Harry Stern and Architectural Modernism in Bucharest

The exhibition and symposium at the Technion focused on Bucharest's interwar modernism, on the contribution of Jewish architects to the development of architecture in Romania, in particular that of the architect Harry Stern.

The exhibition makes two important points about the approach and value of the research.

I. The importance of the approach: a historiography linked to the con-text in which the functional and material analysis is carried out, in addition to style. Thus, both locally and internationally, Harry Stern (1909-1954) is a little known Romanian-Jewish architect. A pinnacle of Romanian modernism, Stern played an important role, both as an architect and as an educator, active in interwar Bucharest until the early 1950s. Between 1941-1944 he headed the Department of Architecture at the Bercovici High School, a Jewish institution that operated during the war. In the context of Jewish history in Europe, the phenomenon of a legal institution in Bucharest is unique. Later, between 1952-1954, Stern was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Architecture in Bucharest.

This exhibition is the result of extensive research into the contribution of Jewish architects to the modernization of inter-war Bucharest, when the Romanian capital enjoyed an unprecedented cultural and eco-nomic boom. At the time, Harry Stern was practicing architecture, with many commissions, especially for residential buildings. Modernism in Bucharest, and thus Stern's architectural work, had a tempered stylistic character. The architect responded to the demands of the bourgeoisie in the French-influenced capital. After World War II and the change of political regime, Stern worked on larger projects as chief architect in collective government offices.

The exhibition presents three different sections: the context in Bucharest at the turn of the 20th century; the chronological phases of Stern's architectural work; and an exploration of his work through the photographic lens. Featuring existing buildings in Bucharest that were authored or co-authored by architect Harry Stern, the photographs are a visual interpretation of his work either as a whole or in detail. Stern's architecture is modernist, rigorous in its use of symmetry and the balance between full and empty, but also lyrical in the details and materials used, the finesse of the context and the functional resolution.

II. The value of architectural research is beyond historical canons. While there is always a widely accepted story of architecture, with its protagonists and their works, such a story must constantly be revisited, expanded, nuanced and critiqued. Harry Stern's project research adds to the Romanian historiography of architectural modernism. In addition, the study is a contribution to the international discourse on 'other modernisms' and forms a memorial to Stern's contribution to the almost forgotten Jewish institutions of higher education that operated in Bucharest during World War II.

The exhibition and symposium "Harry Stern and Architectural Modernism in Bucharest" took place at the Technion I.I.T. Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. The exhibition in the Peka Gallery is the result of the research of the master's thesis of the architect Simona Or-Munteanu, under the guidance of Prof. Iris Aravot, from the Technion Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, and Prof. Augustin Ioan, from the University of Architecture and Urbanism "Ion Mincu", Bucharest. The exhibition presents current photographs, in addition to relevant explanatory drawings, of Harry Stern's architectural work in Bucharest between 1930 and 1950. The curators, Prof. Iris Aravot and arh. Simona Or-Munteanu, have attempted to reproduce the atmosphere of Romanian modernism, little known to the Israeli public, through descriptive plates on the context in which Harry Stern manifested himself.

In addition to its support, the Romanian Cultural Institute also made possible the participation of Prof. Mihail Caffe and Prof. Dr. Mihaela Criticos, while that of Dr. Anca Ciuciu was sponsored by the Azrieli Fund Israel. The opening ceremony was officiated by the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the Technion, Prof. Yehuda Kalay, and the representative of ICR Tel Aviv, Claudia Lazar. Prof. Iris Aravot, Dr. Marina Epstein-Pliouchtch, Prof. Mihail Caffe and Prof. Dr. Mihaela Criticos, Dr. Anca Ciuciu, arh. Anastasia Moskaliuk, arh. Simona Or-Munteanu, Raya Zommer-Tal and the moderators dr. Alona Nitzan-Shiftan, prof. dr. Mihaela Criticos, dr. Raphael Vago.