Alexis Macedonski
Alexis Macedonski was a Romanian visual artist, theatrical producer, and political activist, the eldest surviving son of poet-novelist Alexandru Macedonski. The latter enforced his calling for the arts from childhood, with a fragmentary education that was fulfilled in 1909—when Alexis completed the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. Infused by Symbolism and Impressionism, his early contribution covered religious art, genre paintings, and portraiture, including depictions of Macedonski-father. Both men lived together in France during the early 1910s; this is also where Alexis' half-Argentine son, Soare Macedonski, was born. The family returned to the Kingdom of Romania in 1913, assisting Alexandru in establishing his influence over the local Symbolist movement. Alexis and his wife Solaro helped decorate the poet's salon in the Bucharest neighborhood of Dorobanți, using a performative lavishness that was meant to clash with their material destitution. The father–son collaboration, which also saw them founding a larger "Idealists' Circle" of artists, was only interrupted during the second half of World War I: while Macedonski Sr preferred to remain in occupied territory and give a measure of support to the Central Powers, Alexis continued to fight alongside the Romanian Land Forces in besieged Western Moldavia, and was recognized by the loyalist authorities as an official war artist.
Upon his second return to Bucharest in late 1918, Alexis stood by his disgraced father. When the latter died in 1920, the painter moved back to Italy, then to France, together with his wife and son. Both he and Soare received recognition for their work; this period was ended abruptly when both Soare and Solaro died. Involved in a legal conflict with his mother, Alexis quit Romania for good, and established a new Macedonski branch upon marrying his French student, Simonne Friant. They lived with their two daughters at Pollença, on the island of Mallorca, until being chased out by the Spanish Civil War. At that stage of his life, Alexis became a supporter of the Nationalist faction, an admirer of Italian fascism, and an affiliate of the Crusade of Romanianism. He returned to Mallorca after it had been secured by Francoist Spain, living there throughout World War II, and down to 1959. Although his second daughter Florita became successful early on, as both a painter and poet, the Macedonskis were destitute, and eventually had to move to the mainland. Alexis was cut off from Romania, which was taken over by a communist regime, though he maintained friendly contacts with some in the anti-communist Romanian diaspora, including the poet-diplomat Aron Cotruș. The artist died in Tarragona in 1971.
Early life and first departure
The painter was born into a clan of Balkan origin. Their exact ethnic background is disputed, with most theories converging on their identification as Serbs; conflicting hypotheses see them as Bulgarian or Aromanian. Though spuriously claiming descent from Polish nobility, their first attested patriarch was the early-19th-century insurgent Dimitrie Macedonski, who had settled in Wallachia upon crossing the Danube. Alexis once presented himself as entitled to the Biberstein coat of arms. He later accepted his southern lineage, placing his ultimate origins in Macedonia, but also claimed that the family had branches in much of Europe. Alexis' paternal grandfather, also named Alexandru, was a general in the military forces of the United Principalities; his wife, Maria Fisența, had been adopted into Wallachian boyardom, and owned estates in Oltenia.Alexis was the eldest of five surviving children from Alexandru Jr's marriage to Ana Rallet Slătineanu, who was from an "extremely wealthy" family. Through Ana, the painter was the nephew of jurists George and Manolache Slătineanu. He himself believed that, on this Wallachian side, he descended from the ancient House of Basarab, and, "through women", from the Cantemirești. Affectionately nicknamed "Puiu", Alexis was born in Bucharest in 1884 or 1885. This was some three years ahead of his brother Nikita. Disgraced nationally for diatribes against the ailing Mihai Eminescu, Macedonski Sr had resettled in France during the early 1880s, but had returned to Bucharest in January 1885. Upon announcing Alexis' birth in his Literatorul journal, Alexandru also placed a wager that his first-born would grow up into a "famous painter". Both boys received training in visual arts, though Nikita was primarily known for inventing and trying to market a synthetic version of nacre. A much younger brother, Pavel, was an actor; he also tried his hand at writing poetry and novels, but received bad reviews for such work. Their sister, Ana "Nina", was not involved in literary life other than as the wife of poet Mihail Celarianu. Finally, the youngest Macedonski son, Constantin-Hyacint or "Dinu", also trained and worked as an actor.
