Ana-Maria-Claudia Altmann. Subject: Reception of American Modern Art after 1960

Dear Mr. Kessler,

Thanks a lot for the opportunity of inviting me to remember and describe my memories about the

American exhibits presented in Romania between 1979-1983.

It is a travel in time and a pleasure to talk about those events. In 1979, when the exhibit “The American

Artist at Work” was showed in Bucharest in Sala Polivalentă, I was studying History of Art in the 6th

semester at the Institute of Fine Arts “Nicolae Grigorescu” in Bucharest. At that time, I was feeling like

being under a bell of glass where the grey colour dominated my whole visual memory and the impact

of the American art opened for me a broad screen to a world I only had in my dreams, in other words,

a world of joy, happiness, non-conformism, and possibilities to express, especially in Fine Arts, the

immediate reality of a universe that I knew only in black and white. Moreover, the handprint, the

spontaneity and uniqueness of each artist mesmerized me. Suddenly, my understanding of the content

of art was turned upside down while triviality and concreteness were on the rise to becoming mass

dispersion icons, being able to express in huge dimensions, playful content and explosive colours and

shapes, an absolutely illusionless commercial iconography, or non-expressive flat forms.

I was impressed by the level of accuracy and clarity of the works, industrial seriality in using screen

printing, objets trouvés, newspaper, magazines and cartoons cuttings, the variety of the same subject

and the dramatic changing of the visual impact. By that time my mind was not prepared to understand

the relations and the background of those movements called Pop Art, Action Painting or Minimalism.

Although I was aware of all the meanings of the Pop Music stream, this exciting appearance of Pop Art

was absolutely flipping over my whole view about contemporary art. The impact with the artworks,

especially of Warhol, Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, de Kooning or Frank Stella was essential for my

research five years later when I could travel outside Romania looking for those artists exhibited in 1979

in Bucharest.

“The American Artist at Work” exhibit travelled also in Brașov and Cluj having as director manager Mr.

Frank Ursino, artistic director Ms. Gail Baker, and technical chief Mr. Hans Altmann.

The next exhibits I remember were exhibits focusing on a broader understanding of the American

culture: design, theatre, movies, or music.

In 1980 I worked as a guide at the exhibit “America Now” for which a Dome was built in the Herăstrău

Park in Bucharest. The directing manager was Mr. Frank Ursino and the technical chief was Mr. George

Koman.

I had the chance to know and feel more about the American way of life, culture and art, being there

daily for five weeks, therefore this impact gave me some answers to points of view that I could not

explain myself a year before. I vividly remember enormous queues of visitors, around 3000 per day,

attracted by an approximate overview of the American lifestyle. Undoubtedly the biggest attraction

was the segment of the radio station “Voice of America”.

The Romanian government agreed upon those exhibits because of the aspirations they had to get “the

most favourite nation agreement” from the U.S. government. The USIA was able to continue the

propaganda of the American way of life until 1989 despite the event of the fall of 1987 when the

Romanian government closed after two weeks the American Film exhibit because of a huge crowd of

people staying in line in front of the entrance to Sala Dalles which was lightened al giorno the moment

Ceausescu accompanied by Erich Honecker passed by. My husband, Hans Altmann, was the technical

leader of that exhibit at that time so he came back to Vienna without definitively closing the show.

In 1981 the exhibit “Museums of America” was the next one I worked on as a guide and had as

managing director Mr. Harry Hirsch, project director Mr. David Paul and technical chief Mr. Hans

Altmann. The exhibit was presented in Sala Dalles in Bucharest and in the spring of 1982 in the Art

Museum of Cluj. There were ten museums in the spotlight, not only art museums like the Art Museum

in Iowa, for example, but also Natural History museums like Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.

After leaving Romania, I had the opportunity to assist, in May 1984, Mr. David Paul in Budapest curating

museums of America. After that, I travelled together with my husband to exhibits in Prague, East Berlin

and Sofia, being there over the time the exhibits were running.

A part of the concept of USIA for the exhibits in Eastern Europe was to implement partnerships with

several companies concerning the design of exhibits. For instance, while the center of the logistics of

the exhibit was in Vienna, the companies Carli or Guidi, in Italy, were responsible for the light design,

being always present on the field to build the exhibit’s lightning system.

In 1984, I married Mr. Hans Altmann and in March I left Romania. All this experience with the American

exhibits was profitable for my professional activity in Austria. I had the chance to study this

phenomenon of American Modern Art not only in libraries, but also in some of the biggest museums

of the world that have in their collections American Art after 1960. It was not my central point of

interest during my work as an art historian and curator in Vienna, but it has always been connected to

the first impact I had on the exhibit from 1979. I remember my study colleagues were not enthusiastic

about American art, its content, and its production. Our teachers (except for two of them, Dan Hăulică

and Dan Grigorescu) did not talk at all about the event from Sala Polivalentă. All of them were big fans

of the Romanian art so a dialogue about the experience in front of Pop Art was practically impossible.

I had some private conversations with Dan Grigorescu on Expressionism or Bauhaus and their influence

on the American art before and after 1945. I still remember his points of view concerning Jasper Johns

and Edvard Munch. From the recent perspective it looks like they are still valid.

Zooming back to the time of my Romanian experience with the American Art, I realise that the high

quality of those exhibitions, their design, their presentation, and the whole making of persisted as an

aesthetic criterion throughout my whole career overviewing both the main stage and the backstage of

art performances.

Best regards and success for your event from the 18th May 2023,

Ana-Maria-Claudia Altmann

Vienna, 11th May 2023