#Exhibit of the Month

This remarkable portrait of Mihai Eminescu, created by artist Alexandru Gușanov, is based on one of the four known photographs of the poet. The photograph that inspired this portrait was taken in 1869 in Wenceslas Square, Prague, when Eminescu was only 19 years old. The oval composition and harmonious color palette highlight the prominent personality and charisma of the young poet, capturing an expression that conveys both melancholy and intellectual depth.
Alexandru Gușanov (1929-2005), a Moldovan painter of Ukrainian origin, distinguished himself through his extensive work, comprising approximately 5,000 pieces - portraits, landscapes, and still life paintings. Settled in Moldova since 1945, Gușanov graduated from the Republican Art School "I.E. Repin" in Chișinău in 1952. His works were showcased in numerous national and international exhibitions and were highly appreciated in countries such as France, Hungary, Russia, and Yugoslavia. The artist dedicated a significant part of his career to creating portraits of historical and cultural figures, including Dimitrie Cantemir, Mihail Kogălniceanu, and Alexei Mateevici, which are part of the National Museum of History of Moldova's collection.

The subject of the portrait, Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889), is the most significant poet in Romanian literature, whose works reflect profound thought, sensitivity toward nature, and national identity. At the age of 19, when the photograph that inspired this portrait was taken, Eminescu was in the midst of his intellectual formation, preparing to become the iconic voice of Romanian culture. Among his most famous works is the poem Luceafărul (The Morning Star), a masterpiece of universal literature.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

„Advertising in Bessarabia”

24 December 2015 – 15 February 2016

The exhibition „Advertising in Bessarabia" brings to the general public and advertising enthusiasts, interesting commercials created during the 19th century till the 1930s. Original sources of information, advertisements allow visitors entering a symbolic world expressing desires, expectations and values of a community in a given historical moment.

The exhibition includes 73 pieces. The newspaper is the centerpiece of the exhibition - the most important means of advertising before the advent of radio and television. The exhibition displays daily and weekly newspapers published in Bessarabia at the end of the nineteenth century until the 30ies of the twentieth century: Бессарабский Вестник (1894), Новая газета (1911-1912), Знамя (1911-1912), Бессарабская жизнь (1916), Бессарабская почта (1933), Viața Basarabiei (1940). In the exhibition are also displayed several journals which contain advertising announcements: Кишиневские Епархиальные Ведомости, Объединение and Бессарабское сельское хозяйство; and calendars Адреc-календарь Бессарабской губернии на 1910 год, Адрес-календарь Бессарабской губернии на 1913 год. Periodical publications contain ads with different messages. Among advertisers were the most famous trade houses, shops, factories, restaurants, hotels, bank offices, barber shops, theaters, circuses, etc. from Bessarabia, particularly from Chișinău. Bessarabian newspapers also contained publicity for merchandises of firms in Odessa, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Ads for pianos, turntables, gramophones, samovars, bicycles, cars, boots, galoshes, watches, furs, hats, sewing machines, typewriters, clothes, church bells, plows, threshing machines with detailed presentations, pharmaceutical products, cosmetics and photographic services introduce us into a world where advertising in Bessarabia was just beginning to become professional and organized.

#Exhibit of the Month

Portrait of Mihai Eminescu by Alexandru Gușanov

„Advertising in Bessarabia”

24 December 2015 – 15 February 2016

#Exhibit of the Month