Stănescu, Mihai. Vaporul The Future (The Ship named The Future), 1985. Caricature

http://courage.btk.mta.hu/courage/individual/n18507

Vaporul The Future (The Ship named The Future), caricature by Mihai Stănescu, 1985

The cartoon “The Future,” which was included in the censored volume Umor 50% (Humour 50%), suggests through four successive images the story of a shipwrecked man longing in vain for rescue. In the first image, a huge ship on which is written “The Future” seems to be approaching a desert island to rescue a man; in the next three, however, it may be observed that this approaching ship becomes smaller and smaller, so that in the last image, the viewer’s eye can no longer even make out the inscription alluding to the long-awaited future of communist society, in which everyone should finally live happily. Beyond the ideological disillusion that was general in the whole Soviet Bloc, Mihai Stănescu captures that state of mind specific to communism in Romania in this final period, and suggests the hopelessness and lack of expectations. In this sense, the cartoon is not only a subtle criticism of Marxism-Leninism, but also a parable of the gradual disappearance of hope as the twilight of the communist regime in Romania approached.

Location

Bucharest, Romania
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Languages

English

Creator

Stănescu, Mihai

Year of creation

1985

Credits

Mihai Stănescu Caricature Collection

Author(s) of this page

Petrescu, Cristina
Pătrăşconiu, Cristian Valeriu

References

Stănescu, Mihai. 1985. Umor 50% (Humour 50%). Bucharest: Uniunea Artiștilor Plastici din R. S. România.

Stănescu, Mihai. 1990. Acum nu e momentul (Now is not the time). Bucharest: Uniunea Artiștilor Plastici din România.

Stănescu, Mihai. 2009. Best of Stănescu: Desene 1979-1989 (Best of Stănescu: Drawings, 1979-1989). Bucharest: Uniunea Artiștilor Plastici din România.

Amza, Sebastian. 2009. ”Mihai Stănescu, lipit de Zid” (Mihai Stănescu, against the Wall). Ziarul Financiar, November 19. Accessed October 26, 2018. https://www.zf.ro/ziarul-de-duminica/eveniment-mihai-stanescu-lipit-de-zid-5117748

Tabacu, Horia. 2013. ”Amintiri din Epoca de Aur: Mihai Stănescu, caricaturistul disident” (Memories of the Golden Age: Mihai Stănescu, the dissenting cartoonist). Evenimentul zilei, February 2. Accessed October 26, 2018. https://evz.ro/mihai-stanescu-caricaturistul-disident-1021929.html

Tabacu, Horia. 2013. ”Mihai Stănescu, caricaturistul kamikaze sau dizidenţa ca artă” (Mihai Stănescu, the kamikadze cartoonist or dissent as art). Evenimentul zilei, March 1. Accessed October 26, 2018. https://evz.ro/mihai-stanescu-caricaturistul-kamikaze-sau-dizidenta-ca-arta-1026245.html

Stănescu, Mihai, interview by Pătrăşconiu, Cristian Valeriu , December 13, 2017. COURAGE Registry Oral History Collection

Last edited on: 2018-10-31 15:22:53

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