JEWISH AND ROMANIAN AVANTGARDISTS AND THE VISUAL POETRY: FROM TRADITION TO INNOVATION
JEWISH AND ROMANIAN AVANTGARDISTS AND THE VISUAL POETRY: FROM TRADITION TO INNOVATION

Summary/Abstract: ABSTRACT As a synaesthesic form of art, the visual poetry appeared and flourished on the borderline between fine arts and poetry. Did visual poetry of the European avantgarde appear ex abrupto et ex nihilo? I am not sure whether we can speak of a tradition in the plain sense of the term, but we can undoubtedly make reference to a series of archaic picto-poetic occurrences, composite works in which the sign and the letter, the drawing and the writing, interblend on the surface of the same page in order to enhance the expressive valence of the message. Suffice it to recall the old illuminated manuscripts, with ornaments and calligraphy in various inks and lettertypes; the tomb stelae and tomb slates, as well as the painted crosses; the different talismans or amulets etc. The majority of the Romanian avant-garde poets and artists were of Jewish origin: Tristan Tzara, Marcel Iancu (Janco), Victor Brauner, Ion Vinea, Ilarie Voronca, Isidore Isou etc. We cannot out-rule the possibility that some of them might have been influenced by the visual forms of ancient Jewish manuscripts and traditional wedding contracts (ketubot).

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