Contimporanul

Contimporanul [Contemporary] was initially a weekly and from volume 3 onwards a monthly avant-garde literary magazine, published in Bucharest in 102 issues between June 1922 and January 1932. Edited by Ion Vinea and Marcel Janco (with Jacques Costin as a co-founder), Contimporanul was the focus of Romanian modernism.

The magazine included art criticism, theoretical works on abstract art and architecture, dedicating entire issues to modern art phenomena. Several contributors soon moved on to adopt more specific styles, including a literary form of constructivism (which was the dominant style of the magazine for a certain period), Dada, and, eventually, surrealism. The publication maintained a close relationship with similar foreign reviews. International figures such as Francis Picabia, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, André Breton, Paul Éluard, Herwarth Walden and others contributed to it.

In November 1924, it organized The First Contimporanul International Exhibition in Bucharest, with the participation of almost entire Romanian avant-garde. The issues 50-51 and 52 (Nov-Dec 1924 and Jan 1925) largely covered that event of unprecedented magnitude in Romania. The journal organised exhibitions until 1930.

Issues

Contimporanul 46 (May 1924). Contains Ion Vinea's "Activist Manifesto to the Youth" [Manifest activist către tinerime]. Download.

Contimporanul 50-51 (November-December 1924). Contimporanul Exhibition catalogue. Download.

Contimporanul 52 (January 1925). With a coverage of the Contimporanul Exhibition. Download.

The issues 26-95 in PDF

26 (Jan 1923), 27 (Jan 1923), 28 (Jan 1923), 29 (Feb 1923), 30 (Feb 1923), 31 (Feb 1923), 32 (Feb 1923), 33 (Mar 1923), 34 (Mar 1923), 35 (Mar 1923), 36 (Mar 1923), 37-38 (Apr 1923), 39-40 (Apr 1923), 41 (May 1923), 42 (Jun 1923), 43 (Jun 1923), 44 (Jul 1923), 45 (Apr 1924), 46 (May 1924), 47 (Sep 1924), 48 (Oct 1924), 49 (Nov 1924), 50-51 (Nov-Dec 1924), 52 (Jan 1925), 53-54 (Feb 1925), 55-56 (Mar 1925), 57-58 (Apr 1925), 59 (May 1925), 60 (Sep 1925), 61 (Oct 1925), 62 (Oct 1925), 63 (Nov 1925), 64 (Mar 1926), 65 (Mar 1926), 66 (May 1926), 67 (Jun 1926), 68 (Jul 1926), 69 (Oct 1926), 70 (Nov 1926), 71 (Dec 1927), 72 (Jan 1927), 73 (Feb 1927), 74 (Mar 1927), 75 (Apr 1927), 76 (May-Jun 1927), 77 (Mar 1928), 78 (Jan 1929), 79 (Feb 1929), 80 (Mar 1929), 82 (Oct 1929), 83 (Oct 1929), 84 (Nov 1929), 85 (Nov 1929), 86 (Nov 1929), 87 (Nov 1929), 88 (Dec 1929), 91-92 (Apr 1930), 93-94-95 (Apr 1930).

• Scans in Biblioteca Digitală a BCU Cluj (26-95)
• Scans in Biblioteca digitală a Bucureştilor (26-71)
• Scans in Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (47, 50-51)

Literature

• Steven A. Mansbach, "The 'foreignness' of classical modern art in Romania", Art Bulletin 80:3 (September 1998), pp 534-554. [1].
• Mariana Vida, Gheorghe Vida, "Mattis Teutsch and the Romanian Avant-garde (Part 2)", 2001.
• Krisztina Passuth, "Die rumänische Avantgarde. Tristan Tzara, Marcel Iancu: Ion Vinea und Contimporanul, M.H. Maxy und Integral, Victor Brauner und 75HP, Constantin Brâncusi", in Krisztina Passuth, Treffpunkte der Avantgarden Ostmitteleuropa 1907-1930, Budapest: Balassi Kiadó, 2003, pp 218-244. (in German)
• Paul Cernat, Contimporanul. Istoria unei reviste de avangarda?, Bucharest: Institutul Cultural Roman, 2007. (in Romanian)
• Irina Livezeanu, "Romania: 'Windows toward the West': New Forms and the 'Poetry of True Life'. Revista celor l'alti (1908); Insula (1912); Chemarea (1912); Contimporanul (1922-32); 75 HP (1924); Punct (1924-5); Integral (1925-8); Urmuz (1925); and unu (1928-33)", in The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines. Volume III, Europe 1880-1940, Part II, eds. Brooker, Bru, Thacker, and Weikop, Oxford University Press, 2013, pp 1157-1183.

See also

• First Contimporanul International Exhibition
• Romania#Avant-garde
• Ion Vinea
• Marcel Janco

Links

• Contimporanul in Dada Companion
• Contimporanul at Wikipedia

	Avant-garde and modernist magazines
Poesia (1905-09, 1920), Der Sturm (1910-32), Blast (1914-15), The Egoist (1914-19), The Little Review (1914-29), 291 (1915-16), MA (1916-25), De Stijl (1917-20, 1921-32), Dada (1917-21), Noi (1917-25), 391 (1917-24), Zenit (1921-26), Broom (1921-24), Veshch/Gegenstand/Objet (1922), Die Form (1922, 1925-35), Contimporanul (1922-32), Secession (1922-24), Klaxon (1922-23), Merz (1923-32), LEF (1923-25), G (1923-26), Irradiador (1923), Sovremennaya architektura (1926-30), Novyi LEF (1927-29), ReD (1927-31), Close Up (1927-33), transition (1927-38).

	Full list
Entretiens politiques et littéraires (1890-93), Moderní revue (1894-1925), Volné směry (1897-1948), Mir iskusstva (1898-1904), Vesy (1904-09), Poesia (1905-09, 1920), Zolotoe runo (1906-10), The Mask (1908-29), Apollon (1909-17), Ukraïnska khata (1909-14), Der Sturm (1910-32), Thalia (1910-13), Rhythm (1911-13), Trudy i dni (1912), Simbolul (1912), The Glebe (1913-14), Ocharovannyi strannik (1913-16), Revolution (1913), Blast (1914-15), The Little Review (1914-29), Futuristy (1914), Zeit-Echo (1914-17), The Egoist (1914-19), L'Élan (1915-16), 291 (1915-16), Orpheu (1915), La Balza futurista (1915), MA (1916-25), SIC (1916-19), flamman (1916-21), The Blindman (1917), Nord-Sud (1917-18), De Stijl (1917-20, 1921-32), Dada (1917-21), Klingen (1917-20, 1942), Noi (1917-25), 391 (1917-24), Modernisme et compréhension (1917), Anarkhiia (1917-18), Iskusstvo kommuny (1918-19), Formiści (1919-21), S4N (1919-25), La Cité (1919-35), Aujourd'hui (1919), Exlex (1919-20), L'Esprit nouveau (1920-25), Orfeus (1920-21), Action (1920-22), Proverbe (1920-22), Ça ira (1920-23), Zenit (1921-26), Kinofon (1921-22), Het Overzicht (1921-25), Jednodńuwka futurystuw (1921), Nowa sztuka (1921-22), Broom (1921-24), Život (1921-48), Creación (1921-24), Jar-Ptitza (1921-26), New York Dada (1921), Aventure (1921-22), Spolokhi (1921-23), Gargoyle (1921-22), Veshch/Gegenstand/Objet (1922), Kino-fot (1922-23), Le Coeur à barbe (1922), Die Form (1922, 1925-35), 7 Arts (1922-28), Manomètre (1922-28), Ultra (1922), Út (1922-25), Dada-Jok (1922), Dada Tank (1922), Dada Jazz (1922), Mécano (1922-23), Contimporanul (1922-32), Zwrotnica (1922-23, 1926-27), Secession (1922-24), Stavba (1922-38), Gostinitsa dlya puteshestvuyuschih v prekrasnom (1922-24), Putevi (1922-24), Klaxon (1922-23), Akasztott Ember (1922-23), MSS (1922-23), Perevoz Dada (1922-49), Egység (1922-24), L'Architecture vivante (1923-33), Merz (1923-32), LEF (1923-25), G (1923-26), The Next Call (1923-26), Russkoye iskusstvo (1923), Disk (1923-25), Irradiador (1923), Surréalisme (1924), Almanach Nowej Sztuki (1924-25), La Révolution surréaliste (1924-29), Blok (1924-26), Pásmo (1924-26), DAV (1924-37), Bulletin de l'Effort moderne (1924-27), ABC (1924-28), CAP (1924-28), Athena (1924-25), Punct (1924-25), 75HP (1924), Le Tour de Babel (1925), Periszkop (1925-26), Integral (1925-28), Praesens (1926, 1930), Sovremennaya architektura (1926-30), bauhaus (1926-31), Das neue Frankfurt (1926-31), L'Art cinématographique (1926-31), Dokumentum (1926-27), Kritisk Revy (1926-28), Novyi LEF (1927-29), i 10 (1927-29), Nova generatsiia (1927-30), ReD (1927-31), Dźwignia (1927-28), Tank (1927-28), Close Up (1927-33), Horizont (1927-32), transition (1927-38), Discontinuité (1928), Munka (1928-39), Quosego (1928-29), Urmuz (1928), Unu (1928-32), Revista de Antropofagia (1928-29), 50 u Evropi (1928-29), Documents (1929-30), L'Art Contemporain - Sztuka Współczesna (1929-30), Adam (1929-40), Art concret (1930), Zvěrokruh (1930), Alge (1930-31), Le Surréalisme au service de la révolution (1930-33), Levá fronta (1930-33), Kvart (1930-37, 1945-49), Nová Bratislava (1931-32), Linja (1931-33), Spektrum (1931-33), Nadrealizam danas i ovde (1931-32), Ulise (1932-33), Die neue Stadt (1932-33), Mouvement (1933), PLAN (1933-36), Karavan (1934-35), Ekran (1934), Axis (1935-37), Acéphale (1936-39), Telehor (1936), aka (1937-38), Plastique (1937-39), Plus (1938-39), Les Réverbères (1938-39).