(..) Mihai Oroveanu, preşedintele Comisiei pentru Monumente de For Public din cadrul Ministerului Culturii, crede că „acuzaţia de plagiat formulată de Rumiana Mestrovic e neîntemeiată“
de Alexandra Olivotto in Cotidianul
Copyright © Cotidianul
articole mai vechi despre monumentul lui Carol I
Ping-pong cu Carol I între Primăria Capitalei şi Ministerul Culturii
de Alexandra Olivotto in Cotidianul
de Alexandra Olivotto in Cotidianul
Copyright © Cotidianul
de Alexandra Olivotto in Cotidianul
Copyright © Cotidianul
Posts
The splootin' squirrels of SoCal are keepin' cool
-
[image: Splooting squirrel]
Squirrels were melting into the ground during the last Southern California
heatwave.
Scientists explain "splooting" as rodents...
2 hours ago
4 comments:
Quotation:
" It was a good idea to restore the statue of Carol I, but the new one is a pure plagiarism. We can just compare the new equestrian statue with the old Mestrovici's monument and the original plaster kept in Zagreb...The Copyright law forbids not only illegal copies but as well plagiarizing. It is like Mestrovic after plastic surgery! Why the Bucharest Mayor simply did not commission from the Romanian sculptor a new equestrian statue - according to his vision, not as they said " Bucharest City Hall assigned the project to the sculptor Florin Codre, who is going to design an original statue of Carol inspired by Meštrović's model"? The "inspiration " is copying in a weird way the original, killing the style of Mestrovic and just using his name .
My comment is not against the idea of having the statue of Regele Carol I. But the proper thing was to restore the real monument and one day Bucharest to get a new cast of statue of Ferdinand , destroyed also in 1948, even better and bigger statue of Mestrovici, who besides was a close friend of Carol II. The work of Florin Codre disgraces the art taste of Romanians. It is a shame if an individual plagiarizes, but when the State does it is a shock. How can the Government expect the ordinary Romanian citizens to obey the laws? Now the citizens of Bucharest got a fake monument with " glittering make up ", instead of something of a real historical and artistic value. Instead of stressing the symbol- to restore what the Communists destroyed and melted to use for a statue of Lenin ! Now at Piaţa Revoluţiei one sees the quasi-statue of the movie director Codre who is know only for sculpted Avram Iancu in Targu Mures in 1978 again " renewing" other people's art rather than creating his own. I don't think too much of an artist who will at age of 65 rather copy and imitate another artist than to make his own piece of art.
One of the aspects of the democracy is respect for the law. So I simply wonder why it was necessary to make a forgery and a plagiarism instead of creating something new or restoring the old statue from the 3 meters perfectly preserved original plaster ? And if some new equestrian statue was to be commissioned why such a "sculptor " was chosen instead of some illustrious Romanian name?
I am not a blood relative of Ivan Mestrovic , not even Croatian. I am of a Bulgarian-German descent , professor of Classical languages, specialized in Roman Law and World Heritage. My husband is Prof. Dr. Matthew Mestrovic , the son of Ivan Mestrovic. Matthew spent all his life in the U.S. since his father run away from Yugoslavia because of the Communist. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University in Modern European History . He was a Contributing Editor of ”TIME” magazine and for decades university professor of Modern European history. He was the president of the Croatian National congress, a deputy in the Croatian Parliament , member of Croatia’s delegation to the Council of Europe and the Interparliamentary Union and Croatian ambassador in Bulgaria . So he doesn't lack the level for proper communication with the Romanian state . But...
We got a letter from the Ministry of Culture, from Secretary of State Virgil Stefan Nitulescu in August 2006 and in July 2006 from Andrew Popper, Master of HM King Michael’s Household, Elisabeth Palace. We immediately responded and since then we never heard from the Ministry of Culture. So we though that the Romanian Government for some reason gave up the project... until now when we saw this plagiarism. We were never contacted by the Mayor of Bucharest .
The plasters of Carol and Ferdinand in excellent shape are still kept in the Zagreb Gliptoteka. The copyright belongs still to us , the Mestrovic heirs . There was even a Romanian state delegation to Zagreb and they saw the original two equestrian status but never even invited the Mestrovic heirs for a meeting or a discussion.
I thought it was important for the Romanian people to see that the democratic Romanian state is restoring the values lost under the Communism ...Thank you for time spent reading my message.
My kind regards, Prof. Rumiana Mestrovic rumi@net.hr "
Quoting a letter to Florin Codre who sent some impersonal email:
" Dear Mr. Codre,
I am sorry that you reacted in the way you did without explaining your motivation or trying to establish a civilized dialogue, which I would have done if I knew your email address. Since you obviously have my email address I am surprised that you are sending me only an impersonal message and photos .
Anyway, thank you for the pictures of you art. Unfortunately I can't open the attached documents.
I hope you know English well enough to understand my point of view in connection with your statue of HM Carol I , which is "inspired" or "modeled " after my late father-in-law Ivan Mestrovic. My subjective and professional opinion is that we are facing a plagiarism , which violates the Copyright Law and the collegiality among artists .
Besides , especially now, when I saw quite a number of your sculptures , I am absolutely convinced that you and Mestrovic are very different in your artistic expression , conceptions and style. So even if it was not the legal problem of violating the copyright (by redoing or changing an original work of another artist without his consent or the consent of his heirs as copyright holders) , you , dear Mr. Codre, were not the best choice for reconstructing the original Mestrovic's monument of HM Carol I of 1939 , since you aesthetical expression and style is completely different .You were much better off to create a totally new statue of HM Carol I , in harmony with your artistic inspiration and synchronized with your time, taste and tradition of sculpting .
I am not going to discuss the political issues involved , because it is not my business. I am underlining the fact that I am a strong supporter of the idea of erecting monuments to HM Carol I , to HM Ferdinand and other great figures from the Romanian history whom the Communist tried to delete from the peoples memory and hearts .
I am not discussing also the subject whether I like or dislike your art . This is irrelevant for the issue we discuss. All the more ,
I am sure you know the Latin expression "De gustibus et coloribus non est desputandum" ...
Even if the Mayor of Bucharest had commissioned the "remake" of Mestrovic's statue to Mark di Suvero, Robert Indiana, Ion Irimescu, Arnaldo Pomodoro or Vezhdi Rashidov (I admire them all ) still I would have not taken it as a good choice or adequate solution, for the same reasons , for which I am opposed to your reconstruction of HM Carol I or what ever you call it.
I hope that my attached letter , addressed to some Romanian intellectuals will be useful for you in a deeper reflection .
Sincerely,Prof.Rumiana Mestrovic "
Quoatation , e letter to Alexandra Olivotto :
"Dear Mrs. Olivotto,
Thank you for the prompt reaction to my email and your article Carol I, acuzat de plagiat of 08 Mai 2008
http://www.cotidianul.ro/carol_i_acuzat_de_plagiat-45386.html
I understand that for the media is not an easy job to present everybody's point of a view . My husband had even deeper sympathy for the difficulties you face in your daily work since he was your colleague ( he was a Contributing Editor of ”TIME” magazine in the USA ).
I am standing behind all written in my previous letter to you . Nobody can claim that there were any negotiation with the heirs that jointly hold the copyright of all Mestrovici art till 2032...Since we received only one letter from the Ministry of Culture from Secretary of State Virgil Stefan Nitulescu in August 2006 to which we immediately responded and since then we never heard from the Ministry of Culture. Nobody ever contacted us later from the Romanian Embassy here or from the Romanian Ministry of Culture - no phone calls, no faxes, no emails , nothing ! So we concluded that a Romanian sculptor will create a totally new equestrian statue. If you are interested I can fax you the single letter that we ever got from Mr.Nitulescu .
