Personal
Personal
Lithuanian Women's Art 1918-1940
'Personal. Lithuanian Women's Art 1918-1940' commemorates the
80th anniversary of the first group exhibition by Lithuanian women
artists. It is the first comprehensive presentation of interwar art
by Lithuanian women, and an attempt to de-marginalise some
personalities of the 1920s and 1930s whose intimate and often
realistic work is part of Lithuanian art history, reflecting the
times and influencing their contemporaries. The exhibition focuses
mainly on art by women in the first half of the 20th century.
The exhibition presents paintings, sculptures and graphics from
Lithuania's Golden Art Fund from the first half of the 20th
century. Visitors will see creative work by some little-known
artists, as well as several examples of 'small arts'. Additional
visual and textual material facilitates aesthetic perception and
provides guidelines for interpretation of artworks and art
phenomena. The history of interwar women's art is told through
individual exhibits selected from national and republican museums,
the artists' families, and private collections in Lithuania.
One of the highlights is the first group exhibition of work by 40
Lithuanian women artists, which was held in Kaunas in 1937.
Detailed documentation and comments on the event help to actualise
and contextualise its social significance.
The title of the exhibition 'Personal' is an allusion to the
ever-relevant discussions about the evaluation of work by women
artists. Should it be characterised according to universally
accepted artistic criteria? This approach argues that there is no
male or female art, but simply good or bad art. Or is women's art
specific, determined by social circumstances and strongly
influenced by personal experience? In short, is women's art
artistic or personal? How was the question interpreted in the first
half of the 20th century? The exhibition hopes to open a discussion
and draw the attention of the public today to the creative value of
women's art.
Curator Ieva Burbaitė
Architect Marija Repšytė
Designer Laura Grigaliūnaitė
Exhibition lenders: Kupiškis Ethnographic Museum, The Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, National Museum of Lithuania, Lithuanian Theater, Music and Film Museum, Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum, M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, Šiauliai Aušra Museum, Ukmergė Ethnographic Museum, Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, Vytautas Magnus War Museum, Ieva Burbaitė, Jonė Garmuvienė, Jaunius Gumbis, Darius Kontvainis, Eglė Lukėnaitė-Griciuvienė, Julija Lukėnienė, Vidmantas Martikonis, Aleksandra ir Aleksandras Orlovai, Rasa Ramanavičienė, Paulius Steponavičius, Rimtas Tarabilda, Rolandas Valiūnas
Organiser: the Lithuanian Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art
Sponsors: Lithuanian Ministry of Culture, Lithuanian Council for Culture, Exterus,
Media sponsor: daily "Lietuvos rytas", lrytas.lt