Partner Alexandra Colanoski,
Alexandru Brătășanu
Queer Places:
Strada Știrbei Vodă 36, București 030167, Romania
Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești (born Alexandru Bogdan, also known as Ion Doican, Ion Duican and Al. Dodan; June 13, 1870 – May 12, 1922) was a Romanian Symbolist poet, essayist, and art and literary critic, who was also known as a journalist and left-wing political agitator. A wealthy landowner, he invested his fortune in patronage and art collecting, becoming one of the main local promoters of modern art, and a sponsor of the Romanian Symbolist movement. Together with other Post-Impressionist and Symbolist cultural figures, Bogdan-Pitești established Societatea Ileana, which was one of the first Romanian associations dedicated to promoting the avant-garde and independent art. He was also noted for his friendship with the writers
Joris-Karl Huysmans, Alexandru Macedonski, Tudor Arghezi and Mateiu Caragiale, as well as for sponsoring, among others, the painters Ștefan Luchian, Constantin Artachino and Nicolae Vermont. In addition to his literary and political activities, Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești was himself a painter and graphic artist.
Much of Bogdan-Pitești's controversial political career, inaugurated by his support for anarchism, was dedicated to activism and support for revolution. He also had an interest in the occult, and maintained close contacts with Joséphin "Sâr" Péladan—sponsoring Péladan's journey to Bucharest (1898). He was detained by the authorities at various intervals, including an arrest for sedition during the 1899 election, and was later found guilty of having blackmailed the banker Aristide Blank. Late in his life, he led Seara, a Germanophile daily, as well as a literary and political circle which came to oppose Romania's entry into World War I on the Entente Powers' side. He was arrested one final time upon the end of the war, by which time he had become the object of public hatred. The enduring mysteries and contradictions of Bogdan-Pitești's career have since drawn interest from several generations of art and literary historians.
Circa 1908, the Bogdan-Pitești villa on Bucharest's Știrbey-Vodă Street (near the Cișmigiu Gardens) began hosting regular gatherings of intellectuals.[4][39] Among those who attended in successive stages were the writers Macedonski, Eftimiu, Tudor Arghezi, Mateiu Caragiale, Benjamin Fondane, Gala Galaction, George Bacovia, Ion Minulescu, Claudia Millian, N. D. Cocea, Ion Vinea, F. Brunea-Fox, Eugeniu Ștefănescu-Est, A. de Herz, Ion Călugăru, and Adrian Maniu.[4][66] It also hosted the artists Luchian, Artachino, Verona, Maxy, Iser, Steriadi, Dimitrescu, Pallady, Ressu, Dărăscu, Nina Arbore, Constantin Brâncuși, Constantin Medrea, Dimitrie Paciurea, Maria Ciurdea Steurer, Oscar Han, Nicolae Tonitza, Ion Theodorescu-Sion, Friedrich Storck and Cecilia Cuțescu-Storck, as well as Abgar Baltazar, Alexandru Brătășanu, Alexandru Poitevin-Skeletti, George Demetrescu Mirea, Rodica Maniu, and Marcel Janco.[4][67] Also in 1908, following Iser's proposal, Bogdan-Pitești sponsored a Bucharest exhibit showcasing works by the renowned European painters Demetrios Galanis, Jean-Louis Forain and André Derain.[68]
A dandy, Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești himself led a life of luxury, marked by excess, and had by then become a drug addict.[50][76] He was a proud homosexual (or bisexual), which did not prevent him from keeping as his concubine a younger woman, commonly referred to as Domnica ("Little Lady") or Mica ("Little One").[77] Born
Alexandra Colanoski, she was born in 1894 to Romanian Poles from Bessarabia,[78] and, according to memoirist Constantin Beldie, had previously been a prostitute at a nightclub.[39]
Herself a libertine, Domnica was described by researchers as an androgynous or cross-dressing presence.[79] To other members of the Știrbey-Vodă circle, painter-designer
Alexandru Brătășanu was introduced as Bogdan-Pitești's male lover. Theirs was a "degenerate" affair, according to Oscar Han; Han also quotes Bogdan-Pitești's admiration for the male body, including male genitalia, as the only physical beauties which could withstand time.[80]
The relationship between Mateiu Caragiale and his one-time patron has attracted special interest from period historians. Early on, the aspiring poet wrote a special piece in honor of his senior friend—called Dregătorul ("The Mandarin"), it is included in one of Bogdan-Pitești's albums.[78] That accord degenerated during the late 1910s, to the point where Caragiale, whose diary spoke of Bogdan-Pitești's homosexuality in dismissive terms (calling him "a blusterer of the anti-natural vice"), laid out a plan to loot the Știrbey-Vodă Street villa.[123] According to the same author, Bogdan-Pitești turned to passive homosexuality because he was impotent.[124] Caragiale's diary also sketched a portrait of Domnica Bogdan, questioning her morality in harsh terms.[76][125]
Until the end of his life, Bogdan-Piteşti collected in his house from Ştirbei Vodă Street no. 36 (today demolished), more than 1,500 paintings, graphic works and sculptures created by the most renowned Romanian contemporary artists. His collection was complemented by a significant number of icons, old cult objects, old books, ex-libris and pieces of folk art. He died on March 25th 1922 without leaving any testament, despite his expressed intention of transforming his collection into a museum.
“The Bogdan-Piteşti House! Since his death have completely disappeared those few square meters which represented Paris and Athens in the heart of Bucharest,” mentioned a couple of years later the famous writer, Gala Galaction, while nostalgically talking about the moments spent with the collector and his group of friends.
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