Geta Brătescu: Google Doodle to celebrate Romanian artist on her 95th birthday

Happy Birthday, Geta Brătescu!

Today’s doodle celebrates multidisciplinary Romanian artist Geta Brătescu on her 95th birthday. Credited as one of the first conceptual artists in Romania, Brătescu rose to international prominence with a series of exhibitions celebrating her prolific career in the 80s. the beautiful doodle is illustrated by Bucharest-based guest artist Irina Selaru.

Geta Brătescu (Georgeta Ann Comanescu)was born on 4 May 1926 in the north of the capital city of Bucharest in Ploiești, Romania. She studied at the Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest, between 1945 and 1949 under George Călinescu and Tudor Vianu and at the Academy of Fine Arts under Camil Ressu.

Geta Brătescu was expelled from the latter before completing her degree due to the rise of the Communist party - since her parents owned property, she was deemed 'of bad origins'. In 1969 she returned to university and studied at the Institute of Fine Arts "Nicolae Grigorescu" until 1971. She studied literature alongside art, and a close relationship between art and writing is present in much of her work.

Geta Brătescu worked as a children’s book illustrator in the 1950s, and later in the decade joined the Union of Fine Artists, a state organization through which she traveled the country to sketch Romanians in their everyday lives. A testament to her talent in design, in the early ‘60s she was named the artistic director of the prestigious literary magazine Secolul 20.

But it was in the studio that Brătescu created much of her best-known work across a variety of mediums, including drawing, photography, film, and collages of commonplace materials. She was known for tackling themes like the relationship between art and life with characteristic dry humor, though she frequently resisted categorization of her work. In 1978, Brătescu opened up her space and process to the world in one of her most famous works, the meta black-and-white film, “Atelierul” (“The Studio”).

In 2017, at the twilight of her seven-decade-long career, Brătescu was given the honor to represent Romania at the prestigious Venice Biennale, and in the same year, she was awarded the Ordinul Naţional “Steaua României” (National Order of the “Star of Romania”), the country’s highest civilian honor.

Here's to you, Geta Brătescu!

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