official critic Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaș spoke at ASTRA to criticize Smigelschi's use of textile motifs in his Sibiu murals. A note in Luceafărul acknowledged his claim and how it managed to persuade "even those who were previously supportive of Smigelschi's system". Most of Smigelschi's works were bought and preserved by the ASTRA Museum, then transferred to Brukenthal. According to scholar Virgil Vătășianu, the sketches are the artist's most important contributions, and as such the most important artworks produced by a Transylvanian Romanian in the pre-1914 era. The Transylvanian union with Romania in 1918–1920 integrated Smigelschi's work into a more general project to develop a style of monumental painting that would bridge traditionalism and modern sensibilities. As noted by Abrudan, Smigelschi's example was followed by artists with more or less compatible tastes: Anastase Demian, Costin Petrescu, Cecilia Cuțescu-Storck, and Olga Greceanu. Of this group, Demian was actually involved in a lengthy process to restore and complete the murals at Sibiu Cathedral: after signing a contract in 1936, he was allowed to work on the project only in 1960–1962. His work upset church authorities, who asked Iosif Keber to take over and complete the project. Overall, Smigelschi's work remains relatively unknown in Romania. Museologist Alexandru Chituță argues that this is because the communist regime of 1948–1989 had outlawed his Greek-Catholic Church, making references to him uncomfortable; and also because critics and historians were generally not based in the region were Smigelschi was most prolific. The other Smigelschis continued to be active in Romania, following the Transylvanian union. Smigelschi's son, Victor, was an architect noted for designing Blaj's Palace of Culture in 1930 and Satu Mare's old administrative palace (the "most important civil architecture building in interwar Transylvania") in 1935; he also contributed the Romanian pavilion at EXPO Paris 1937. He married the Italian Maria Anna Giuseppina Trinchieri; their progeny includes two daughters, both of whom are noted artists: ceramist Ioana Șetran and printmaker Ana-Maria Smigelschi. Notes References Serbările dela Blaj. 1911. O pagină din istoria noastră culturală. Blaj: Despărțământul XI. Blaj, al Asociațiunii & Tipografia Seminarului Teologic Gr. Cat., 1911. Ioan Abrudan, "Un posibil model artistic neo-bizantin: decorul Catedralei din Sibiu (1904–1906)", in Revista Teologică, Vol. XVI, Issue 2, April–June 2006, pp. 56–75. "Catedrala Mitropolitană din Sibiu, acum 50 de ani", in Transilvania, Issue 1/2017, pp. 19–29. Alexandru Constantin Chituță, "Octavian Smigelschi — inițiatorul picturii monumentale și naționale bisericești", in Transilvania, Issue 1/2017,