Today, the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore (Vilnius, Antakalnio g. 6) is opening the exhibition “Čiurlionis and his Contemporaries at the First Lithuanian Art Exhibition”. Here, in the former P. Vileišis Palace, in 1907 the Lithuanian public first saw MK Čiurlionis’ paintings and graphic compositions. Now, more than a century later, a gallery of historical exhibits will light up the walls of the palace hall, accompanied by a talk by the exhibition organizers.
The projections onto the walls of the former P. Vileišis Palace hall will be complemented by an exhibition of documents, artifacts, photographs, and publications from the First Lithuanian Art Exhibition. Here, visitors will be able to find out who participated in the opening of the exhibition, what Jonas Basanavičius corrected in the manuscript of the public speech, who visited the exhibition, how much the tickets cost, where the posters were printed, and whether the note in Lithuanian with MK Čiurlionis's autograph was written in his own hand.
We talk about how the exhibition held in 150 was made meaningful in the year of MK Čiurlionis' 1907th anniversary, and the history of this exhibition, with the project manager, Doctor of Humanities, researcher at the Department of Modern Literature at the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore. Nida Gaidauskiene.
The First Lithuanian Art Exhibition is important not only as the first exposition of works by Lithuanian artists in the then Russian Empire, of which Lithuania was a part, but also as an extremely important event in the cultural life of the country. During this exhibition, the statutes of the Lithuanian Art Society were formulated. Later, this organization organized exhibitions, competitions, founded the Čiurlionis Society, collected an art collection, and fostered the idea of a national museum. It can be said that the activities of this society became the basis for establishing Lithuanian national cultural institutions. In addition, the First Art Exhibition can be considered one of the initiatives that led Lithuania towards independence.
Remind me, what was Čiurlionis's own role in organizing the First Lithuanian Art Exhibition?
In 1906, MK Čiurlionis, who was studying at the Warsaw School of Art, heard about the First Lithuanian Art Exhibition. He arrived at the P. Vileišis Palace to prepare for it and was invited to a meeting of the organizing committee in the editorial office of Vilniaus žinios, which was located on the floor below. Here, Čiurlionis met the Vilnius Lithuanians cultural ring: the three Vileišiai brothers, J. Basanavičius, K. Puida and others (they had known A. Žmuidzinavičius since their Warsaw days). At the opening of the exhibition, Čiurlionis saw not only the city's elite, but also famous luminaries of the nation living elsewhere. The acquaintances made and his involvement in Lithuanian cultural initiatives undoubtedly prompted the artist's decision to move to Vilnius.
In preparing this exhibition, Čiurlionis contributed as an assistant: he hung the works for the exhibition, on the eve of the opening he helped the “Vilniaus Kankliai” choir perform the National Hymn more professionally (at that time he was not yet working as the choirmaster of the society); he probably talked his teacher Kazimieras Stabrauskas into participating in the exhibition. Čiurlionis became the main organizer in preparing the Second Lithuanian Art Exhibition. At the first, his paintings made the Lithuanian intelligentsia, or at least a part of it, think about what non-mimetic art is, how symbolism is expressed in art. He was completely different, raising questions about metaphysical reality – from the works he exhibited at that time, it would be enough to mention the cycle “The Creation of the World”, the painting “Peace”…
Tell us, who came up with the idea to prepare an exhibition commemorating this moment in our history? What was your basis for recreating the 1907 exhibition with Čiurlionis' works? How did the creative process go?
The idea of preparing an exhibition that would remind us of the First Lithuanian Art Exhibition that took place here has been on the minds of one or another of us, colleagues working at the institute, for a long time. We kept talking about this idea with the institute's director, Aušra Martišiūtė-Linartiene, who willingly joined the creative team and contributed to the implementation of the project.
Initially, we imagined the exhibition in a more traditional way, but the peculiarities of the ensemble, which is on the cultural heritage register, encouraged us to look for more innovative solutions.
However, recreating the exhibition was probably not the main goal: for a modern exhibition it is important to interpret historical material, actualizing the most important moments, highlighting its importance for people today, and developing civic awareness among young people. But among the many steps towards the goal there is both historical research and certain reconstructive movements.
