The British artist Beverley-Jane Stewart draws inspiration from the Jewish heritage of Romania, where she traces her roots. A collection of her paintings, etchings, and drawings was shown in October at the George Apostu Art Museum in Bacău, Romania as an exhibit titled Romanian Heritage – A Journey in Time, curated by Cleopatra Lorintiu and Vera Pilpoul. “Stewart weaves a temporal collage-like narrative within her non-linear painterly world,” Lorintiu said at the opening. “[…] In her most personal pieces, past and present coexist: the colourless, fading past sits alongside the vibrantly colourful present, reflecting Stewart’s meditations on time, memory, and legacy.” In this personal essay, Stewart writes about her relationship with Jewish Romania, past and present, and discusses some of the individual works of art in the exhibit. (The cover picture, “Echoes of the Baal Shem Tov,” evokes the city of Piatra Neamt and its “Baal Shem Tov wooden synagogue.)
Romanian Heritage – A Journey in Time
By Beverley-Jane Stewart
November 11, 2024
Everyone owns a unique history, and I have always believed that the past plays a crucial role in shaping one’s identity. For me, this is expressed through my brushstrokes and lines. My maternal grandparents, Romanian Jews, immigrated to Britain in the early 1900s. Although they left behind family in Botoșani, Romania, they maintained communication until World War II. My grandparents brought with them a rich Romanian culture—its vibrant colours, music, cuisine, and literature. My Jewish and cultural identity has always been intertwined, and Romania became the inspiration for my exploration of the roots of my artistic heritage.
When I first arrived in Romania, I was captivated by the juxtaposition of modern life and historic tradition. Towns surrounded by breathtaking countryside, with strong, radiant light illuminating exotic church and temple architecture, stood in contrast to communist-era apartment blocks. The landscape was an expanse of lush green Carpathian hills and sparkling blue streams. This led me to return several times over a three-year period, and with each visit my connections with Romania’s rich secular and Jewish history increased. It inspired me to document its changing landscape in a way that still reflected the connections with my Jewish Eastern European roots; it was therefore the synagogues—both active and abandoned—which served as central symbols in my paintings, reflecting the deep cultural and communal ties that continue to inspire and shape my artistic journey.
As I delved deeper into the Jewish story, I interviewed Jewish community members, explored monuments, cemeteries, and synagogues—some hidden, some restored—across Romanian cities.
The synagogues buildings often revealed intricate painted ceilings, geometric frescoes, and vibrant stained-glass windows. The juxtaposition of rich traditions and contemporary progress stimulated my creative process. In my paintings, brimming with texture and colour, I sought to capture these contrasts, while my etchings convey the melancholia of forgotten memories and decaying buildings. I found echoes of my grandfather’s woodcarvings on gravestones in Botoșani’s cemeteries, as well as in the decorative motifs of Romanian synagogues—motifs my grandmother had woven into her tapestries.
One piece, ‘A Jewish Story of Remembrance in Alba Iulia’, depicts the modern Jewish cemetery in Alba Iulia, where many prominent members of the community were buried, in particular, the Gluck family. They were wealthy landowners and lived in the Gizella Palace, in the centre of town. In the cemetery there is a Mausoleum which is dedicated as a burial building for the family; the interior is decorated with portraits of family members. In my composition, the background is an oil painting; bursting with colour it shows a modern scene of the cemetery. Imposed on top of this image, which becomes part of the foreground, is an etched clear Perspex surface retelling Alba Iulia Jewish history, illustrating the Gluck farm lands and the old synagogue. This layering technique reflects the interplay between past and present — a theme that runs through much of my work.
In “Sighet: The Light Beyond,” I explore Sighet, once a Hasidic shtetl and home to Elie Wiesel. My pyrography (scorching the wood surface with a hot wire) depicts the past, and the painful memory of the town’s Jewish population deported during the Holocaust, while the present-day town is painted in vibrant colours. The past fades into delicate linear drawings, reminding us of the fragility of memory, which so easily can be burnt out.
During my travels I also visited Botoșani, where my great-grandfather lived and which was once a thriving Jewish community surrounded by large powerful forests. He was a master carpenter, and his craft has echoed through my family. This legacy inspired me to engrave scorched lines creating my own 2D wooden images onto wood, and to contrast this evocation of the past with brush strokes of bright colours, expressing an optimistic future.
In many of my large paintings I continue to contrast time by experimenting with raw and primed canvas. Dulled on a darkened surface, black lines represent faded moments while the primed areas are energised by the force of the bright hues of the paint.
During my stay in Bacau at the opening of the exhibition, I was able to visit the restored Grain Merchants’ Synagogue in the centre of the city. (In this region synagogues attendance was grouped by trades and this Bacau synagogue attracted grain merchants. ) We had a personal guide and lecture, from a member of the Bacau Jewish Community and the local Museum. I was impressed that the Bacau Municipality appreciated and embraced the diversity of lifestyles that historically had developed within their town.
A beautiful colourful building, the synagogue contrasts sharply with the shabby old communist blocks which conceal its existence. Entering it was like emerging into another time zone. This building was heavily damaged by a fire in the 1920s but now has been restored to its former beauty. Both here and in my grandparent’s birthplace, Botosani the synagogue walls and ceilings are decorated with animal motifs, and though not regularly used it represents a time when the Jewish community was very active in the area.
Exploring Jewish heritage in this country made me very aware of how much Jews were part of the Romanian culture expressed through their homes, buildings and trades.
Romania was the country where I had inherited my creative talents, and I appreciate those who made it possible for me to exhibit at The Central De Cultura “George Apostu” Museum in Bacau. The hospitality I experienced has inspired me to progress with future artistic endeavours.
As I said at the exhibition opening in October: “my grandparents left Romania in fear, not knowing their future, and I have been able to return, not only with confidence but gaining a respect for the artistry that I had inherited through my roots.”
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Beverley-Jane Stewart is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of Croydon Art Society for professional artists. She regards herself as a visual writer, or storyteller, and in her work looks in intricate detail at how Jewish heritage operates in contemporary multi-cultural society, fusing facts with emotions. See more at her web site www.beverleyjanestewart.com