The Secession Lamp / The History of Romania in One Object

Our kaleidoscopic descent into Romania's past through vestiges and objects endowed with powerful evocative force brings us to the modernist tradition of Timișoara, the country's most western city. In this week’s episode of “The History of Romania in One Object” we examine an artifact of great historical and aesthetic value, The Sea Snail Shell Secession Lamp, and take a wondrous architectural journey through the history of the uniquely diverse capital of the Banat region.

Text by art historian and curator Marius Cornea and curator Ionela Slejiuc. Video presentation by visual artist and curator Giulia Delcea. Film concept by Ana Tudor and Adrian Tudor. A series developed in partnership with The National Museum of Banat in Timișoara and Timiș County Council.

Watch and read on our FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE and WEBSITE from Monday, April 12, 2 p.m. EST (or anytime later).

Marius Cornea is an art historian and curator at the National Museum of Banat in Timisoara. He studied History and German Literature and Language in Timisoara and Art History in Bucharest. He completed his education in Art History in Florence, Venice, Amsterdam, and Rome. He is a specialist in the history of Italian painting of the 16th-18th centuries period. He is the author of the general catalogue for Timisoara Art Museum’s collection of European paintings from the 15th century to the 20th century, published in 2012.

Ionela Slejiuc is a curator at the Department of Archaeology of National Museum of Banat in Timișoara. She has a Bachelor's degree in Biology (2015), a Master's degree in Developmental Biology and the influence of exogenous factors on the development of organisms (2017) and a Master's degree in Geographical Information Systems (2020), all granted by the Faculty of Chemistry, Biology, Geography of University of the West in Timisoara. Her main current field of research is in bioarcheology as she employs a range of biological and interdisciplinary techniques to study the animal and human remains of the archaeological sites.

Ana Giulia Delcea is a visual artist and curator at the National Museum of Banat in Timisoara’s Visual Arts Department. She studied Painting, Graphic Design and Conservation and Restoration at the Faculty of Arts and Design University of the West of Timișoara, where she also took her Ph.D. in 2013. She is a specialist in painting, modern and contemporary art and a member of the Romanian Fine Arts Union.