Using the Catalogue
The project of gathering and cataloguing the works started in 2014. Invaluable here was the archive initiated by the artist himself (exhibition catalogues, list of collectors, autobiographic fragments, photographs of the works and newspaper clippings going back to the 1950s). His late wife, Viky, ordered and conserved the archive when she was re-locating the studio - we cherish her life-long dedication and commitment to Bitzan’s legacy.
The list of works is not exhaustive. We are still in the process of locating pieces, all of which will be uploaded after documentation.
In 2017 a major retrospective exhibition was organized by the Romanian National Museum of Contemporary Art - MNAC Bucharest. About 900 works were catalogued on this occasion. We thank the museum for all its dilligence in promoting the work of Ion Bitzan and are particularly grateful to Cristina Cojocaru, art historian, whom the museum entrusted with the research of the Ion Bitzan oeuvre in view of a printed Catalogue Raisonné. Our thanks are due to museums and auction houses for allowing us to use their photographic material. We owe our utmost gratitude to private collectors, to owners of works, to art historians, art critics and not least to our friends who each and all contributed to our research.
Numbering system
Each work is given a sequential catalogue raisonné number. Editions have a number consisting of two parts; the second part shows how many editions were identified.
Dates
Definitive dates are provided only when a work was dated by the artist. Whenever a work is unsigned/undated we opted for circa dates based on the year of first mention in the Archives (for example exhibition catalogues, photographs, correspondence with art galleries, accession numbers, styles, provenance).
Titles
All main titles are in Romanian, except for the works which were publicly presented for the first time outside Romania – here we chose the language of the host country. If a newly presented work toured to different countries, all relevant titles are given. Alternate titles are also mentioned when the same work was published in different exhibition catalogues or photographs of the same work exist under a different title in a museum archive.
Images
Photographs are by Marcel Almăjanu, Barrie Barreto, Serioja Bocsok, J. S. Cartier (1932-2019), Nelu Colțofeanu, Florin Dragu, Trevor Good, Iosif Kiraly, Achim Kuest, Giampaulo de Luca, Eugeniu Lupu, Alexandru Mărginean, Cornelia Șoancă, Decebal Scriba, Octavian Stăcescu. Great efforts were made to provide high resolution images, but we also had to use a number of mobile telephone images taken by owners of the works. In other cases, we had to use images from whatever available sources such as exhibition catalogues, newspapers and various archives.
Images on the home page have the following credit line: Bogdan Moțoc/1975, Peter Jacobi/1992, Ion Bitzan Foundation Archives.
Whereabouts unknown
These are works, known to exist, that could not yet be located.
Glossary
ANIC Arhivele Naționale Istorice Centrale/National Central Historical Archives
ATSRNU Asociația Tineret și Studenți Români pentru Națiunile Unite
CAP Cooperativa Agricolă de Producție/Agricultural Cooperative
CC Comitetul Central/Central Commitee
CCES Consiliul Culturii și Educației Socialiste/Council of Socialist Culture and Education (1971-1989)
CFP Combinatul Fondului Plastic
CNSAS Consiliului Național pentru Studierea Arhivelor Securității/Romanian National Council for the Study of the Securitate
CSCA Comitetul de Stat pentru Cultură și Artă/State Committee for Culture and Art (1967-1971)
CUASC Consiliul Uniunii Asociațiilor Studenților Comuniști
FP Fondul Plastic
GAC Gospodăria Agricolă Colectivă/Collective Agricultural Institution.
GAS Gospodăria Agricolă de Stat/State Agricultural Institutions
HCM Hotărîrea Consiliului de Miniștri/Decision of Council of Ministers
MAE Ministerul Afacerilor Externe/Ministry of Foreign Affairs
MC Ministerul Culturii/Ministry of Arts. During time, has different names such as Ministerul Învăţământului şi Culturii; Ministerul Cultelor; Ministerul Artelor; Ministrul Cultelor şi Artelor; Ministerul Culturii Naţionale şi Cultelor; Ministerul Educaţiei Naţionale, Cultelor şi Artelor; Ministerul Culturii şi Cultelor; Ministrul Culturii, Cultelor şi patrimoniului national; Ministrul Culturii şi patrimoniului national; Ministrul Culturii si Identitatii Nationale
MNAC Muzeul Național de Artă Contemporană/National Museum of Contemporary Art MNAC Bucharest, founded in 2001
MNAR Muzeul Național de Artă al României/National Museum of Art of Romania, founded in 1948 as Muzeul de Artă al RPR (Art Museum of Romanian People’s Republic)
ONDEA Oficiul Național pentru Organizarea Expozițiilor de Artă/National bureau for Art Documentation and Exhibition, founded in 1968 as Oficiul pentru Organizarea Expozițiilor de Artă; becomes in 1990 ONDEA
PCR Partidul Comunist Român/Romanian Communist Party (1921-1989); operated under the title PMR (Partidul Muncitoresc Român/Romanian Workers’ Party between 1948 and 1965)
PMR Partidul Muncitoresc Român/Romanian Workers’ Party
RPR Republica Populară Româna (1947-1965)/Romanian People’s Republic
RSR Republica Socialistă România (1965-1989)/Socialist Republic of Romania
SA Sindicatul Artelor Frumoase/Syndicate of Fine Arts, founded in 1921, becomes UAP in 1950
UAP(R) Uniunea Artiștilor Plastici din România/(Romanian ) Artists’ Union
UASCR Uniunea Asociațiilor Studenților Comuniști din România
UTM Uniunea Tineretului Comunist/Communist Youth Union (1922-1989)
URSS Uniunea Republicilor Sovietice Socialiste/Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (1922-1991)
Citing
Please use this format when citing the catalogue. Ion Bitzan: A Digital Catalogue Raisonné. The Hague, Netherlands : Ion Bitzan Foundation, Cristina Cojocaru.
Printouts of artworks, exhibition and literature pages automatically include citation, URL of the entry and the date of catalogue accession.