Lithuanian Modern and Contemporary Art in Beijing

Lithuanian Art:

Thinking Through Landscape

 

From 13 May to 2 July, 2017 the National Art Museum of China in Beijing (NAMOC) will present the first comprehensive exhibition of modern and contemporary Lithuanian art in China. The exhibition was prepared by the National Gallery of Art of the Lithuanian Art Museum and organized together with NAMOC and the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to the People's Republic of China. The official opening of the exhibition will take place on 26 May. It will be attended by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania Ms Liana Ruokytė-Jonsson.

The exhibition presents a broad look at Lithuanian art from the turn of the 20th century to today, opening up a wide view of the human imagination inspired by landscape. The landscape in this exhibition is interpreted in a variety of ways: as imagery that guarantees the cultural identity and the relationship between the subject and the place, as an existential symbol, as a condition for the modernisation of art, and as an artistic reference.

The variety of the artists' approaches to landscape and natural motifs invites a viewer to think about bigger issues: the meaning of landscape and its place in modern and contemporary culture. These works raise topical questions about the natural world and man, dichotomies of nature and culture, subject and place, and the interaction between social and historical processes. That is why in this exhibition the landscape is also interpreted as an actual historic place, containing collective cultural, linguistic and topographical stories.

The exhibition consists of four sections: The Painter's Eye, Open Structures, Deromanticisationand Mapping the Landscape. Chronologically, they cover three periods in Lithuanian art history: the beginning of the 20th century and the interwar period, the post-war Soviet era (1945-1990), and the period of regained independence that began in 1990. It showcases the most prominent Lithuanian artists of the 20^th-21^st c. and their works: painting, sculpture, photography, installations and video art.

The exhibition is based on the collections of the Lithuanian Art Museum and supplemented with pieces from the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum in Kaunas, the Lewben Art Foundation in Vilnius, and artists' studios.

Curator - Milda Žvirblytė

Artists: Vytautas Balčytis, Eugenijus Antanas Cukermanas, Henrikas Čerapas, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, Kostas Dereškevičius, Jonas Gasiūnas, Antanas Gerlikas, Antanas Gudaitis, Kristina Inčiūraitė, Rimvydas Jankauskas-Kampas, Vytautas Kairiūkštis, Petras Kalpokas, Rūta Katiliūtė, Leonas Katinas, Linas Leonas Katinas, Žilvinas Kempinas, Algimantas Kuras, Jonas Mekas, Deimantas Narkevičius, Mindaugas Navakas, Algirdas Petrulis, Igoris Piekuras, Česlovas Lukenskas, Artūras Raila, Eglė Ridikaitė, Ferdynand Ruszczyc, Antanas Samuolis, Mindaugas Skudutis,  Jonas Švažas, Gintautas Trimakas, Vladas Urbanavičius, Teodoras Kazimieras Valaitis, Povilas Ričardas Vaitiekūnas, Justinas Vienožinskis, Viktoras Vizgirda, Kęstutis Zapkus, Kazė Zimblytė.

The exhibition is presented by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China, the Lithuanian Council for Culture, and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania. 

It is part of the '2017-China CEEC Cultural Season' and 'The Belt and Road Special International Exhibition Series' of NAMOC.

Patron of the exhibition - Lewben Group.

Exhibition partner - Lithuanian Culture Institute.