French Influence on Antanas Gudaitis's Painting

Looking ' South': French Influence on Antanas Gudaitis's Painting

JOLITA MULEVIČIŪTĖ Institute for Culture, Philosophy and Art Vilnius

"The years spent in Paris ivere the happiest of my life... I con Gudaitis's decision to leave for Paris was not excep sider myself a painter formed in Paris. .. "' tional at the time. At the end of the 1920s, many Lithuanian Antanas Gudaitis (1904-1989) artists related their professional careers to this European cultural center—in replacement of earlier priorities. Even THIS STATEMENT, by one of Lithuania's most famous 20th until 1914, Paris played a peripheral role; artistic intelli century painters, is rather paradoxical. Gudaitis, often called gentsia descending from Lithuania was attracted, first of all, the pioneer of the national school of painting—whose to Warsaw, Cracow, Munich and St. Petersburg.2 After works were considered to embody the principal features of World War I and the resulting territorial conflict with Lithuanian style—thought of himself as an artist formed by Poland and the complication of its relations with Bolshevik the culture which he had explored during his studies in Paris Russia, the young Republic had to adjust its orientations in 1929-1933. This ambiguity, lying in Gudaitis's biogra formed during the second half of the 19th century. The phy, prompts us to question the boundary between young state turned its attention to Germany which, antici foreign/local and general/specific perspective as it arises in pating the end of the war unfavorable to itself, supported discussions on regional history. Furthermore, the painter's Lithuanian independence even in the middle of armed bat heritage reflecting the main local trends of the 1930s is pre tles: it expected to create a puppet buffer state and weaken scient in examining the internal attitudes and international the position of Russia in the Baltic region. Although the relations of inter-war Lithuanian art. German initiative failed, during the immediate post-war years, the political, economic and cultural relations between the two countries remained close. The Choice of Paris Meanwhile, France, the former member of the Gudaitis arrived in Paris in the autumn of 1929, after less Entente, was ill-disposed towards Lithuania. Raymond than three years spent at Kaunas Art School and at the Poincare looked at Lithuania as a province of the powerful Faculty of Humanities of the Lithuanian University: there states that accidentally became independent. On the one he formed his leftist world-view, mastered the elements of hand, the President and later the Prime-Minister of France post-impressionist painting and acquired a strong determi hoped for the re-establishment of the Russian empire; on nation to find a personal way through the labyrinth of mod the other hand, he supported in every possible way the ernist trends. An extraordinary event—the student strike interests of Poland including the solution of the problem of that shook the Art School that year—induced him to leave Vilnius painful to Lithuanians.3 Hence, it is quite under his homeland. This act of youth protest directed against the standable that the image of France as a political and cultural conservative program of education and outdated views of authority was not popular at the beginning of the period of teachers has been regarded, in the Lithuanian historiogra independence in Lithuania. Too, the conservative environ phy, as a turn towards avant-garde principles. I should add, ment of the local spiritual life did not stimulate the dissem that it was a very late turn in relation to the chronology of ination of French culture. For instance, in 1921, the Latvian the Western art processes and the development of the painter Romans Suta visiting Kaunas did not notice any neighboring Baltic countries. As an active organizer of the influence of the newer Parisian art trends; therefore he strike, Gudaitis spent two months in jail and later was encouraged Lithuanians to free themselves from stagnation expelled from the only art school in Lithuania. Afterwards, and to look for inspiration in French modernism.'' Indeed, he decided not to return to his alma mater but to look for in the early 1920s, differently from Latvians, Lithuanian educational possibilities abroad. artists fixed on neo-roinantic ideals treated French art with

