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