The Master and the Disciple – Vasile Kazar and Mircea Bochiș Exhibition
The Art Museum of Cluj-Napoca, a cultural institution operating under the Cluj County Council, in collaboration with the Maramureș County Museum of Art «The Baia Mare Artistic Centre», is organizing the temporary exhibition "The Master and the Disciple. Vasile Kazar and Mircea Bochiș" from July 1 to 19. The opening will take place on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, starting at 5:00 PM, in the Festive Halls (first floor) of the Bánffy Palace. The exhibition curators are Robert Strebeli and Florin Gherasim, and the opening presentation will be delivered by Lucian Nastasă-Kovács, Manager of the Cluj-Napoca Art Museum.
The exhibition brings together two remarkable figures of Romanian art, connected by an artistic dialogue spanning generations: Vasile Kazar, the undisputed master of Maramureș graphic arts, and Mircea Bochiș, a versatile artist with an interdisciplinary career that blends drawing, painting, photography, and artist's books.
Vasile Kazar – Master of Drawing and Spirit. Born in Sighetu Marmației on July 30, 1913, Vasile Kazar (also known as László Katz) was one of the most prominent figures in 20th-century Romanian graphic arts. Trained at the Baia Mare Free School of Painting, in Budapest, and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, Vasile Kazar stood out for his drawings of classical rigor and profound human expressiveness.
He was an exceptional book illustrator, creating imagery for masterpieces such as Rilke’s Duino Elegies, Mateiu Caragiale’s The Kings of the Old Court, and the poems of Catullus. He also maintained an extensive pedagogical career at the "Nicolae Grigorescu" Institute of Fine Arts, where he trained entire generations of graphic artists. His work, shaped by the memory of human tragedy and the depth of visual experience, is featured in museum and private collections worldwide. The exhibition includes 45 works signed by Vasile Kazar, sourced from the heritage of the Maramureș County Museum of Art «The Baia Mare Artistic Centre».
Mircea Bochiș – Disciple and Successor to the Contemporary Graphic Spirit. Visual artist, essayist, and interdisciplinary creator, Mircea Bochiș offers three directions of reflection on contemporary imagery and visual identity within this exhibition: "Letter-poems", a visual tribute to the poetry of Gabriel Chifu;"The Upside-Down World", a series that reinterprets the relationship between positive and negative, between the digital image and the materiality of photographic memory—an exploration into the fragility of perception and the "inverted" world of the digital era; "In Search of the Perfect Selfie / The Thousand Faces", a manifesto project on post-photography, identity, and self-reflection within the image, created in dialogue with anthropologist and Doctor of Visual Arts, Ana-Cristina Irian.
In a contemporary and reflective visual language, Mircea Bochiș reinterprets the conceptual paths opened by Kazar, transforming the master’s legacy into a modern artistic discourse where interior analysis and the tension between reality and image take center stage.The exhibition project "The Master and the Disciple" is a dialogue between generations, an exploration of artistic memory, and the evolution of graphic language. Through the works of these two artists, the exhibition invites the public to analyze how the forms of visual tradition redefine themselves in the contemporary world.
The exhibition can be visited from July 2 to 19, 2026, between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM, Wednesday through Sunday inclusive. Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