Museum workers have already worked hard to identify the exhibits of this exhibition, among them I would like to single out Laima Bialopetravičienė, the exhibition she organized, and the catalogue "Lithuanian Art 1907−1914"; the panorama of Vilnius's art life at the beginning of the XNUMXth century has been beautifully revealed by art historian and art critic Laima Laučkaitė. There are many such researchers.
In order to create my own story, I had to delve into primary sources – correspondence that took place during the preparation of the exhibition, minutes of the meetings of the organizing committee – a whole stack of documents. You can get an idea of the exhibits of the First Lithuanian Art Exhibition from the catalogue published in 1906. True, it only lists the authors and a list of the works they submitted. There are no photographs, but we have photographed exhibits and several images of the exhibition interior. Based on all this material, I began to correspond with the curators of museum collections and other employees – thus, five memory institutions and archives became our partners.
When I showed the collected visual part to the artist Saulius Valius, who has extensive experience in organizing exhibitions, the development of the exhibition concept gained momentum. Saulius heads the board of the Čiurlionis Society, so his interest was sincere, and his visions were bold, at the same time very suitable for this space. The creative team included artists Aistė Valiūtė and Daumantas Plechavičius, who have a subtle sense of documentary material and ingeniously visualize it. I am grateful to my colleagues at the institute for their help – Salomė Bandoriūtė-Leikienė and others.
What makes the exhibition unique? "Čiurlionis and His Contemporaries at the First Lithuanian Art Exhibition"?
The idea of “Čiurlionis and His Contemporaries at the First Lithuanian Art Exhibition” is unique in that there have been no attempts to create a video projection narrative from historical material in an authentic space. The visitor will feel as if they are in a hall of that time – they will be surrounded by paintings hanging in two surviving interior photos, and their colors will gradually come to life… The viewer will symbolically move through six rooms (that is how many rooms the historical exhibition occupied) through different thematic sections.
There are interesting materials that have survived, which this method of exhibition can most effectively “speak” to – highlighting the details and textures of the artifacts. In addition, visitors will be surrounded by the interior decor of the building, which has changed little in almost 120 years. Imagine, even the parquet is the same, the same floor tiles, the shoulders of the bricks in the lobby; we have a chair left over from the First Exhibition, not to mention the artifacts, publications or manuscripts related to the exhibition.
The exhibition opening will take place over two days. What can we expect at the opening events?
Exhibition opening events will take place on May 20 and 21 - at that time one of the ensemble's buildings will be decorated with flags stretching across the facade. Guests, whom we will be waiting for in the courtyard, will be invited to enter through the door, which was opened by the organizers and visitors of the First Lithuanian Art. Those doors - like in some "Buratino's Adventures" - were as if "lost the key", not opened, and now they will open to those who come, beautifully restored and decorated. Visitors will be treated to six theatrical presentations-excursions, which will reveal interesting details about this event so important for modern Lithuanian culture. While the actors are talking, the video projections shining on the three walls will constantly change, so it is advisable not to forget to look around (smiling). These are not 3D glasses, but they are still an interesting experience that enhances the illusion of time gone by.
Those who missed the opening (due to the size of the space, we can accommodate up to 25 people at a time) will not be disadvantaged - we have created an audio recording for these days that will accompany the video projections.
I would like to add that during the exhibition, it will be possible to listen to public lectures about MK Čiurlionis and his contemporaries. We have prepared a series of them, so we invite you to take a look at the events calendar of the 150th anniversary website ciurlionii150.lt for May 23, June 6, 13, and 20.
At the opening of the exhibition, it will be possible to hear a conversation between the exhibition organizers. How will it take place? Which characters from that time will speak?
At the openings, actors Eglė Tulevičiūtė and Kristijonas Siparis from the "Arbatvakariai" theater will perform between the paintings, embodying the characters of A. Žmuidzinavičius and Sofija Gimbutaitė.
Why them? Žmuidzinavičius – was the main organizer of the exhibition at that time: he knew all the details of the exhibition. And S. Gimbutaitė – an undeservedly forgotten supporter of artists – she participated in the establishment of not only the Lithuanian, but also the international Vilnius Art Society, the Lithuanian Art Society was registered at her address… You will hear more in the presentation. I wrote the script for this conversation based on all the memoir material available today, reviews of the First Lithuanian Art Exhibition – from their sources a colorful picture of the cultural movement of the early 20th century emerges.
