Beehives and Bobbins: Manifestations of the Female Imaginarium within the Romanian Textile Industry of the Communist Period

The nationalization process implemented by the newly established communist government in 1948 oversaw the drastic reduction and conversion of the Romanian textile industry into state-administrated compounds. Newly refurbished factories like the Dacia Textile Enterprise of Bucharest relied increasingly on the formally and informally trained artistic and technical labor of its predominately female workforce in the effort to satisfy domestic and international markets. This paper surveys the central role that women textile artists had within such settings, arguing for the industrial sphere as a gendered site that allowed for the manifestation of the female imaginarium. Schools, daycares, and cosmetics and grocery points were affixed to the Dacia Enterprise and other textile factories to stimulate production and facilitate the lives of its female-preponderant collectives. Working among women, within spaces adapted for and by them, artists such as Elena Hasche Marinescu began generating fabric prototypes influenced by the industrial contexts within which they were immersed.

Faced with the inequitable distribution of public commissions by the communist state apparatus, Marinescu and other textile artists were further prompted to seek employment in smaller consumer industries. The National Art Fund (Fondul Plastic) commercialized handmade or serial objects made by artists within its nation-wide network of stores, providing a space for experimentation, and serving as an alternate source of income. This paper examines how items like those sold by the Art Fund, ranging from multi-mode dresses to capes, also alluded to the female imaginarium manifested within the industrial realm.