128 CENTROPA Л.2: MAY 20(16 reserve and sometimes even negatively accused it of cosmo often took the advice of Polish colleagues7 or of Jewish politan ambitions harmful to the artistic originality of a artists descending from Lithuania. For instance, Arbit Blatas nation. (Neemija Arbitblatas) who communicated closely with the However, in time the Lithuanian political and cultural newcomers from his native town helped Gudaitis solve his attitude of the elite changed. With the strengthening of the initial problems in Paris. It is most probable that it was Arbit national-socialist movement, the appeal of Germany dimin Blatas that took the Lithuanian painter to Andre Lhote's ished, and Lithuanians started to look for. other interna studio. tional partners. "To reinforce Lithuanian cultural resilience, we should look for antidotes in Anglo-Celtic, French and even Italian cultures. Because of the similarity of our situa Schools and Teachers tions, we should study in detail Belgian, Czech and Swiss Apart from Lhote, during his first months in .Paris, Gudaitis, cultural experiences; with regard to national immunity the attended the Russian painter and scenographer Aleksandra studies of Japanese, Jewish, Irish, Canadian French and Exters lessons and classes at the Academic Julian chosen by some other nations that have fought wisely for their sur many Lithuanian students, presumably because of the glo vival are most necessary for us," argued the geographer rious past of this private educational institution—connected Kazys Pakštas, attempting to trace an alternative orienta to the French art celebrities who had studied there. 5 tion. In this process of the transformation of international However, the painter did not stay at these schools for long; allegiance, France came to play a distinguished role. he was unsatisfied with the routine of classes, the rigid By the end of the first decade of independence, France teaching principles of the famous pedagogues and the nar won over Germany and took the most significant place row unified stylistic requirements for student's works. Later among geo-cultural preferences of Lithuania. The attitude Gudaitis described his impression of Lhote's method in the of France also changed: its disregard for Lithuania was following way: "Already at that time I thought that it was replaced by the principles of cooperation and efforts to some kind of cubist academism; it was neither a nature study strengthen its influence in the region. Furthermore, this nor the formation of an artist's individuality. After working turning-point in inter-state relations corresponded to the a month or more, I became disappointed by Andre Lhote's changes in Lithuanian culture: it was at that time that a new system. Those who thought that it was possible to learn art generation of painters, writers, actors and musicians, deter could find out much about Rubens's dynamic of forms, mined to change the stagnant course of national art, rhythms and color contrasts here. The teacher helped. matured. "Such nice content but such bad poetry!" However, these are the rules, and you could not create art exclaimed Petras Juodelis, in 1929, criticizing Petras from them."8 Vaičiūnas's patriotic verse/' This young literary critic's dis Gudaitis did not admire a rational, normative arid the satisfaction was inspired by the same desire for renewal that oretically based manner, he was attracted by an impulsive had provoked the Kaunas Art School students' strike that and more personal mode of expression. Perhaps this incli radically changed Gudaitis's biography. • nation was related not only to his individual temperament Gudaitis was not the first one to study in Paris. Alumni but also to his Lithuanian cultural experience. The artist of the Kaunas Art School started to travel to Paris system arrived from a country that lacked the teaching traditions of atically from the end of 1926, usually supported by modest academic art. During the 1830s and 1860s, the government state stipends. At the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, the sculp of tsarist Russia destroyed Lithuanian institutions of higher tors Juozas Mikėnas and Robertas Antinis, the painter education. Therefore, even until World War I, no art school Viktoras Vizgirda, the sccnographer Stasys Ušinskas, and of a higher level functioned in Lithuania. Moreover, after the graphic artists Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas and Jonas the 1863 rebellion, all local art teachers who had graduated Steponavičius, to mention only a few, honed their profes from the art academies in St. Petersburg and Western sional skills there for a longer or shorter time. These artists, Europe were expelled from primary and secondary schools. and Gudaitis who was one of the most active among them, They were replaced by newcomers of Russian origin, most later formed the main views of Lithuanian art of the 1930s. frequently graduates of the schools of so-called technical It is characteristic that the young students would travel pen drawing in Russia. These teachers oriented their students niless, with no knowledge of the French language and the towards a practical craft. Even the Kaunas Art School specificities of the French educational system. There was founded in 1922 had only the status of an advanced educa no Lithuanian diaspora in Paris at the time; therefore the tional institution. Until the 1930s (and to some extent later) newcomers attempting to overcome their difficult situation this school lacked a consistent, purposeful teaching method-

LOOKIN'G 'SOUTH' 129 ized image of European avant-garde art. It was one's local artistic mentality that might explain why Lithuanians arriv ing in Paris did not admire, with some rare exceptions, edu cational institutions such as the Academie Lhote and did not pay much attention to surrealism and various trends of abstract art based on complex aesthetic theories and philo sophical speculations. The experience received at the above-mentioned schools, however, did influence Gudaitis's style. At Lhote's studio the artist learned to better compose a painting and mastered the ways of recreating forms characteristic of post- cubist art (Fig. 1). The principles of stylization of Art Deco and initial knowledge of scenography received at Exter's courses (Fig. 2) later enabled Gudaitis to design for perform ances at the Kaunas State Theater. It was no accident that in 1938 Gudaitis was officially acknowledged and received his first state award as a stage-designer. However, the general artistic atmosphere in Paris, and not his teachers, left a deeper imprint on the formation of his personality. As for many newcomers from Lithuania, the French capital itself, its museums and galleries, became the main school for Gudaitis. His chaotic studies were supplemented by the constant evening sessions of independent drawing at 1 Oil painting. Antanas Gudaitis. Still Life with Pears. 1935. Coll: artist's the Academie Colarossi. Soon motifs drawn from the family, Vilnius (Photo: Antanas Lukšėnas) Parisian environment and uncharacteristic of Lithuanian art appeared in Gudaitis's paintings and graphic works: musi cians, circus artists (Fig. 3), lovers, and women with fruit and flowers. Sometimes he would follow one or another ology. It was rather a conglomerate of teachers who gradu artistic authority. For instance, he was clearly fascinated by ated from various schools and not an organization follow Georges Braque, Andre Derain, Henri Matisse, and Pablo ing a system of academic principles. The ideals of national Picasso, particularly by the latter's monumental and tem romanticism predominated in the view of the pedagogues, peramental manner (Fig. 4). However, Paul Cezanne and their stylistic exemplar was a mix of Art Nouveau and impressed him most. An exhibition of this icon of mod post-impressionim taken from German, Polish and Russian ernism in Montmartre left an indelible imprint in Gudaitis's sources; most frequently the interpretations of decorative memory. "[A]mong some twenty works I saw'Boy with the realism enriched by plein-airism and colorism flourished at Red Vest'... Until now I remember the work itself less the school. Thus, the things against which in 1929 the stu than the impression I had standing by this painting. After dent artists protested did not include the sophisticated pos seeing it I was literally shaken for a few seconds. ..," tulates of classical aesthetics, the explicit rules of academism remarked Gudaitis after many years.9 This experience was or even naturalism inspired by the positivist ideology rem not a superficial and direct admiration: in the Lithuanian iniscent of a 19th century prototype; it was rather the pro artist's paintings we can find only remote reflections of tracted elements of early modernism, i.e. the situation of Cezanne's style (Fig. 5). Perhaps at that time in Montmartre art development that many Central and Eastern European the young student experienced something that can be called countries in more favorable political and cultural conditions the discovery of the system of painting. experienced at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. This eclectic and vague artistic environment with no creative ori Cezanne provided Gudaitis with a conception of the entation, like a latent historical tradition dominated by util logic of forms that he and the whole Lithuanian school of itarian knowledge, did not motivate the younger generation painting lacked. He enabled an understanding not only of to radicalize and conceptualize their protest nor provide it the means of decorative stylization offered by Exter and with a strong theoretical basis. Most protesters relied on Lhote but of the essential principles of the image construc individuality, abstract slogans of innovation and a general tion based on an intensive interplay of form and color. For

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2 Gouache drawing. Antanas Gudaitis. Costume of a Spanish Woman. 1931. Coll: artiwst's family, Vilnius (Photo: Antanas Lukšėnas)

3 Oil painting. Antanas Gudaitis. In the Circus. 1932. Coll: artist's family, Vilnius (Photo: Antanas Lukšėnas)

4 Oil painting. Ammans Gudaitis. Modier and Child. 1930. Coll: Lithuanian Art Museum (Photo: Arūnas Baltėnas)

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LOOKING 'SOUTH' 131 tial patron of art during two inter-war decades did not admire the idea of artistic autonomy. To tell the truth, it did not attempt to form a rigid unified cultural policy and to constrain the artistic intelligentsia by force. The rule of Antanas Smetona established after the 1926 anti-democratic coup d'etat resembled, in many ways, a home drill and not a totalitarian regime in its true meaning. The freedom of art was limited by something different, namely the utilitar ian attitude of the state institutions towards art. In a coun try which lacked modern and practical everyday home appliances artists were expected to create works of utilitar ian nature. Applied and decorative arts were encouraged with financial support and ideological propaganda. For instance, President Smetona openly declared that art, first of all, "should manifest itself in things that people encounter everyday," i.e. in textiles, applied graphic art and architec ture." There even existed extreme opinions arguing that fine arts did not have any possibility of developing in Lithuania and that the petty-bourgeois Republic would only be able to cultivate applied arts. These and similar state ments were ofteri based on interpretations of Bauhaus ideas or on arguments inspired by Russian constructivism. However, these modernized conceptions basically subli

5 Oil painting. Antanas Gudaitis. Two Nudes. 1930. Coll: artist's family, mated a previously-established content, an attitude formed Vilnius (Photo: Jolita Mulevičiūtė). by the administration of the Russian Empire to direct the artistic life of the North Western region toward handicrafts.

Adhering to the utilitarian position, the Lithuanian government largely supported those young artists who went Gudaitis, Cezanne revealed a way of transforming the forms abroad to study various fields of applied arts. Those who of nature into autonomous artistic structures without losing wanted to master the technologies of mural painting, a connection with material visuality. At the time, influenced mosaic, furniture construction or ceramics readily secured by the ideas of this famous Frenchman, Gudaitis declared: state stipends. Thus Gudaitis, overwhelmed by financial dif "Art is an independent phenomenon of nature and its part, ficulties in Paris had to find a compromise. Attempting to among its other phenomena. It is not a follower and imita get a state grant, in 1930 the painter entered the tor of the phenomena of nature and life ... Art is related to Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers. a human being and nature as a tree is related to the miner In the 1930s, the Conservatoire was one of the most als in the soil or a fish to water in which it grows and feeds. popular educational institutions among Lithuanians in Nature and a human being are only a food for art and a Paris. There for almost three years Gudaitis attended Henri place in which it can grow in order to acquire a completely Marcel Magne's practical lessons on mural painting and lis new essence, form and content and to constitute a separate tened to his course on the history of applied arts. He was phenomenon in the world. Art returns to life as marvelous impressed not so much by this professor's artistic manner as mountains and waters ... The most important objective that seemed already outdated but by his erudition and tech of art is to exist, to be reborn constantly and by obtaining nological mastery. For instance, the ceramicist Liudvikas new forms to supplement the content, essence and harmony Strolis who studied at this school at the same time remem of the world."1" bered: "Prof. H. M. Magne's lectures on applied This declaration of autonomy was meaningful and arts ... were very important to us since the professor ... timely in the context of the slogans of patriotic servility encouraged us to explore the artistic heritage of the old expressed in the Lithuanian press. At the beginning of the epochs and use the positive things from those times in our 1930s, most young artists approved of this declaration. own works. He would often direct our attention to the However, the conditions in Lithuania were unfavorable for knowledge of materials of the artists of the past and their this view to develop. The state whicli was the only substan

132 CENTROPA 6.2: MAY 2006 ability to use the features of local resources. He valued the attitude toward artistic creation as a noble, heroic act sup antique ceramics highly, particularly the Greek ways of dec plementing the harmony of existence. oration including the principles of compositions used to Not only his personal inclinations and the circum depict life and mythological scenes."12 stances that forced him to enter the Conservatoire National At the Conservatoire, Gudaitis mastered die traditional des Arts et Metiers determined the evolution of Gudaitis's technique of mural painting and the ways to express mon views. They were also affected by the whole Parisian atmos umental imagery. According to Magne's instructions, phere. The post-avant-garde tendencies that appeared in reworking the same composition for 20 or 30 times, the the Parisian art of the 1930s reduced the opposition Lithuanian artist acquired a sense of a plain, simple and between modernism and traditionalism characteristic of the integral form. Although after returning to Lithuania, beginning of the 20th century and prompted a process of Gudaitis barely used his decorative painting skills,13 his the synthesizing of historical experience and artistic innova studies at the Conservatoire were significant to him, pro tion.15 It is possible to argue that Gudaitis and his contem viding him not only with craftsmanship. The Parisian artis poraries became interested in the goals of renewal tic life prompted Gudaitis to delve into the fundamentals inopportunely, too late, when the breakthroughs of Parisian of modern painting, while Professor Magne's lectures artists unfolded a wide range of old 'isms.' 'Neohurnanism,' showed him the values characteristic of classical art. 'neorealism,' 'neoromanticism,' 'neoclassicism'—this spec trum of contemporary aesthetic and stylistic trends undoubtedly affected the newcomers' ideals. On the other In the Environment of the Post-Avant-Garde hand, Parisians themselves often evaluated the Lithuanian Gudaitis's views matured in a complicated intersection artists' works in the context of neoconservativism, and between modernism and tradition. The young Lithuanian encouraged them to develop this artistic mode. For wanted to become a modern artist but there existed a strong instance, the painter Adomas Galdikas's exhibition organ attraction to the past in his desire. In Paris he studied, ized at the Atelier Francais in Paris in 1931 received equally, both the works of his contemporaries and the col WaFIdemar George's Qerzy Waldemar Jarociński) atten lections at the Louvre museum. He was particularly tion: the influential critic who, in the 1930s, severely con impressed by the expression of coloring and light charac demned the cosmopolitanism of the Ėcole de Paris and teristic of Titian's, Rembrandt's, Veronese's, and Goya's invited the French to rely on a Roman heritage was masterpieces. In the Louvre, the artist would often stop attracted by the spirit of national romanticism characteris 16 before Rembrandt's canvas 'Supper at Emmaus' or Titian's tic of this Lithuanian's works. picture 'The Entombment of Christ'. Painting or drawing, Furthermore, local art because of its lack of academic he would often use classical iconography: he would depict skills as well as contradictory Lithuanian historical self- Lothario's Son, Salome, Susan and the Old Men, Christ, awareness motivated artists to turn back to tradition. and The Madonna (mother with a child). By using Biblical Lithuanians encountering challenges created by independ motifs, the Lithuanian free-thinker attempted to develop ence and experiencing the crisis of their historical identity the topics of love, sacrifice, moral downfall and spiritual looked not only for models of cultural modernization that rebirth that have fascinated artists for many centuries. they could follow but also for fundamental and durable val Sometimes his palette would become dark and brownish ues in Western art. Therefore, for many, the modernized with sparkles of light as if being taken from a museum; tradition offered by post-avant-garde Paris became the most sometimes his painting would acquire Mediterranean mon- acceptable way to realize their discrepant objectives. Young umentality. Lithuanian artists used their Parisian double-folded experi It is clear that Gudaitis was looking for a 'third way' in ence comprised of the expectations of modernism and the order to combine innovations of contemporary painting imperatives of traditionalism in their homeland. The 'Ars' with lessons of art history. Even among modernists he chose group that existed in the temporary capital of Lithuania Cezanne, the artist who "gave sanction to the ideal of inno during 1932-1935 can be cited as one of the most distin vative, personal forms of'classicism'" as his main author guished examples of such practice. ity.14 Both Professor Magne's lectures and Cezanne's paintings uniting the principles of Nicolas Poussin and avant-garde aesthetics implanted in Gudaitis a sense of pic To Rebel or Serve? torial order and the notion of the 'grand style' characteris Already in 1930 Gudaitis had the idea of organizing a group tic of classical art. This Parisian experience formed Iiis of modernist artists in Kaunas similar to French groups.

LOOKING 'SOUTH' 133 Until then there existed only several traditional associations difficult beginning of work,'and the doomed art that lived united more by professional and social objectives than by in the stagnant forms of the past; philistines associated with purposeful aesthetic programs. Even the Society of stereotypes were also ridiculed. However, it was possible to Independent Artists founded the same year and comprised notice, in the insolent phraseology of the 'Ars' manifesto of ambitious newcomers of Lithuanian art did not differ that offended many contemporaries, the disposition unchar much, in its vague description of activity, from previous acteristic of the Lithuanian literary avant-garde: "An organizations. Meanwhile, the future association, the core unquenchable desire to start work anew. We are not obliv of which had to consist of young artists who had graduated ious to the fact that it is a difficult work and that our forces from the Parisian art schools or who still studied there, was are young and yet unfocused ... We are determined to serve determined to form an ideological opposition to the local this epoch of our renascent homeland and to create the style artistic community. of this epoch [italicized in original]."Is Differently from the In 1932, an exhibition of the work of Lithuanian artists avant-gardists of Keturi vėjai admiring the force of revolu living in Paris and Kaunas was organized. In the exhibition tionary destruction ("Smiling we trample poetic flower gar 19 of this 'Ars' group, besides Gudaitis, the already mentioned dens with our wide soles" ), in the 1930s, artists 'Parisians' Vizgirda, Mikėnas, Jonynas, and Steponavičius emphasized the importance of selfless work and service for participated; they were joined by Antanas Samuolis, gradu the national culture and saturated their uncompromising ate of the Kaunas Art School, Telesforas Kulakauskas, stu statements with the positive social content. dent of graphics, and two teachers of this institution, The character of the 'Ars' show was also ambiguous. Galdikas and Mstislav Dobuzhinsky who, after leaving The public of Kaunas was disturbed by geometric forms and Soviet Russia and a short stay in Paris, lived and worked in shocked by the images of reality resembling children's draw Kaunas from 1929-1938. A special publication was issued ings; However, behind the intense strokes and the sweeping for the exhibition which included a short introduction, a lines, one can feel the inner harmony, pensive peace and the kind of manifesto, signed by the participants: "The world artistic constructions governed by moderation and logic. and particularly our nation have started a new epoch. After Indeed, most members of the group did not transcend the five long centuries, once again we join the grand cultural principles of post-avant-gardist figurativism. Jonynas's and competition of the European nations. However, looking Steponavičius's prints were marked by a clear, well-balanced around, we are convinced that the lack of deeper artistic dis order of image elements and ornamental stylization charac-. coveries and the imitation of art forms worn long ago kill teristic of Art Deco. Mikėnas's monumental tectonic sculp our art... An art work is a new reality of life. We desire to tures reminded of the Parisian prototypes, the neoclassicist enrich our lives with new values."17 works of Charles Despiau and Aristide Maillol. The large In the history of Lithuanian art, this text became the part of Gudaitis's canvases painted during 1930-1932 in first document that consciously expressed slogans of resist Paris revealed the influence of post-cubist art. ance and used the rhetoric of conflict and challenge. The The iconographic range was even more moderate. In participants in this exhibition declared, in this document, this exhibition, there were almost no urban motifs charac their disdain for the Lithuanian artists' achievements of the teristic of the magazine Keturi vėjai; insistently demon 1920s and their strong desire to compete as equals with strated attributes of modern life-style as well as reflections other nations that rapidly marched on the path of cultural on the war were also omitted. Here, the young artists exhib progress. Gudaitis and Vizgirda were the authors of this ited mostly familiar landscapes, portraits, still-lifes, and fig text, and the writer Juozas Petrćnas, who froml924-1928 urative compositions on the topics of love, motherhood, and participated in the movement of avant-gardist writers clus rural everyday life. The content of their works was full of tered around the magazine Keturi vėjai (Four Winds), edited 'reliability'; it incited the sense of'eternal' values. It is symp it. The choice of an editor was not incidental: the members tomatic that Mikėnas even decorated a poster for the exhi of the 'Ars' group considered themselves partially to be suc bition of the new group with a 'neo-Grcek' image of a cessors of the literary movement inspired by German woman that seemingly symbolized the unchanged and per expressionism and Russian futurism ready to repeat their fect nature of art (Fig. 6). predecessors' deeds in the sphere of their own profession. It Hence, the general character of the 'Ars' exhibition was is obvious then that the 1932 declaration turned out to be not as radical as it might have seemed to a visitor. However, rather similar to the programmatic address published in the debut of this group created a scandal in Kaunas. The Keturi vėjai in 1924. In both manifestos, the note of youth protests of colleagues flooded state institutions and the ful activism was evident. Both declarations mentioned the press. Artists of the older generation were displeased by the

134 CEN'TROPA (>.2: MAY 2IH1C negative attitude towards their works declared in the man ifesto. An impulsive expression characteristic of some ČIURL.IONIES GALERIJA exhibits, particularly paintings, seemingly destroying the M. aftujif »oa.~мнюо2|фЛЛ.П — Ш vu. if m—пинии иЛолщугмл rules of professional art, also aroused their indignation. But the emotional mode of representation that irritated the artistic elite of Kaunas was not related directly to the Parisian influences, though it was denounced as decadently Western. The sources of this free expression were located within a Lithuanian folk art tradition.

Gudaitis and Lithuanian Expressionism In their 'Ars' manifesto, the members of the group empha sized, along with the achievements of European mod ernism, the importance of Lithuanian folk art: "We see in the distance, from the perspective of many ages, a grand artistic culture. Christ in sorrow, folktales, and songs. These are grand remains of art storing sublime examples for us hidden in the walls of museums or being eroded by the wind of our twilight."20 In the statements of the group, the into nation of monumental romanticism was heard as if they spoke of the rarefied remains of Antiquity or the glorious monuments of the Renaissance.

A respectful attitude towards the heritage of rural cul Dobuzlnnkls, QakUKas, Gudaitis, 'Jonynas, Kulakauskas, ture was already instilled at the Kaunas Art School. It was Mlkvnaa, SamulevICIu», Steponavičius, Vizgirda.

Į.Į. Tl ilmiii, ищи!,, „,| due to the fact that nationalism formed on the ethno-lin- 7 guistic ground eliminated from the Lithuanian cultural horizon entire periods of the history of'alien' professional 6 Poster for exhibition of the art group Ars. 1932. Juozas Mikėnas. Coll: 21 art. Therefore, traditional works of self-educated village M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum (Photo: Arūnas Baltėnas) masters were regarded as the only authentic source of inspi ration. "We had to continue our own art tradition since the relationship to the Lithuanian art of previous centuries had been severed. We had little knowledge of it. At the art and encouraged them to use those principles in their works school, we had no lectures on our art history ...," remem of art. The attitudes of both Magne and most of his con 22 bered Gudaitis. Hence, leaving for Paris, the artist took temporaries differed from the views of modernists of the with himself what he considered most valuable and most beginning of the 20th century who saw, in the primitive cul Lithuanian,—several little sculptures of anonymous wood- tures, an opposition to conventional academic art, namely a carvers. In Paris he constantly drew and painted these sphere of free, primeval visuality. However, at the time folk wooden 'deities', this way refreshing the memories of his art served as a source of durable, deep structures of ethnic homeland (Fig. 7). mentality transferred from one generation to another which It should be emphasized that the inter-war ideological could motivate the aesthetic ideals of neo-traditionalism. context was very favorable for the resurrection of Such views, popular at the time, incited Gudaitis's Lithuanian folk art. The ideas of nation and race dissemi desire to combine the innovations of Western modernism nated in the 1920 and 1930s prompted European society to with the experience of Lithuanian folk art and to continue become interested in ethnic heritage: exhibitions of peas a historical development of national culture. Hence, the ant works were organized, music and verbal folklore was artist's initial intentions were not avant-gardist at all: the collected, and comprehensive ethnological works were pub painter looked at the works of self-educated Lithuanians as lished.2' The aforementioned Henri Marcel Magne also the French looked at Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, or thought highly of folk art. He explained the principles of the Italians at Piero delta Francesca's masterpieces. primitive representation to his students at the Conservatoire However, the possibilities that Gudaitis found in folk art

LOOKING 'SOUTH' 13S 7 Oil painting. Antanas Gudaitis. Still Life with Statuette. 1930. Coll: M. 8 Oil painting. Antanas Gudaitis. A Footbridge across Pakalupis in K. Curlionis National Art Museum (Photo: Rimantė Ropytė) Viekšniai. 1933. Coll: Lithuanian Art Museum (Photo: Antanas Lukšėnas)

were identical to experiments in modernist art. The deter rough images (Fig. 8). A scene might emerge without any mination to reject stylization characteristic of the beginning rational methodical preparation; as if not the learned rules of the 20th century and base oneself on the logic of auto- but the artist's inborn intuition alone brought some balance didactic creative work overturned the entire scale of tradi to this elemental painting and united all the components tional aesthetic criteria. It eliminated the category of beauty, into the whole. the objective to imitate nature, the requirement for profes The things that Gudaitis learned by studying the exam sional mastery and moral and patriotic obligations. The fas ples of folk art essentially corresponded to the representa cination with a nai've folk artist's imagination that did not tional principles of expressionism. At that time a free and experience any pressure from academic rules promoted, spontaneous brushwork, an impulsive emotional expression above all, the emotional effect of a picture. This notion of conveying individual authentic experiences and psychic a creative work had little relation to Gudaitis's primary tra states became the foundation of his creative work. These ditionalist views. For this notion to mature, a different traits prompted some art historians to speak of the relation basis—the rudiments of modernist aesthetics that Gudaitis ship of the stylistics of Gudaitis (and some of his contempo received from the Parisian art lessons, were necessary. raries) to German expressionism. However, in attempting to Gudaitis fully devoted himself to the inspirations of relate these works to the sphere of German culture, the crit folk art only on returning from Paris to Lithuania. In the ics had to describe a specific character of Lithuanian paint Samogitian landscapes painted in the summer of 1933 traces ing and look for inescapable reservations.24 It should be of the French post-cubist art, artistic grace, bravado of noted, that, despite the typological affinity, similarly sim stroke, light and lucid construction of an image, disap plified color scale, dynamic brush stroke and a dramatic dis peared. Lyricism colored by quiet melancholy, a character tortion of forms, there were some apparent discrepancies. istic trait of the Ecole de Paris, also vanished. Heavy, deep For instance, some researchers indicated iconographic con- tones were lain down in awkward traces. Oil-colors clotted scrvativism and emotional restraint as characteristic of in thick splotches, mixed together, concentrated to create Gudaitis's paintings. However, the differences of the image

