Ovidiu Maitec 100 a centenary exhibition at the

Brukenthal Museum in Sibiu, starting June 20, 2025

On the occasion of the centenary of artist Ovidiu Maitec’s birth (1925 - 2025), the Brukenthal National Museum in Sibiu, Romania, in collaboration with the Maitec Association, is organizing the exhibition Ovidiu Maitec 100, running from June 20 to August 30, 2025.

Hosted at the Brukenthal National Museum – Brukenthal Palace in Sibiu’s Main Square (Piața Mare), the exhibition is a comprehensive retrospective dedicated to one of the most important Romanian sculptors of the 20th century.

Ovidiu Maitec 100 is part of the Brukenthal Exhibition Season at FITS – the Sibiu International Theater Festival – and will present, for the first time together, representative works from his entire creative career. These works are currently held in Romanian art museums, in the artist's family collection, and in private collections.

            “The organization this year in Romania, at the Brukenthal National Museum, of an exhibition dedicated to the artist Ovidiu Maitec stands as one of the most important exhibition events in Sibiu in 2025. The exhibition, held on the occasion of the centenary of the artist’s birth (1925–2025), brings to Sibiu a series of works from the collections of several museums across the country. Known as one of the most important artists of the 20th century and internationally recognized as an innovator in sculpture, a university professor, and a full member of the Romanian Academy, Ovidiu Maitec passed away in 2007 - the very year when Sibiu became the European Capital of Culture. This year, marking 100 years since his birth, with the support of his heirs, artists Dana and Stéphane Maitec, a significant part of the master’s body of work will be presented to the public. The exhibition also introduces a premiere among the exhibitions dedicated to Maitec: a unique curatorial vision by Irina Ungureanu Sturza, who aims to create a dialogue and portray a life dedicated to sculpture. The show includes some of the artist’s most important works, currently housed in institutions such as the National Theatre in Bucharest, the National Museum of Art of Romania, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Visual Art in Galați, the Royal Family Collection, the Brukenthal National Museum, and others. The Ovidiu Maitec 100 exhibition is also part of the third edition of the Brukenthal Exhibition Season at FITS (Sibiu International Theatre Festival), an event that began in 2023 thanks to the dialogue I had with Mr. Constantin Chiriac and the beginning of a close collaboration between the Brukenthal National Museum, the Radu Stanca National Theatre, and FITS. I would like to thank the heirs Dana and Stéphane Maitec for their extraordinary involvement, Ms. Oana Zaharia, Director of the National Heritage Institute, and Her Excellency, Ms. Ioana Bivolaru, Romania’s Ambassador to Paris”, said Alexandru Constantin Chituță, Director of Exhibition Projects at the Brukenthal National Museum.

Regarded as the most powerful spiritual heir of Brâncuși and the artist who succeeded in bringing light into wood - as Mircea Eliade once described him - Ovidiu Maitec was born in 1925 in Arad. He graduated from the “Nicolae Grigorescu” Institute of Fine Arts in Bucharest in 1950. In the early 1960s, he was carving “a kind of wall, gate, or bird,” a work in which wooden perforations - his future signature sculptural innovation - first appeared.

Against the backdrop of a period of modest liberalization in Communist Romania, Maitec had a number of international encounters and exhibitions that changed the course of his career. Following his participation in the Venice Biennale in 1968, he met the visionary Scottish gallerist Richard Demarco. After visiting Maitec’s studio in Romania that same year, Demarco wrote: “Maitec’s wooden sculptures, like angels, inhabit his studio as powerfully as any human presence.” At Demarco’s invitation, Maitec exhibited at the Edinburgh Festival in 1971, in the show Romanian Art Today, alongside fellow artists of his generation. Three years later, he held a solo exhibition at the Demarco Gallery.

The 1970s marked the peak of Maitec’s career. He held four solo exhibitions in the UK, which received remarkable coverage in the contemporary press. It was during this time that he met collector Jim Ede, founder of Kettle’s Yard Museum and a founding member of the Tate Gallery in London. Jim Ede acquired the work Angels, which subsequently entered the Tate Gallery collection, along with other sculptures now housed at Kettle’s Yard, as noted by Irina Ungureanu Sturza, the exhibition curator.

This international recognition continued with Maitec’s participation in three more editions of the Venice Biennale (1976, 1980, 1995), solidifying his status as a major figure in postwar Romanian sculpture. Over the years, Maitec exhibited in major galleries and museums in Romania and abroad, and his works are now found in prestigious public and private collections.

The 1989 Revolution marked a tragic turning point in his artistic journey. His studio on Pangrati Street in Bucharest, near the Romanian Television building, was destroyed in a fire caused by gunfire during the uprising. Approximately 70 works - wood and bronze sculptures - along with his tools and archives, were consumed by flames. This traumatic experience was transfigured in his later works, which became dominated by austere forms - sarcophagi, containers, benches - where the light openings closed off, as if the artist had sealed the meaning of sacrificing his own work, paradoxically in the very days when communism fell in Romania. Following an invitation from the French Ministry of Culture, Maitec moved to Paris, where he continued to work until his death in 2007.

In an effort to symbolically reassemble the remaining legacy of Ovidiu Maitec’s oeuvre, the exhibition will present, for the first time together, a selection of representative works from his entire career. These pieces are currently housed in Romanian art museums, in the artist's family collection, and in private collections. The exhibition traces the evolution of the formal language Maitec developed – gates, balance beams, radars, wings, thrones, pillars, columns, birds, hedgehogs, or containers – highlighting the originality with which he imbued his works with a timeless monumentality, while simultaneously connecting them to the postwar neo-avant-garde and his fascination with the contemporary technological revolution.

Curator: Irina Ungureanu Sturza

Coordinator Brukenthal National Museum: dr. Alexandru Constantin Chituță

Partner museums: Brukenthal National Museum, the National Museum of Art of Romania, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, the “Vasile Pârvan” Museum in Bârlad, the Museum of Visual Art in Galați, the Art Museum in Tulcea, the Museum of Archaeology, History and Art in Buzău, the County Art Museum “Baia Mare Artistic Center,” and the “Carol I” Brăila Museum. In addition, significant contributions come from the National Theatre Bucharest and the Foundation of the Royal Family of Romania Collection.

The exhibition will be open at the Brukenthal National Museum, Piața Mare no. 4, Sibiu, from June 20 to August 30, 2025.          

Opening: Thursday, June 26, 2025, at 2:00 PM.  
Visiting hours: Wednesday to Sunday, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

The Ovidiu Maitec 100 project is organized by the Maitec Association, through the artist’s heirs, Dana & Stéphane Maitec, in partnership with the Brukenthal National Museum and the National Heritage Institute.

A cultural project co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. The project does not necessarily represent the official position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN shall not be held liable for the project's content or any use to which the project outcome might be put. These are the sole responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.