Marcel Janco (, ; common rendition of the Romanian name Marcel Hermann IancuSandqvist, p. 66, 68, 69 ; 24 May 1895 – 21 April 1984) was a Romanian and Israeli visual artist, architect and art theorist. He was the co-inventor of Dadaism and a leading exponent of Constructivism in Eastern Europe. In the 1910s, he co-edited, with Ion Vinea and Tristan Tzara, the Romanian art magazine Simbolul. Janco was a practitioner of Art Nouveau, Futurism and Expressionism before contributing his painting and stage design to Tzara's literary Dadaism. He parted with Dada in 1919, when he and painter Hans Arp founded a Constructivist circle, Das Neue Leben.
Reunited with Vinea, he founded Contimporanul, the influential tribune of the Romanian avant-garde, advocating a mix of Constructivism, Futurism and Cubism. At Contimporanul, Janco expounded a "revolutionary" vision of urban planning. He designed some of the most innovative landmarks of downtown Bucharest. He worked in many art forms, including illustration, sculpture and oil painting.
Janco was one of the leading Romanian Jewish intellectuals of his generation. Targeted by antisemitic persecution before and during World War II, he emigrated to the British Mandate for Palestine in 1941. He won the Dizengoff Prize and Israel Prize, and was a founder of Ein Hod, a utopian art colony.
Biography
Early life Marcel Janco was born on 24 May 1895 in Bucharest to an upper middle class Jewish family.Sandqvist, p. 69, 172, 300, 333, 377 His father, Hermann Zui Iancu, was a textile merchant. His mother, Rachel née Iuster, was from Moldavia.Sandqvist, pp. 69, 79 The couple lived outside Bucharest's Jewish quarter, on Decebal Street.Sandqvist, p. 69 He was the oldest of four children. His brothers were Iuliu (Jules) and George. His sister, Lucia, was born in 1900. The Iancus moved from Decebal to Gândului Street, and then to Trinității, where they built one of the largest home-and-garden complexes in early 20th century Bucharest.Sandqvist, pp. 69, 103 In 1980, Janco revisited his childhood years, writing: "Born as I was in beautiful Romania, into a family of well-to-do people, I had the fortune of being educated in a climate of freedom and spiritual enlightenment. My mother, [...] possessing a genuine musical talent, and my father, a stern man and industrious merchant, had created the conditions favorable for developing all of my aptitudes. [...] I was of a sensitive and emotional nature, a withdrawn child who was predisposed to dreaming and meditating. [...] I grew up [...] dominated by a strong sense of humanity and social justice. The existence of disadvantaged, weak, people, of impoverished workers, of beggars, hurt me and, when compared to our family's decent condition, awoke in me a feeling of guilt." Vlad Solomon, "Confesiunea unui mare artist", in Observator Cultural, Nr. 559, January 2011
Janco attended Gheorghe Șincai School and studied drawing art with the Romanian Jewish painter and cartoonist Iosif Iser.Sandqvist, pp. 69–70 In his teenage years, the family traveled widely, from Austria-Hungary to Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands.Sandqvist, p. 72 At Gheorghe Lazăr High School, he met several students who would become his artistic companions: Tzara (known then as S. Samyro), Vinea (Iovanaki), writers Jacques G. Costin and Poldi Chapier.Sandqvist, pp. 72–73 Janco also became friends with pianist Clara Haskil, the subject of his first published drawing, which appeared in Flacăra magazine in March 1912. Geo Șerban, "Un profil: Jacques Frondistul", in Observator Cultural, Nr. 144, November 2002Cernat, Avangarda, p. 188
As a group, the students were under the influence of Romanian Symbolist clubs, which were at the time the more radical expressions of artistic rejuvenation in Romania. Marcel and Jules Janco's first moment of cultural significance took place in October 1912, when they joined Tzara in editing the Symbolist venue Simbolul, which managed to receive contributions from some of Romania's leading modern poets, from Alexandru Macedonski to Ion Minulescu and Adrian Maniu. The magazine nevertheless struggled to find its voice, alternating modernism with the more conventional Symbolism.Cernat, Avangarda, pp. 48–54, 100, 412; Pop, "Un 'misionar al artei noi' (I)", p. 9; Sandqvist, pp. 4, 7, 29-30, 75-78, 81, 196 Janco was perhaps the main graphic designer of Simbolul, and he may even have persuaded his wealthy parents to support the venture (which closed down in early 1913).Cernat, Avangarda, pp. 50, 100; Sandqvist, pp. 73–75 Unlike Tzara, who refused to look back on Simbolul with anything but embarrassment, Janco proudly regarded it as his first participation in artistic revolution.Sandqvist, pp. 77, 141, 209, 263. See also Pop, "Un 'misionar al artei noi' (I)", p. 9
After the Simbolul moment, Marcel Janco worked at Seara daily, where he took further training in draftsmanship.Sandqvist, p. 78 The newspaper took him in as illustrator, probably as a result of intercessions from Vinea, its literary columnist. Their Simbolul colleague Costin joined them as Searas cultural editor.Cernat, Avangarda, pp. 34, 188 Janco was also a visitor of the literary and art club meeting at the home of controversial politician and Symbolist poet Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești, who was for a while the manager of Seara.Cernat, Avangarda, p. 39
It is possible that, during those years, Tzara and Janco first came to hear and be influenced by the absurdist prose of Urmuz, the lonesome civil clerk and amateur writer who would later become the hero of Romanian modernism.Sandqvist, pp. 227, 234 Years later, in 1923, Janco drew an ink portrait of Urmuz.Sandqvist, p. 226 In maturity, he also remarked that Urmuz was the original rebel figure in Romanian literature.Sandqvist, p. 235 In the 1910s, Janco was also interested in the parallel development of French literature, and read passionately from such authors as Paul Verlaine and Guillaume Apollinaire.Sandqvist, pp. 67, 78 Another immediate source of inspiration for his attitude on life was provided by Futurism, an anti-establishment movement created in Italy by poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and his artists' circle.Sandqvist, p. 237
