Stanislovas Kuzma

Stanislovas Kuzma. Sculpture + 5,425 days

This exhibition was conceived as a story about the Soviet period, when Kuzma lived and developed his ideas, and as a story about the persistence and the strength of these ideas.

Kuzma's visual legacy (sculptures, drawings and photographs) and his writings, Algimantas Kunčius' and Arūnas Baltėnas' photographs, and the sculptor's insights, all serve to create a narrative on which the exhibition is based. The halls of the National Gallery of Art show how his visual ideas developed, from the Renaissance-style 'The Gate Sentry' and the hyperrealistic 'Summer' to the figures with scarves. In the fifth exhibition hall, visitors will find a recreation of the sculptor's studio, and will be able to learn about the place where he worked.

A welcome supplement to this exhibition is the repeat of an exhibition of small-scale sculptures and drawings by Ksenija Jaroševaitė, Stanislovas Kuzma, Petras Mazūras, Mindaugas Navakas, Vladas Urbanavičius and Vladas Vildžiūnas, which was held in 1984, in the ninth permanent exhibition hall. The exhibition shows the part Kuzma's sculptural figures played in the process of the modernisation of Lithuanian art in the late Soviet period.

As is shown by the work calendars from 1976 to 2012 of Stanislovas Kuzma, a total of 5,425 days of his life were dedicated to his creative work. He kept a meticulous record of his work days, and the exhibition takes its name from the total amount of these. His works are well known. 'The Archer' became a symbol of the city of Šiauliai, and 'Grand Duke Alexander' became an emblem of Panevėžys. If we walk down Gedimino Avenue, we can salute 'The Muses' of the Drama Theatre, and admire the replicas of Karol Jelski's sculptures which were made by Kuzma, with the assistance of Vytautas Navickas, and which now look down on us from the pediment of the cathedral. As we head into the Old Town, in Trakų Street we are hailed by 'The Gate Sentry'. The victims of regained independence are commemorated by a memorial in Antakalnis cemetery, which has become a site to mark state holidays.

Curator: Elona Lubytė

Lenders: the artist's family, Donatas Banionis, Zigmantas Dokšas, Virginija Gibavičienė, Eglė Jokūbonytė, Violeta and Darius Jurgaičiai, Algimantas Kunčius, Visvaldas Neniškis, Romanas Raulynaitis, Vytautas Sirvydis, Vytautas Urbonavičius, Beatričė Vasaris, Vladas Vildžiūnas, Kristupas Vilutis, Marija and Kęstutis Virkečiai, Birutė Žilytė, The Office of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania, Modern Art Center, National Museum of Lithuania, National Museum - Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Vilniaus University.

The exhibition is under the patronage of H.E. Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania