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Shifting meanings of modernism: parallels and contrasts between Karel Teige and Cezar Lăzărescu

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 14; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13602360802705114

1466-4410

Radu-Alex. Răuţă, Hilde Heynen,

Urbanization and City Planning

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgements The authors of this article are grateful to prof. arh. Peter Derer, prof. arh. Constantin Enache, arh. Pompiliu Soare and prof. arh. Ana-Maria Zahariade for their suggestions and their recollections of Cezar Lăzărescu, as well as to the Romanian Architects Union for permission to reproduce photographs from Arhitectura RPR. Notes Kopp, Anatole, Quand le moderne n'était pas un style mais une cause (Paris, Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, 1988). Ciucci, Giorgio, ‘The invention of the Modern Movement’, (1981), in, Hays K. Michael, ed., Oppositions Reader (New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 1998), pp. 552–572. Heynen, Hilde, ‘The Jargon of Authenticity. Modernism and its (Non)political Position’, in, Kalm, Mart, Ruudi, Ingrid, eds, Constructed Happiness. Domestic Environment in the Cold War Era (Tallinn, Estonian Academy of Arts, 2005), pp. 10–27. Kopp, Anatole, L'architecture de la période stalinienne (Grenoble, Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1978); but also Aman, Anders, Architecture and Ideology in Eastern Europe during the Stalin Era. An Aspect of Cold War History (Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press, 1992). Dluhosch, Eric, Svacha, Rostislav, Karel Teige/1900–1951. L'Enfant Terrible of the Czech Modernist Avant-Garde (Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press, 1999). Specthenhauser, Klaus & Weiss, Daniel, ‘Karel Teige and the CIAM: the History of a Troubled Relationship’, in, Dluhosch, Eric, Svacha, Rostislav, eds, Karel Teige/1900–1951, op. cit., pp. 217–255, p. 223. Teige, Karel, The Minimum Dwelling (Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press, 2002), translated and introduced by Eric Dluhosch; Czech original 1932. Macel, Otakar, ‘Paradise Lost: Teige and Soviet Russia.’, Rassegna, XV, 53/1 (1993), pp. 70–77. Cohen, Jean-Louis, 'Introduction', in Teige, Karel, Modern Architecture in Czechoslovakia (Texts and Documents) (Los Angeles, Getty Research Institute, 2000), pp. 1–55. Baird, George, The Space of Appearance (Cambridge MA/London, The MIT Press, 1995), but also Svacha, Rostislav, ‘Before and After the Mundaneum: Karel Teige as the Theoretician of the Architectural Avant-Garde’, in, Dluhosch, Eric, Svacha, Rostislav, eds, Karel Teige/1900–1951, op. cit., pp. 106–139. Aulicky, Milos, ‘Postscript. My Uncle, Karel Teige’, in, Dluhosch, Eric, Svacha, Rostislav, eds, Karel Teige/1900–1951, op. cit., pp. 384–387. Cârneci, Magda, ‘An Exhibition on the Romanian Avant-Garde’, in, Cârneci, Magda, ed., Bucharest in the 1920s–1940s: between Avant-Garde and Modernism (Bucharest, Uniunea Arhitectilor din România, 1994), pp. 11–17. Zahariade, Ana-Maria, ‘Arhitectura perioadei moderne pe teritoriul României: evoluţie formală’, in, Zahariade Ana-Maria, Ioan, Augustin, Celac, Mariana, Maner Hans-Christian, eds, Teme ale arhitecturii din România în secolul XX (Bucharest, Editura Institutului Cultural Român, 2003), pp. 5–30; but also Enescu, Ion Mircea, ‘Anatomia unor vremuri abominabile’, in, Iuga Curea, Viorica, ed., Arhitecţi in timpul dictoturii, Amintiri (Bucharest, Simetria, 