Lena Constante

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Lena Constante (born June 18, 1909 ; † November 2005 ) was a Romanian artist, writer and set designer. She is best known for her autobiographical works about her stay in political prison.

biography

Lena Constante was the daughter of the Aromanian journalist and diplomat Constantin Constante. She was one of three children of the Constante couple. Due to the diplomatic work of their father, the family fled to Iaşi in 1916 and moved to Odessa in 1918, whereupon they embarked on a trip to Greece, Russia and England and finally spent two years in Paris. In 1920 the family returned to Romania.

She studied art and sociology in Bucharest and in 1929 dealt with Romanian folk art in rural areas as part of field studies led by Dimitrie Gusti . She also met her future husband Harry Brauner, whom she married in 1963. Between 1934 and 1946 she presented her works of pictorial knitting in various art exhibitions in Bucharest and in 1947 in Ankara . From 1945 she worked as a set designer at the Țăndărică theater in Bucharest. There she worked with Elena Pătrăşcanu, the wife of the Minister of Justice Lucrețiu Pătrăşcanu . In 1949 she was arrested because she was in the circle of friends of Pătrăşcanu. In total, she was deprived of her freedom for 12 years. After five years of trial around the Justice Minister and his relatives, Lena Constante was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but was released early in July 1962. After her release, she works as an illustrator and doll maker. In 1968 she was politically rehabilitated under Nicolae Ceauşescu , like other politically branded friends in the Pătrăşcanus Circle.

In 1990 she published in the Parisian publishing house La Découverte the written in French factory L'Evasion silencieuse Trois mille jours seule dans les prisons roumaines , in German as the silent flight: Three thousand days alone in Romanian prisons in the publishing house Editions à la carte Zurich published which tells about the first three thousand days of her political imprisonment. L'Évasion silencieuse translated it with some changes into Romanian and in 1992 it was published in Bucharest by Humanitas Verlag with the title Evadarea Tăcută: 3000 de zile singură în închisorile din România. A year later the sequel Evadarea Imposibilă appeared in Romanian : Pentinenciarual politic de femei Miercurea-Ciuc 1957–1961 in Bucharest by Fundația Culturală Română.

In 1997 Thomas Ciulei released the film Facial Delusion (orig. Nebunia Capetelor), which takes up the theme of the book "The silent flight" and recapitulates the time in prison with Lena Constante in the leading role.

Works

  • Păpușile harnice (The Busy Dolls), Bucharest, 1972.
  • Păpușile harnice în grădiniță (The hard-working dolls in kindergarten), Bucharest, 1975.
  • L'Évasion silencieuse: Trois mille jours, seule, dans les prisons roumaines (The silent escape: three thousand days alone in Romanian prisons), Paris, 1990.
  • Evadarea Tăcută: 3000 de zile singură în închisorile din România (Romanian translation of L'Évasion silencieuse), 1992, Bucharest.
  • Evadarea Imposibilă: Pentinenciarual politic de femei Miercurea-Ciuc 1957–1961 (The impossible escape: The political women's prison in Miercurea Ciuc 1957–1961), Bucharest, 1993.
  • O poveste cu un tată, o mamă și trei fetițe (A story with a dad, a mom and three girls), Bucharest, 1995.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Codrut: Evadarea tăcută. 3000 de zile singură în închisorile din România, de Lena Constante. In: Recenzii filme si carti. April 24, 2013, accessed August 4, 2019 (ro-RO).
  2. ↑ a b c Codrut: Colindând prin Rusia Sovietică, de Constantin Constante. In: Recenzii filme si carti. March 29, 2011, accessed August 4, 2019 (ro-RO).
  3. ↑ Vă mai amintiţi de ... Lena Constante. June 7, 2011, accessed August 4, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b c Radio Romania International - Lena Constante - the grande dame of Romanian culture. Retrieved August 1, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Lena Constante. In: World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts. May 9, 2016, Retrieved August 4, 2019 (American English).
  6. ↑ a b Lena Constante | Humanitas. Retrieved August 18, 2019 .
  7. ↑ artechock film: REVIEW: Facial Delusion - Nebunia Capetelor. Retrieved August 1, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Constante, Lena
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Romanian artist, author and set designer
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1909
DATE OF DEATH November 2005