File:Alexandru Macedonski, Alexis & Oreste Georgescu.JPG|thumb|upright=1.56|left|Alexis with Alexandru Macedonski and his sister's fiance, Oreste Georgescu
As once noted by Alexandru Macedonski's friend Eugeniu Sperantia, Alexis both resembled and imitated his father, but "without knowing how to cover up in that same tact the measure of his pride", and without achieving in art what his father had accomplished in poetry. He is believed to have been enlisted by Alexandru at the Bucharest School of Fine Arts, but without bothering to attend classes. In March 1903, he joined his father's initiative committee, which gathered funds for a bust of the deceased Symbolist Iuliu Cezar Săvescu. The young man probably spent the years 1904–1907 in Paris. Art historian Vasile Georgescu Paleolog reports that he was enlisted at, or merely attending, the Beaux-Arts de Paris, in the company of other Romanians—including Constantin Brâncuși, Theodor Pallady, Eustațiu Stoenescu, Camil Ressu, and Constantin Ganesco. In 1905, he had moved to Italy: he was lodging in Florence, accompanied for a while by his father and by the musicologist Jules Combarieu. He then also befriended the Swiss artist Alexandre Cingria, who was in correspondence with Macedonski Sr. To 1909, he also attended the Accademia di Belle Arti. A chronicle in La Patria newspaper reserved praise for his religious art and his genre painting.
A disciple of Alexandru Macedonski, the poet Donar Munteanu, believes that the son and father were together on the extended trip to Italy: after having two of his paintings purchased by Anastase Simu, Alexis had also received a scholarship from the Romanian Ministry of Education; he then "grew accustomed" to the Italian life. During this interval, he provided the cover illustration his father's Symbolist erotic novel, Thalassa, on its French edition of 1906. This drawing impressed one of Thalassas French reviewers, Jules Bois, since "Alexis Macedonski has shed light on Alexandru Macedonski's fickle, dusky pages." Sperantia suggests that, while not great, the illustration also attested to Alexis' skill and imagination; writer and jurist Alexandru Bilciurescu, who was acquainted with Macedonski Sr, sees it as fitting for the narrative. At around that time, Alexis was romantically pursuing the female artist Lucia Dem. Bălăcescu, who did not reciprocate his affection. She left scathing memoirs of their encounters, questioning Alexis' competence as a painter.
In 1910–1912, the young artist was again living in Paris. He rented a small studio at Rue Bonaparte No 19, where he also played host to his aging father. He had married in Florence the Argentine Francesca Puglia, known professionally as "Solaro". Their son was born in Paris, and given the "extravagant name" of Soare, which seemingly agreed with his mother's Spanish pseudonym. A guest at the Salon d'Automne, Alexis collected praise from various prestigious critics, including Paul Fort and Jean Richepin. In early 1911, the Société des Artistes Indépendants exhibited his Bible-themed canvass, "Paradise Lost", which was 3 meters tall and 3.6 meters wide, earning praise for his "extraordinary technique" from the French esotericist Joséphin Péladan. The exhibit also included three other of his works, including an apotheosis of his father. Its meaning was first revealed for the public by the Decadent poet Dumitru Karnabatt, in an article for Seara. His more conventional oil portrait of Macedonski Sr was reproduced on the cover of a 1912 poetry collection, Flori sacre. Sperantia notes that, while "idealized", the work had a "perfect resemblance" with the model.
