INTERVIEW Painter Zamfir Dumitrescu: If I could, I would rather live in the Bucharest of 40-50 years ago

Photo credit (c): RADU TUTA / AGERPRES STREAM The artist would like more green and less dust, confessing that he does not like 'the irrational pleasure of Bucharesters and Romanians overall to destroy statues, such as the one that depicted Lenin and Petru Groza. He also dislikes 'the pale springy green used to paint the socialist blocks of flats.' AGERPRES: Maestro, you were born in Bucharest. What does Bucharest mean to you? Zamfir Dumitrescu: As you said, Bucharest is the place where I was born, where I grew up, where I got an education, where I trained in a faculty where I stayed despite my frequent trips abroad. AGERPRES: How was the city in your childhood and how do you find it today? Zamfir Dumitrescu: It is in a form of progress, certainly. Each year brings changes for the better or for less so. In my first years of life, I would live close to the statue of Rosetti, on Caimatei Street, where the Caimata Monastery would stand many years ago. I did not get to see it. It had an altar built in a wall of the street, with a candle to signify that Mihai Eminescu spent a lot of time there. I spent the first years of my childhood between Caimatei Street and the Spiru Haret High School and I would play in the streets with children my age. AGERPRES: What do you like the best about the city? Zamfir Dumitrescu: I guess I would like it to have more green spaces and less dust. I can tell you what I dislike about it: I do not like the irrational pleasure of Bucharesters and Romanians overall to destroy statues. Bucharest used to be called a city without statues. There are some statutes having sprung up lately, but after the Revolution many statues depicting politicians of the past — Lenin and Petru Groza included — that I can say were works of art first of all and the works of art would have been still standing in a 100, 200 or even 300 years' time — were demolished. I do not think a certain political regime has the right to erase a history that, for better or for worse, was foisted on us, which we assumed but which we are now contradicting and reneging on. The best solution would have been for these monuments, with more or less a political significance, to be saved and for them to be countered with other monuments that when put face to face would have generated some thematic and artistic contrast with the past ones. AGERPRES: The same as the former regime demolished statues. Zamfir Dumitrescu: Exactly, the same as the previous regime demolished statues. The statue of Lenin is said to have been cast in the melted bronze of a sculpture depicting King Carol I [he smiles]. I remember that in the 1950s, accompanied by my parents, I saw at the train station Herculane a strange head of a mustachioed young man turned in a torso of Stalin. The head used to depict King Mihai, but the locals and the political authorities decided to turn into Stalin's head. Things would probably multiply in stages. Well, that is still a practice today. The statue of Caragiale that was once standing before the National Theatre House sticking a finger in the buttonhole of his coat must have once been a Stalin. The original head was chopped off and replaced by Caragiale's head. It is not okay. No matter who you depict, that is a form of art, more or less good, that perseveres in time and gets devoid of the political identity it has when originally created. Photo credit (c): RADU TUTA / AGERPRES STREAM AGERPRES: By the way, there is a legend that the famous statue of Michael the Brave before the University has to body of Joan of Arc. Is that true? Zamfir Dumitrescu: I do not think so. The statue has been researched and they found the breasts not to be the breasts of a woman. If I am not mistaken, the sculptor was French [Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse -1824-1887]. Anyway, it is indeed Michael the Brave. AGERPRES: Have you ever thought about moving out of Bucharest and relocating somewhere else? Zamfir Dumitrescu: I have two vacation houses: one on the banks of the Danube, five metres away from the river, and another one on the way to this house, in Radu Voda commune. Both houses have workshops. I go there frequently, especially in summertime. This way I escape the noise of the city, the more or less desired phone calls. I have the peace and quiet I want. Should I ever move out for good, I would probably choose between the two residences. AGERPRES: Your profession has brought you to many cities of the world. What is the city that stuck to your heart most and why? Zamfir Dumitrescu: I went to Norway for 20-25 years. I travelled the entire western coast of Norway, from one end to the other, especially the Haugesund-Bergen area. I have many friends there, many acquaintances; I have or had many customers. It is almost 20 years since I was last there. I am in love with these small towns like villages that have the amenities of a city. I guess that would be my favourite place to stay spiritually. As far as city beauty is concerned, I believe Florence is the capital of civilisation and cultural luxury. AGERPRES: What would you like changed about Bucharest in the next years? Zamfir Dumitrescu: I would like the pale, springy joyful colouring of the socialist block of flats to stop. There are entire areas toward the exit to the motorway, for instance the 1 Mai quarter, that have been painted in pastel, joyful colours like pink candy, green and strawberry red. It looks like the ebullience of a carnival that has no place in a city that claims to be more or less serious [he laughs]. AGERPRES: What is your favourite place in Bucharest? Zamfir Dumitrescu: This one; my home, my workshop. Photo credit (c): RADU TUTA / AGERPRES STREAM AGERPRES: Why would foreigners love Bucharest? Zamfir Dumitrescu: I do not think they would have any particular reasons to love it. I find the story of Bucharest City the Little Paris somehow outdated. I guess the parks of the city and the lakes surrounding Bucharest could be an explanation for their presumed love. AGERPRES: Yesteryear or today's Bucharest? Which would you pick and why? Zamfir Dumitrescu: Out of nostalgia, I would pick yesteryear's Bucharest, which I only knew superficially as a child. I think this is because of a slightly romantic, slightly outdated and slightly 'uncouth' atmosphere. Today, there are too many automobiles, too many parking lots; traffic is slow, people are more agitated because of the space and big overcrowding. If possible, I would like to live in the Bucharest of 40-50 years ago. AGERPRES: What is your dearest memory of Bucharest? Zamfir Dumitrescu: I would call it vivid, because dear does not cover it. I can vividly remember the winter of 1953, when my street got covered in 2-3-4m high snow. I was of course on school holiday and we would bore tunnels through the snow. Cars were not driving, there were not many of them back then. Everything was blocked off, covered in snow. For some days, that was the empire of childhood and game playing using the snow piles as castles, tunnels and fortresses. AGERPRES: What would you wish Bucharest on its birthday? What would be the best wish for the city on its 555th anniversary? Zamfir Dumitrescu: Formally, I should say: May it live, flourish, get bigger and more civilised! I guess I would choose the last part, of civilisation, respect for the streets in terms of cleanliness, respect for the people, of people's respect for their peers. AGERPRES Also recommended: