery, was chosen by Queen Mary of Romania as a place to build a castle, a small castle to be her summer residence. Following the queen came many of the most important Romanians of the time to build holiday homes.
The Bust of Queen Mary by Frederick Storck!
Cecilia Storck was good friends with Queen Mary! Following the Queen, the Storcks also built a villa on the seashore, very close to the Queen's castle. In my opinion and to my taste, the most beautiful villa there, more beautiful than the Queen's castle!
I guess this is where I should stop. I'll have to show three more important parts of the museum: Cecilia's painting studio, Frederick's sculpture studio and last but not least, the house garden!
About the museum: location, visiting schedule, ticket prices...
Address: 16 Vasile Alecsandri Street, Bucharest, Romania
Visiting hours: Wednesday - Sunday, 10.00 - 18.00 (17.30 last entrance)
$ 2 - full ticket
$ 1 - reduced ticket (pensioners, military, pupils, students, organized groups)
$ 3 - filming, photography by tourists inside the museum
$ 1.2 /person - guide fee
Free entrance for preschool children and disabled people.
Storck Villa in Balcic
I said that there is a connection between the holidays I spend in Balchik, Bulgaria, and my desire to visit the Storck Museum.
I first came to Balchik on the recommendation of some painter friends about 28 years ago. I knew nothing about this place, I didn't know its history, the fact that it was Romanian territory for a while, I didn't know about Queen Mary's castle. After seeing all this I fell in love with this place and I go there at least once a year.
In the long walks on the promenade by the sea I noticed an abandoned building, in a state of decay but still showing its great beauty. It became my favorite and, of course, came the curiosity to find out who it belonged to. I was sure it belonged to some Romanians, as I learned that many influential and wealthy Romanians between the two world wars followed Queen Mary's example and bought a property in Balchik.
After much searching, we found out that it was the Storck family's holiday home. From that moment I became interested in Cecilia and Frederick, impressed by their beautiful villa. I imagined how nice it was to sit on the terrace and watch the sea. I imagined how they painted and sculpted, I imagined their bohemian life, totally different from the rigid life at home. That's what I thought, then, visiting the house in Bucharest, I understood how avant-garde these artists were, especially Cecilia Storck!
With the return of this region to Bulgaria in 1940, the villa was confiscated by the state (actually the Bulgarian kingdom). It was a great loss and pain for Storck. They all loved this place enormously.
On my most recent trip to Balchik, last September, I saw a large poster announcing that the villa was for sale...
The poster was made as a collage of different photos of the villa and also with the image of the villa from a painting by Cecilia Storck.
The villa in the picture does not look like the villa as I saw it in reality or the one in the photos on the poster. I looked for explanations and found out that the villa in the picture was the image of the house when it was bought by Storck. Later they made changes and additions leading to today's form.
I tried to search through my archive of photos I took in Balchik for photos that capture the same landscape as the one painted by Cecilia Storck a hundred years ago.
Unfortunately, I haven't found anything that overlaps exactly but I'm close... I think.
Now I think a little music would be nice!
Music is part of our lives, perhaps even more than we can imagine. I can't imagine my life without music. In this idea, I thought I would put the music ( #myfavoritemusic ) That comes to my mind while writing. It may or may not be related to the blog topic. All I wish is that you will enjoy listening while reading. Maybe to surprise you with a song you don't know.
More than that...
To make it a little riddle and invite you to try to guess.
I'll give a few little hints!
This time I'll give you a hint that won't help. The song has nothing to do with the museum or the visual arts. It started running around in my head when I started writing about the sea... it's about the strip of sand in front of the sea. However, if you listen to the song you will instantly miss the sea!
Listen to the song HERE!
Written for @dswigle's #MarketFriday because everything is for sale, and art, and life. To sweeten this bitter conclusion, only a flower can help us now, #alwaysaflower!
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