Ştefan Nastac

[Ştefan Năstac]

1955. The annual plenary of the Fine Artists Union shows an  unusual approach in the "Fine arts" magazine (No. 4/1955): rhymed chronicles accompanied by the participants cartoons. Visible sign that the party had weakened its ideological vise. The youngest participant was Ştefan Nastac. After about 20 years  a unique work about the Romanian art history appears in 1976: The Dictionary of contemporary Romanian artists, by Octavian Barbosa. The name of Ştefan Nastac is not present. Inexplicable. He neither emigrated, nor suffered some fatal accident, his illustrations appearing until the mid 80s. Not even the annual catalogues of the '70s and '80s supported its name any longer. A boundless  undocumented hiatus.

Ştefan Nastac was not a big name in the graphic art (illustration, poster), but it was a constant presence in the artistic manifestations of the postwar years. Devoid of talent, his style seems tributary to the schematics imposed by the dogmas of those times. It was as his drawing did not want to disturb anyone. Closed lines, characters correctly concluded, and a safe neutral atmosphere.   His illustrations accompanied the text as a  hunting dog its master. Perhaps its peak were the illustrations for the volume of  stories – Cei din lună - writen by the playful poet Dimitrie Stelaru, bohemian  unaltered by time.  Nastac's stellar illustrations dance around fantastic characters  invented by its  more phantasmagorical author.  Unfortunately this "perhaps" does not help us to identify the overall work of the artist.

1961
Robinsonka - Marie Majerova (Ed. Tineretului)
(traducere: Cornelia Clejan)
[cop. color & il. a/n + 3 planşe color]

1965
Eine wunderbere reise - Sonia Larian

1967
Iepuraşul cel isteţ - prelucrare din folclorul peruvian de Radu Alexandrescu
(Ed. Tineretului, Colecţia "Traista cu poveşti")
[cop. & il. color]

1968
Clasa în care nu se întâmplă nimic - Iuliu Raţiu (Ed. Tineretului)

Cişmigiu & Comp. - Grigore Băjenaru (Ed. Tineretului, ediţie revăzută)
[cop. color, fără ilustraţii]

1969
Cei din lună - Dimitrie Stelaru (Ed. Tineretului)
[cop. color & il. a/n]

1970
Tom Sawyer detectiv şi Tom Sawyer în străinătate - Mark Twain
(Ed. Ion Creangă, Colecţia BPTC nr. 2)
[cop. color & il. a/n + o planşă color]

1978
Magherit - Gheorghe Nica (Ed. Ion Creangă, ediţia a II-a)
[cop. color & il. a/n]

1980
Isprăvile lui Vicu Năstruşnicu - Patiţa Silvestru (Ed. Ion Creangă)

1981
Poveşti, povestiri, amintiri - Ion Creangă (Ed. Ion Creangă, Colecţia BPTC nr. 37)
[cop. color & il. a/n + o planşă color]

1982
Fata babei şi fata moşneagului – Ion Creangă (Ed. Ion Creangă)
[cop. & il. color]

1985
Neghiniţă – Barbu Şt. Delavrancea (Ed. Ion Creangă)
[cop. & il. color]

Stănicioară cât o bănicioară - Dorina Bădescu (Ed. Ion Creangă)

1988
Aventurile lui Tom Sawyer / Aventurile lui Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (Ed. Ion Creangă)
(traducere: Frida Papadache)