Swiss journey and Dada events
Janco eventually decided to leave Romania, probably because he wanted to attend international events such as the Sonderbund exhibit, but also because of quarrels with his father. In quick succession after the start of World War I, Marcel, Jules and Tzara left Bucharest for Zürich. According to various accounts, their departure may have been either a search for new opportunities (abundant in cosmopolitan Switzerland)Sandqvist, pp. 26, 78, 125 or a discreet pacifist statement.Cernat, Avangarda, pp. 113, 132 Initially, the Jancos were registered with the University of Zurich, where Marcel took Chemistry courses, before applying to study architecture at the Federal Institute of Technology.Cernat, Avangarda, pp. 111–112, 130; Sandqvist, pp. 78–80 His real ambition, later confessed, was to pursue more training in painting. Alina Mondini, "Dada trăiește", in Observator Cultural, Nr. 261, March 2005 The two brothers were soon joined by younger Georges Janco, but all three were left without any financial support when the war began hampering Europe's trade routes; until October 1917, both Jules and Marcel (who found it impossible to sell his paintings) earned a living as cabaret performers.Sandqvist, pp. 26, 66, 78-79, 190 Marcel was noted for performing selections from Romanian folklore and playing the accordion,Cernat, Avangarda, p. 112 as well as for his rendition of chansons. It was during this time that the young artist and his brothers began using the consecrated version of the surname Iancu, probably in hopes that it would sound more familiar to foreigners.Sandqvist, pp. 26, 66
In this context, the Romanians came into contact with Hugo Ball and the other independent artists plying their trade at the Malerei building, which soon after became known as Cabaret Voltaire. Ball later recalled that four "Oriental" men introduced themselves to him late after a show—the description refers to Tzara, the older Jancos and, probably, the Romanian painter Arthur Segal.Sandqvist, p. 31. See also Cernat, Avangarda, p. 112 Ball found the young painter especially pleasant, and was impressed that, unlike his peers, Janco was melancholy rather than ironic; other participants remember him as a very handsome presence in the group, and he allegedly had the reputation of a "lady-killer".Sandqvist, pp. 66–67, 97
Accounts of what happened next differ, but it is presumed that, shortly after the four new participants were accepted, the performances became more daring, and the transition was made from Ball's Futurism to the virulent anti-art performances of Tzara and Richard Huelsenbeck.Cernat, Avangarda, pp. 112–116; Sandqvist, pp. 31–32 With help from Segal and others, Marcel Janco was personally involved in decorating the Cabaret Voltaire. Its hectic atmosphere would inspire Janco to create an eponymous oil painting, dated 1916 and believed to have been lost.Sandqvist, pp. 27, 81 He was a major contributor to the cabaret's events: he notably carved the grotesque masks worn by performers on stilts, gave "hissing concerts" and, in unison with Huelsenbeck and Tzara, improvised some of the first (and mostly onomatopoeic) "simultaneous poems" to be read on stage.Sandqvist, pp. 32, 35–36, 66–67, 84, 87, 189–190, 253, 259, 261, 265, 300, 332. See also Cernat, Avangarda, pp. 111–113, 155; Pop, "Un 'misionar al artei noi' (I)", p. 9
His work with masks became especially influential, opening up a new field of theatrical exploration for the Dadaists (as the Cabaret Voltaire crew began calling themselves), and earning special praise from Ball.Harris Smith, pp. 6, 44 Contrary to Ball's later claim of authorship, Janco is also credited with having tailored the "bishop dress", another one of the iconic products of early Dadaism.Sandqvist, pp. 37, 40, 90, 253, 332. See also Cernat, Avangarda, p. 115 The actual birth of "Dadaism", at an unknown date, later formed the basis of disputes between Tzara, Ball, and Huelsenbeck. In this context, Janco is cited as a source for the story according to which the invention of the term "Dada" belonged exclusively to Tzara.Cernat, Avangarda, p. 116; Sandqvist, p. 153 Janco also circulated stories according to which their shows were attended for informative purposes by communist theorist Vladimir LeninSandqvist, p. 34 and psychiatrist Carl Jung.
His various contributions were harnessed by Dada's international effort of self-promotion. In April 1917, he welcomed the Dada affiliation of Switzerland's own Paul Klee, calling Klee's contribution to the Dada exhibit a "great event".Kay Larson, "Art. Signs and Symbols", in New York Magazine, 2 March 1987, p. 96 His mask designs were popular beyond Europe, and inspired similar creations by Mexico's Germán Cueto, the "Stridentist" painter-puppeteer.Deborah Caplow, Leopoldo Méndez: Revolutionary Art and the Mexican Print, University of Texas Press, Austin, 2007, p. 38. The Dadaist popularization effort received lukewarm responses in Janco's native country, where the traditionalist press expressed alarm at being confronted with Dada precepts.Cernat, Avangarda, pp. 124–126, 129 Vinea himself was ambivalent about the activities of his two friends, preserving a link with poetic tradition which made his publication in Tzara's press impossible.Cernat, Avangarda, pp. 120–124 In a letter to Janco, Vinea spoke about having personally presented one of Janco's posters to modernist poet and art critic Tudor Arghezi: "[He] said, critically, that you cannot say whether a person is talented or not on the basis of only one drawing. Rubbish."Cernat, Avangarda, p. 122; Sandqvist, p. 84