Alexandru Bassarab, or Basarab (August 7, 1907 – July 8, 1941), was a Romanian painter, engraver, and fascist politician. Earning his reputation for his pioneering work in linocut and woodcut, he explored neotraditionalism, Romanian nationalism, and Romanian folklore, and was ultimately drawn into politics with the Iron Guard. He helped steer several art groups associated or integrated with the Guard, contributed to its fascist propaganda, and briefly served in the Assembly of Deputies. He survived the clampdown of the late 1930s, returning to apolitical work with Grupul Grafic, and exploring the legacy of Byzantine art.
Under the National Legionary State, Bassarab returned to favor as one of the leading political iconographers, also urging others to contribute "epic" art in support of the regime. Arrested during the civil strife of early 1941, Bassarab was allowed to redeem himself on the Eastern Front. He died there, in mysterious circumstances, while his work continued to be censored at home.
Biography
Early life
Bassarab was born in Bacău, where he graduated high school. Likely a student of Ion Theodorescu-Sion's at the National School of Fine Arts, in subsequent years he attended both the Law Faculty of the University of Bucharest at the private art school run by Constantin Vlădescu, where his teachers included Nicolae Tonitza, Francisc Șirato and Petre Iorgulescu-Yor. Bassarab debuted as a painter—in May 1931, he a still-life of his was exhibited at the Official Salon in Bucharest. As noted by fellow artist Mac Constantinescu, it was "sensibly treated in a palette that is both somber and distinguished." He was becoming a specialist in the linocut technique, also praised for his work in woodcut. He continued to exhibit canvasses at various venues but, as noted at the time by art critic Alexandru D. Broșteanu, these were "timid", far less "rounded" than his woodcuts. The same was argued by Petru Comarnescu, who suggests that Bassarab "never fully mastered the interplay of colors".
Bassarab joined the Iron Guard, a native fascist movement, in 1932, and, as an aspiring propagandist, helped set up its artistic club, named after Ștefan Luchian, and its Ideea României Lodge. This enterprise also involved poet Horia Stamatu, who, in a retrospective letter of 1985, depicted himself as the group's theoretician. Also according to Stamatu, other members were George Zlotescu, Alexandru Ciucurencu and Constantin Joja—as well as, more marginally, Ion Țuculescu, brought in by Zlotescu. From October 1934, with Stamatu, Zlotescu, Ciucurencu, Ioan Victor Vojen, Dan Botta, and Radu Gyr, Bassarab was also active in the art collective Arta și Omul. Founded as an apolitical enterprise by Tonitza, it had been taken over by Guardist intellectuals, expressing its rejection of liberal democracy and its embrace of corporatism.
In parallel, Bassarab's apolitical works were featured at the Official Salons. Although he failed to win prizes there, in 1934 and 1935 the Romanian state purchased a number of his engravings. In early 1936, his portraits and cityscapes in various mediums were featured as a personal art show at Mozart Gallery. Columnist Alexandru Balteș was impressed by his achievements, and especially by his use of contours, "concise, somber and expressive". He declared Bassarab a "bard of the Bucharest mahala". His colleague N. I. Lazăr contrarily noted that Bassarab's "Bucharest views" were less accomplished than his other work. Overall, Lazăr rated Bassarab as "still a beginner." Alongside Stamatu, Bassarab worked on an edition of François Villon's ballads: Stamatu translated them, and Bassarab designed the lettering. Although the work was never printed in book form, it circulated as a rough copy among the intellectuals of Bucharest. Mihail Polihroniade used his engravings for his propaganda work, Tabăra de muncă, which came out at Universul publishers in 1936.