2005), pp. 29–91; 34. On Wide-Scale Introduction of Industrial Methods, Improving the Quality and Reducing the Cost of Construction held in front of the All-Union Conference of Builders, Architects and Workers in the Building Materials Industry, in Construction Machinery and Road Machinery Industries and in Design and Research Organisations. Forty, Adrian, ‘Cold War Concrete’, in, Kalm, Mart, Ruudi, Ingrid, eds, Constructed Happiness. Domestic Environment in the Cold War Era (Tallinn, Estonian Academy of Arts, 2005), pp. 28–45. Acad. Joltovski, ‘I Despre adevărata şi falsa frumuseţe în arhitectură’, Arhitectura RPR, 2 (1955), pp. 19–21. Enache, C, ‘Un manual care nu-şi îndeplineşte rolul’, Arhitectura RPR, 2 (1955), pp. 22–27. Tismăneanu, Vladimir, Stalinism pentru eternitate (Iaşi, Polirom, 2005), especially pp. 178–203. The PMR's Central Committee plenum meeting, 26th–28th November, published and discussed in Arhitectura RPR, 10-11 (1958). Ionescu, Grigore, Derer, Petre, Theodorescu, Dinu, Arhitectura in Romania, perioada anilor 1944–1969 (Bucharest, editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, 1969), p. 95. Zahariade, Ana-Maria, ‘Arhitectura perioadei moderne pe teritoriul României: evoluţie formală’, op. cit., pp. 5–30. Ioan, Augustin, trs., Tinney, Stela, Power, Play and National Identity (Bucharest, The Romanian Cultural Foundation Publishing House, 1999), p. 139. The biographical data are taken, especially for the early career, from: Lăzărescu, Ileana and Gabrea, Georgeta, Vise in piatră, în memoria prof dr. arh. Cezar Lăzărescu (Bucharest, Capitel, 2003). This book was very helpful by providing an extensive list of articles and books published by Lăzărescu as well as some transcriptions of audio recordings otherwise inaccessible. The Danube - Black Sea Canal area was a very sensitive undertaking because of the high political meaning attributed to its construction, but also because the forced labour of political prisoners was used. ‘Working colonies’ is a collocation basically denoting ‘new cities’ – but embodies the linguistic games of the epoch. The biggest airport in Romania, located near to Bucharest: it is now called ‘Henri Coandă’. The construction period given for each project referred to in this article is largely based on Lăzărescu's own indications. In Arhitectura RPR, 11–12 (1955), p. 36, Lăzărescu mentions that ‘Based on these general level studies [of the seaside] last year was started the drawing of detailed projects for the problems necessitating urgent realisation’ [sic – probably meant ‘solution’]. Therefore, if 1954 was the year when the initial general study was already being carried out in detail, we could assume an earlier date for the commissioning of Lăzărescu's team. Laurian Radu, ‘Concursul pentru sistematizarea pieţei Nicolae Bălcescu din Bucureşti’, Arhitectura RPR, 1 (1957), pp. 2–17. To use a formula of Augustin Ioan describing very well the modernist appearance of buildings still articulated in grand, regular volumes, reminiscent of the monumental classicist principles of composition Chiţulescu, Traian, ‘Concursul pentru sistematizarea Pieţei Unirii din Iaşi’, Arhitectura RPR, 4 (1959), pp. 44–53. As suggested by arh. Constantin Jugurică, arh. Sandu Culescu and arh. Nicolae Vlădescu in their recollections about Lăzărescu, published in Lăzărescu, Ileana and Gabrea, Georgeta, Vise in piatră, în memoria prof dr. arh. Cezar Lăzărescu, op. cit., pp. 172–181. Lăzărescu, Cezar, ‘Noi construcţii pe litoral’, Arhitectura RPR, 8–9 (1958), pp. 