Romanian career
Both Macedonskis ultimately returned in 1913, settling in Bucharest's Dorobanți ward. Alexis was then featured with his "Paradise Lost" at the Bucharest Official Salon in June—the work was panned by Flacăra magazine as "feeble", "lacking all seriousness", but was well-liked by Simu, who purchased it for his own permanent exhibit. Alexis was involved in decorating his father's new extravagant dwelling, which included a throne that he himself painted, inside a red velvet-draped hall. According to cultural sociologist Zigu Ornea, Alexis not only built up the whole interior, but also produced the synthetic gems that were handed out to young disciples during the salon sessions. The latter creations were of very poor quality, and "most of the time, would begin to crumble as soon as they were placed inside one's pocket." According to one anecdote, a young poet complained that he had received one such artifact as a prize, only to be informed by Alexandru that he could always pick out another gemstone from the crate. According to a later account by the art collector Pompiliu Macovei, Alexis' work on supporting his father's "Imperial Byzantine airs" also included samples of heraldic art. Upon hearing Horia Furtună recite from his poetry at the salon, Alexis was inspired to paint an Impressionistic nightscape. According to Sperantia, its "thick sadness" has little to do with Furtună's tone, and more in common with George Bacovia's funereal verse, possibly showing "the early signs of a secret depression occurring deep in the painter's heart."The two Macedonskis were sometimes joined in their creative project by Solaro; she helped them sculpt clay figurines and other pieces of furniture. Munteanu first met Alexis and his wife, as well as "their blond child, Soare" in 1914, when they picnicked together in downtown Bucharest. He believes that Alexis was less gifted a painter than Solaro, who was also a "superb brunette". From about 1913, their son had also taken up painting, primarily in watercolor, and was seen by critics such as Georges Charensol and Louis Vauxcelles as highly promising—on par with Pierre Laprade and Picasso's Blue Period. Another member of the Macedonskian circle, Adrian Maniu, calls him a "wonder child" of Romanian art.
By 1915, Alexandru was extending his Symbolist influence directly into the field of visual arts, through an "Idealists' Circle", formed in 1915. Adherents included Alexis and Solaro, alongside Elena Alexandrina Bednarik, Ignat Bednarik, Leon Biju, Horia Boambă, Constantin Iotzu, Alexandru Poitevin-Skeletti, Elena Popea, and Alexandru Severin. Alexis and Oreste Georgescu also debuted as theatrical producers, with a small company housed at Natura Coffeehouse. It was primarily dedicated to preserving the tradition of Nativity plays within the context of Romanian folklore. Solaro and Alexis exhibited together at the Independent Artists' Salon in January 1916. This event was covered by Barbu Brănișteanu of Adevărul daily, who viewed Alexis as the most accomplished painter of the independent group, admiring his "vigorous conception". He also remarked that Solaro was highly gifted, especially in her drawings. Another chronicle in the same newspaper expressed similar admiration for both artists, noting that Solaro's drawings were of a near-pictorial quality.
Shortly after, during the mid-and-late stages of World War I, father and son were separated. Alexandru chose to remain in place after the 1916 occupation of southern Romania, and gave his endorsement to the Central Powers. Alexis, who had expressed support for the Entente countries even during Romania's neutrality period, was instantly drafted and went to the front. He escaped with the bulk of the army into Western Moldavia, and, in June 1917, became a commissioned war artist, with the rank of Lieutenant and a permit allowing him to visit anywhere on the front. Agents of the Siguranța interrogated him about his acquaintance Toma Oprea, who was putting out a satirical magazine, Deșteptarea, which was viewed by the authorities as defeatist. Macedonski assured the policemen that Oprea was a "tranquil lad". That September, his paintings of battles were exhibited by the Romanian General Staff at the provisional capital of Iași, drawing praise from the art chroniclers at Neamul Românesc. He took part in other such shows during early 1918, earning respect for his Impressionist study, În patrulare. In April, he and Ressu helped establish there the Arta Română Society, whose other activists were Traian Cornescu, Ștefan Dimitrescu, Oscar Han, Cornel Medrea, Ion Theodorescu-Sion, and Nicolae Tonitza.