Bogdan Anghel | Modernist Bucharest

Pastel pink and geometric architectural shapes, concrete surfaces ingrown by plants, typical spiral staircases: in his photo series titled Modernist Bucharest, Bogdan Anghel documents the Modernist architectural heritage of Bucharest and calls the attention to its gradually deteriorating condition with romantic nostalgia.

Bucharest’s cityscape is very complex. Besides the homogenous parts of the city, order is mixed with chaos, old with new, simple with disconcerting and modern with traditional. The marks of several eras can be seen in the Romanian capital: Neoclassicist, Byzantine, Neo-Romanesque, Neo-Gothic or Modernist architectural styles are present at the same time.

For photographer Bogdan Anghel, Modernist buildings represent harmony and simplicity in this “chaos”. In his nostalgic photo series, the honesty of the photos is further accentuated by Bogdan’s choice of photography: instead of digital imaging, he creates his photos with 35 mm film camera. The aim of the series is not only to pay tribute to the aesthetics of Modernist architecture, but to call attention to the more and more urging need for the preservation of certain buildings.