The reasons for Tudor Jebeleanu’s passion for photography in general and especially for pictures of literary personalities is closely related to the young poet Nicolae Labis, dead at 21, in 1956. Although he was just a child the year the poet died, Tudor Jebeleanu was among those fortunate enough to see him and touch him. “Labis had come to my father (the father of the artist Tudor Jebeleanu, poet Eugen Jebeleanu) because he was about to be excluded from the Communist Youth’s Union, which would have brought him great troubles. He was a child himself. I felt it the way kids feel each other. I liked his bushy moustache. My father got out a gramophone and Labis stood in awe. He had never seen one before. He was just a big kid.” The image remained in his mind and it somehow influenced his entire life. “After a few years, my father said: In this technological century, so little remains after Labis. There are even fewer pictures of him than of Eminescu.”
When he turned 14, Tudor received a camera as a present from his sci-fi writer uncle Vladimir Colin. It was his first camera. As soon as he learned how to use it, he made it the tool of his career. He illustrated hundreds of books and drew dozens of covers. He has a few regrets though. He has never published his pictures of Nichita Stanescu.
“It was in 1982 and poet Traian T. Cosovei called me one fine afternoon to Nichita Stanescu’s house. There were many people there and they all talked, it was great being around this diamond – Nichita. I met poet Florin Iaru there – he was a little ahead of me in photography. He had a laboratory at home and I saw some terrific photographs. Florin was really God-sent. He had his camera with him and I took photographs of everything. After Nichita died, I asked Florin for the film. I knew he was somewhat messy and I feared for the photographs. He then showed me something incredible: a laundry basket filled with what I thought were wigs. It was actually filled with films – hundreds of them. He said to me: If you feel lucky, give it a try and maybe you’ll find it. I put my hand in it and by sheer luck I removed the film – the good one.” The pictures will feature on an album that will depict the afternoon they spent with Nichita. The important thing is that the film was rescued and is now in safe hands.