The approx. 3 m. high plasters of HM Carol I and HM Ferdinand ( even higher and more expressive) are still kept in the Zagreb Gliptoteka in perfect shape . The delegation of the Romanian Ministry of culture came to see them in 2005 and nobody from the heirs was even invited to be present at this vent according to the protocol and the bon ton ... We were never contacted by the Mayor of Bucharest who commissioned the statue to Mr. Codre . We do not insist of restoring the destroyed Mestrovic statues, but we do not agree his art to be plagiarized, deformed or abused . Let Mr. Codre make a dozen of Carol I statues ( as the one just unveiled in Calarasi) if he wants and desires , but let it be clear that his creations have nothing to do with Ivan Mestrovic...My best regards , Rumiana Mestrovic "
Dear Supporters of the project of reconstructing the original Ivan Mestrovic's statues of the Romanian Kings HM Carol I and HM Ferdinand ,
Today's ( 20 May 2008 ) Croatian daily "Vecernji list" ( "Evening paper") published an article by Denis Derk * concerning the Romanian project in question. The journalist is quoting an official letter that "Vecernji list" received last Friday (16 05 2008 ) from the cabinet of Minister Bozo Biskupic ( Ministry of Culture of Croatia ) in which it is stated :
" The Ministry of Culture of Croatia , upon the request from the Romanian side , helped in the establishment of contacts with the heirs ( of Ivan Mestrovic) , all the subsequent negotiations about eventual casting were conducted with the heirs". Other words the Croatian Minister of Culture asserts that the Romanian Minister of Culture is not telling the truth when making false claimed in Cotidianul ** and elsewhere.
I don't want to judge who is telling the truth, but the four heirs with equal rights , esp. copyright holders were never offered by the Croatian Minister of Culture millions of Euro , as the Romanian Minister of Culture claimed and the claim of Minister Adrian Iorgulescu is officially denied by the Croatian Minister of Culture . Minister Adrian Iorgulescu also have never offered the four heirs any money , let alone millions , nor did hi undertake any negotiations. Let the two Ministers sort out who is inventing information and let them prove it with documents.
Obviously the Ministry of Culture of Croatia denies any negotiations with Mestrovic's heirs. That implies that any negotiations must have been conducted only by MCC of Romania . Let MCC produce evidence when they offered any specific copyright compensation ! And if they claim that one of the Mestrovic's heirs refused their 4 million Euro offer , let them name him. Besides MCC should know that this can not be legal as any negotiations had to be conducted with all the four holders.
I underline - the four Mestrovici heirs never asked nor were offered any monetary compensation by MCC ! MCC never conducted any negotiations . Prof. Dr. Matthew Mestrovic , the son of the sculptor , welcomed the reconstruction of the two equestrian statues of HM Carol I and HM Ferdinand by immediately answering the only letter of MCC of 11 August 2006 ( identical letters were sent to the other three heirs) from Secretary of State Virgil Stefan Nitulescu(MCC), expressing the intension to re-erect the two statues- of HM Carol I and HM Ferdinand ***. MCC never replied...
So why it is so important for Minister Adrian Iorgulescu to hide the fact and to feed the Romanian people with false information ?
After August 2006 , since Prof. M. Mestrovic thought that MCC has serious intentions, he consulted some lawyers to clarify the real situation with the copyright of the two equestrian statues of HM Carol I and HM Ferdinand and it turned out that irrespective of the ownership of the two models any reconstruction had to be with the approval of all four heirs ( MCC knew this fact from the Mestrovic Foundation or Museums) .
* Denis.Derk@vecernji.net
** Carol I, acuzat de plagiat, 08 Mai 2008 Alexandra Olivotto : „Am avut chiar o discuţie cu guvernul croat, s-au oferit chiar să plătească ei drepturile pentru statuia lui Carol I, deci nu e o problemă de bani, chit că îi dăm noi, chit că îi dau ei. Însă unii dintre cei patru moştenitori ai sculptorului refuză să vândă drepturile, iar tranzacţia trebuie făcută cu toţi deodată“, a explicat pentru Cotidianul ministrul Culturii, Adrian Iorgulescu." www.cotidianul.ro/carol_i_acuzat_de_plagiat-45386.html
*** "...I will be glad to discuss directly with the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs of Romania the matter of restoring the statue of King Carol at its location in Bucharest. Allow me to add that I was delighted to hear again about the initiative of the Romanian government . On several occasions in the past, when I was a member of the Croatian parliament and was in Bucharest, and while I was the Croatian ambassador in Bulgaria, Romanian officials raised the issue of the restoration of the destroyed monuments, but at that time there was no concrete issue... "
Obviously a serious pile of lies was a good base to build on the plagiarism of Florin Codre ...
Post a Comment