Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti (born
Alexandru Bogdan, also known as
Ion Doican,
Ion Duican and
Al. Dodan; June 13, 1870 – 1922) was a
Romanian Symbolist poet, essayist, and art and literary critic, who was also known as a journalist and
left-wing political agitator. A wealthy landowner, he invested his fortune in patronage and art collecting, becoming one of the main local promoters of
modern art, and a sponsor of the
Romanian Symbolist movement. Together with other
Post-Impressionist and Symbolist cultural figures, Bogdan-Piteşti established
Societatea Ileana, which was one of the first Romanian associations dedicated to promoting the
avant-garde and independent art. He was also noted for his friendship with the writers
Joris-Karl Huysmans,
Alexandru Macedonski,
Tudor Arghezi and
Mateiu Caragiale, as well as for sponsoring, among others, the painters
Ştefan Luchian,
Constantin Artachino and
Nicolae Vermont. In addition to his literary and political activities, Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti was himself a painter and graphic artist. Much of Bogdan-Piteşti's controversial political career, inaugurated by his support for
anarchism, was dedicated to activism and support for revolution, while he showed an interest in the
occult and maintained close contacts with
Joséphin "Sâr" Péladan—whose 1898 visit to
Bucharest he sponsored. He was detained by the authorities at various intervals, including an arrest for
sedition during the
1899 election, and was later found guilty of having
blackmailed the banker
Aristide Blank. Late in his life, he led
Seara, a
Germanophile daily, as well as a literary and political circle which came to oppose Romania's entry into
World War I on the
Entente Powers' side. He was arrested one final time upon the end of the war, by which time he had become hated by the general public.
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