About
Quadro Gallery was founded in 2008, to address the need in Transylvania and in Cluj, for art galleries which operate commercially, but at the same time are guided by ’high’ artistic values.
Regional specific character
Our aim is to study, exhibit and re-evaluate works of art from Romania, with the emphasis on Transylvanian art. Although the high reputation of the Baia Mare School and of the artistic center of Cluj are quite well known, they are still under-represented internationally in museums and publications. In addition, there are still other several artistic centers to be discovered, as well as extraordinary individual artistic personalities.
Transylvanian artistic centers
The artistic center of Cluj is of particular importance, as it became the artistic center of Transylvania from the 1920’s onwards. The School of Fine Arts, and later the Institute of Arts of the city had a decisive influence on Transylvanian art. Many of its graduates settled in cities such as Timişoara, Braşov, Oradea, Satu Mare, Dej, Târgu Mureş, Sfântu Gheorghe – creating artistic centers with their own specific character. It was the painters, sculptors and graphic artists who were trained to a high level of professionalism, and indeed who were often professors themselves who came to dominate the visual arts during the socialist period, primarily within Romania. At the same time, however many important artists have remained at the margins of the system, in spite of their achievements. Our duty is to re-evaluate and to take a measured, historical approach to these artists. We wish to present to the public and to introduce into the commercial circulation, a series of works of which many are only known from obscure black and white reproductions in old exhibition catalogs. Our activity is based on the conviction that academic researchers can work in tandem with the art trade, to discover, reveal and establish valuable works of art. The research we undertake will present important information about the work of an artist, about his education, the evolution of his style, the stages in his career, the profoundness and the innovative character of his works, and the rarity of some pieces. This information is absolutely necessary on the art market, in order to establish a relation between value and price which is as fair as possible.
The role of the collector in art
We feel that both collectors and amateurs play important roles in the process of re-evaluating art. Beyond arguments and studies, they are the ones who truly appreciate one artist or another. The preferences and choices of the general public and collectors have had a pivotal influence on the course of the history of arts, as the cases of Rembrandt, Picasso or Bonnard – who have become reference points on the pages of history of arts, chiefly because they were supported and prized by collectors – can confirm.
The gallery’s space
Quadro Gallery is the largest private exhibition place in Cluj Napoca, situated in the historical center of the city, in the Rhédey Palace, where the first Hungarian theater in the city was established in 1792. We consider this symbolic of our commitment to being not only a commercial gallery, but also a cultural landmark on the map of Cluj, offering not only high quality exhibitions, art publications and meetings with artists and specialists, but also chamber music concerts and theatrical performances.