12–17, quotation from p. 17. Ibid. Later published as Konrad, György, Szelenyi, Ivan, The Intellectuals on the Road to Class Power. A Sociological Study of the Role of the Intelligentsia in Socialism (Brighton, Harvester Press, 1979), p. 153. Alifanti, Mircea, ‘Economia, utilizarea raţională şi lărgirea sortimentului materialelor de finisaj’, Arhitectura şi Urbanism, 1–2 (1952), pp. 17–27 (first part) and 3 (1952), pp. 16–32 (second part). Popescu-Negreanu, Gh. ing., Laszlo, N, ‘Problema industrializării construcţiilor de locuinţe’, Arhitectura şi Urbanism, 6–7 (1952), pp. 13–14 and Popescu-Negreanu, Gh. ing.,'Bloc prefabricat la Cernavodă', Arhitectura şi Urbanism, 6–7 (1952), pp. 23–28. Cotescu, Maria, ‘Studiul raţional al locuinţelor’, Arhitectura RPR, 4–5 (1950), pp. 146–152 and Cotescu, Maria, ‘Elementele de bloc tip in noile case de locuit’, Arhitectura şi Urbanism, 11 (1952), pp. 11–16. Gusti, Gustav, ‘Locuinţa in clădiri cu puţine caturi’, Arhitectura RPR, 6–7 (1954), pp. 17–35. Locar, M, ‘Pe drumul unei noi arhitecturi in R.P.R.’, Arhitectura şi Urbanism, 1–2 (1952), pp. 3–16. Lăzărescu, Cezar, ‘Din practica proiectării oraşelor’, Arhitectura şi Urbanism, 12 (1952), pp. 16–25, but also ‘În legătură cu proiectarea aşezărilor muncitoreşti’, Arhitectura RPR, 8 (1954), pp. 1–7. Article published in the second edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia in the 3rd volume (1950) translated in three consecutive issues of Arhitectura RPR, this idea occurring at its end in 5 (1954), p. 38 c. As described in the interview with Adrian, Dan, ‘Destinul artei românesti în momentele sale memorabile. Profesor emerit doctor arhitect Cezar Lăzărescu, Mamaia, 1960’, Scînteia tineretului, 16(134) (1984), p. 3. As described in: Lăzărescu, Cezar, ‘Centrul de odihnă Eforie II’, Arhitectura RPR, 5 (1959), pp. 25–40; p. 36. As described in the articles of Tîrcob, Dumitru, ‘Ore finale pe Dealul Piscului’, Scînteia, 9923 (Thursday, 18th July, 1974), p. 2, but also of Zidăriţă, Ştefan, ‘Un impresionant edificiu bucureştean’, România liberă, 9267 (Saturday, 10th August, 1974), pp. 1–2. It was probably a propagandistic argument continuously emphasised in the articles concerning this construction. Ioaniţoaia, Ovidiu, ‘Zimnicea – un simbol al solidarităţii, al umanismului nou, revoluţionar’, Flacăra, nr. 13 (1138) (31st March, 1977), pp. 6–7. Interview with Ioaniţoaia, Ovidiu, ‘Cum va arăta oraşul de mîine’, Flacâra, nr. 13 (1138) (31st March, 1977), p. 6. Ionescu, Grigore, Derer, Petre, Theodorescu, Dinu, Arhitectura in România, perioada anilor 1944–1969, op. cit., p. 82. Greceanu, Eugenia, Ansamblul urban medieval Piteşti (Bucharest, Muzeul Naţional de Istorie, 1982). Lăzărescu, Cezar, ‘Două treimi din populaţia ţării în case noi’, Scînteia, XLVIII, no. 11497 (9th August, 1979), quoted also in the introduction to Greceanu, Eugenia, op. cit. Interview with Pop, Sânziana, ‘Arhitectura tinde spre industrializare’, Luceafărul, XV, no. 38 (542) (16th September, 1972), p. 9, part of a series of three interviews grouped under the title ‘How does the future look?’. Interview with Ioaniţoaia, Ovidiu, ‘Arhitecţii au devenit astăzi, mai mult ca oricînd, oameni ai cetăţii’, Flacăra, nr. 26(1151) (30th June, 1977), p. 24. Interview with Săsărman, Gheorghe, ‘Menirea arhitecturii’, Contemporanul, nr. 48(1673) (1st December, 1978), p. 11. Interview with Adrian, Dan, ‘Destinul artei românesti în momentele sale memorabile. Profesor emerit doctor arhitect Cezar Lăzărescu, Mamaia, 1960’, op. cit., p. 3. Ibid.