DOI Artikel:
Țoca, Vlad: Romanian art historiography in the interwar period: between the search for scholarship and commitmenr to a cause
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52521#0100
94
Vlad Toga
at last and that all the newly incorporated territories had been inhabited by
Romanians since time immemorial, therefore it was only natural that they
become part of the "Mother country"
The Hungarians living in Romania as well as those in Hungary resented
the loss of Transylvania and the Banat and never missed a chance to stake
their claims to those lost territories, which had been part of their kingdom for
several centuries. In Hungary coordinated state propaganda was directing all
means available in order to push this cause. Historical arguments were very
important, and these were delivered continuously. The Hungarian voice was
heard in Western media, books were published and sent to libraries and deci-
sionmakers abroad, while at the League of Nations, their pleas were repeated
ceaselessly Soviet Russia also desired territories lost at the end of the war, and
the Romanian Communist Party, founded in 1921, included in its program
the need to free the subjugated peoples in the country by breaking apart sever-
al territories. This was, in fact, the main argument the government offered for
outlawing the party soon after its creation.
In this context, historical arguments became political arguments used by
the Romanians in order to justify the new territorial gains and the Versailles
peace treaties system. Art history, part of the family of historical disciplines
came to play an important part in this.
The period between the two world wars was dominated by what Keith
Hitchins calls the Great Debate,4 about national identity and development.
The opponents were those advocating synchronism with the West, on the one
hand, and those pleading for tradition, on the other, with many others look-
ing for a third way This debate between Europeanist and the traditionalist
was reflected in the way politics and economic policies were conducted, in
the shaping of institutions and life in general. This debate had been going on
in Romanian society since the second half of the 19th century In the interwar
period, two important figures, Eugen Lovinescu and Stefan Zeletin, shaped
the thinking of the Europeanists. Lovinescu advocated "synchronism," the
modernisation of the country by adopting the West's institutions, ethics and
methods, while Zeletin had a more materialist view seeing Romania bond-
ed inextricably to western capitalism. The traditionalists, on the other hand,
looked for models in the country's past and traditions, real or imagined, as
they stood against the import of western institutions and forms. It is ironical
that their ideas were, in fact, an import coming from the west at the turn of
the century Nichifor Craimc emphasized Orthodoxy and its importance for
generating a national revival. Lucian Blaga and his colleagues at the Gândirea
4 Ibidem, p. 160 sqq.
Vlad Toga
at last and that all the newly incorporated territories had been inhabited by
Romanians since time immemorial, therefore it was only natural that they
become part of the "Mother country"
The Hungarians living in Romania as well as those in Hungary resented
the loss of Transylvania and the Banat and never missed a chance to stake
their claims to those lost territories, which had been part of their kingdom for
several centuries. In Hungary coordinated state propaganda was directing all
means available in order to push this cause. Historical arguments were very
important, and these were delivered continuously. The Hungarian voice was
heard in Western media, books were published and sent to libraries and deci-
sionmakers abroad, while at the League of Nations, their pleas were repeated
ceaselessly Soviet Russia also desired territories lost at the end of the war, and
the Romanian Communist Party, founded in 1921, included in its program
the need to free the subjugated peoples in the country by breaking apart sever-
al territories. This was, in fact, the main argument the government offered for
outlawing the party soon after its creation.
In this context, historical arguments became political arguments used by
the Romanians in order to justify the new territorial gains and the Versailles
peace treaties system. Art history, part of the family of historical disciplines
came to play an important part in this.
The period between the two world wars was dominated by what Keith
Hitchins calls the Great Debate,4 about national identity and development.
The opponents were those advocating synchronism with the West, on the one
hand, and those pleading for tradition, on the other, with many others look-
ing for a third way This debate between Europeanist and the traditionalist
was reflected in the way politics and economic policies were conducted, in
the shaping of institutions and life in general. This debate had been going on
in Romanian society since the second half of the 19th century In the interwar
period, two important figures, Eugen Lovinescu and Stefan Zeletin, shaped
the thinking of the Europeanists. Lovinescu advocated "synchronism," the
modernisation of the country by adopting the West's institutions, ethics and
methods, while Zeletin had a more materialist view seeing Romania bond-
ed inextricably to western capitalism. The traditionalists, on the other hand,
looked for models in the country's past and traditions, real or imagined, as
they stood against the import of western institutions and forms. It is ironical
that their ideas were, in fact, an import coming from the west at the turn of
the century Nichifor Craimc emphasized Orthodoxy and its importance for
generating a national revival. Lucian Blaga and his colleagues at the Gândirea
4 Ibidem, p. 160 sqq.