136 C E NT ROTA C.2: MAY 201)6 structure itself are even more significant. The Lithuanian rate fragments and to turn into eccentric contrasts or dis- artist preferred a balanced contrast and composition that proportional formations. French rationalism infused helped him form a coherent and solid painterly texture. Lithuanian 'baroque' sensitivity with an internal discipline Meanwhile, German expressionists favored dissonance, did and a balance of emotional expression and formal arrange not avoid disconcerting extremities, used different kinds of ment. In the same year after an intensive yet short period of means of expression combining the elements of abstraction primitivism, Gudaitis moved towards more constructivist and naturalism. Gudaitis was inclined towards an open, stylistics (Fig. 9). Furthermore, he would revive more often pathetic rhetoric of an image; German expressionists stim the reminiscences of the Louvre that encouraged him to use ulated spectators with complicated subconscious impulses the schemes of classical composition, to invoke the tradi and hidden symbolism. Although all of them drew their tional play of lights and shadows and to choose larger can inspiration from their own cultural past, they touched upon vas formats. His neo-traditionalist tendencies particularly different layers of collective memory: the Germans revived intensified in 1939, after Gudaitis's visit to Italy. His impres experiences of the Gothic, and Gudaitis, remembrances of sions of Florence, Venice and Rome spilled into the por the Baroque. traits of Samogitian villages based on the combination of To tell the truth, the 'primeval' imagination of the 'renaissance' monumentality with an emotional folk percep Lithuanian rural masters that inspired Gudaitis was devel tion (Fig. 10). These paintings, created two weeks before oped in the framework of the tradition of the Baroque cul World War II, belong to some of the most mature and sug ture. The Baroque—a style that once flourished mainly in gestive works of the inter-war period in the Lithuanian art the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania—had an history. In the 1960s they became examples to follow for immense impact on local artistic taste and world-views of many painters who attempted to resist the dogmas of Soviet different social strata. It left strong imprints both on profes art and refer to the heritage of modernism of the independ sional art and folk art. Until the 19th century, many folk ent Republic. However, along with the visual 'language' of versions of this style proliferated, such as the sculptures and expressionism characteristic of Gudaitis's works, artists of paintings widespread in the churches of small towns, road the second wave of modernization necessarily revived the side chapels and village cemeteries which survived in the ideals of Parisian post-avant-garde, at the same time finding Lithuanian landscape. Moreover, the manifestations of the themselves in the same ambivalent situation which had once Baroque were still alive in the works of self-educated wood- determined their predecessor's artistic outlook. carvers of the inter-war period that repeated historical forms and iconographic motifs. Samogitia was particularly * * * distinguished by this heritage of folk Baroque. Like Brittany Thus, in the 1930s, the formation of Gudaitis's individual for the French, and Podhale for Poles, Samogitia was, for style was influenced by two main factors—the Paris school Lithuanians, an object of constant attraction and a place of and local folk tradition. The combination of these two influ study. At the beginning of the 20th century and particularly ences had unexpected consequences. For instance, in the 1920s and 1930s, artists collected the old handicraft Gudaitis's trip to Paris began with his creative liberation articles of country artisans, painted landscapes that pre and his striving for innovations and ended with his discov served archaic everyday details and depicted colorful types ery of classical values. And, on the contrary, the painter of local people. It should be emphasized, that not only his found, in the Lithuanian folk art that had to compensate for aesthetic interest but also his childhood and youth con the lack of a professional art history, possibilities for a free, nected Gudaitis to this region: the artist was born in the expressionist self-realization. largest city of Samogitia, Šiauliai, and lived for a long time Gudaitis did not resist the influence of the Ecole de in the Samogitian province. Thus his return to his native Paris, did not dispute it and did not look for any aesthetic realm influenced immensely his artistic imagination and alternatives. His Lithuanian and French experiences func triggered his creative energy. tion in his paintings as harmonious complements. A similar Looking at his works painted in the summer of 1933, it tight relationship is characteristic of modernist and tradi is possible to think that Gudaitis had simply forgotten his tional elements in his works. Looking at the artist's canvases, Parisian skills. However, it would be an incorrect conclu it is sometimes difficult to draw the line between the inno sion. His Parisian experience was submerged in a deep vative experiments and the manifestations of the past. Here visual layer. It became a binding system and a means of pro the past and modernity are inseparable; they function in tection that even at moments of most intensive inspiration each other, through each other, becoming the undivided did not allow the visual structure to disintegrate into sepa driving mechanism of the painter's imagination.

LOOKING 'SOUTH' 137 9 Oil painting. Antanas Gudaitis. New Settlers. 1933. Coll: Lithuanian 10 Oil painting. Antanas Gudaitis. Samogitian Woman on Holidays. Art Museum (Photo: Arūnas Baltėnas) 1939. Coll: Lithuanian Art Museum (Photo: Arūnas Baltėnas)

A peaceful coexistence of these elements was deter not been heard in Lithuania. Similarly, Tysliava's efforts to mined by Gudaitis's view of artistic work as a process of enter into relations with the most rebellious wing of the accumulation harmonizing and fusing together the different Paris international avant-garde also remained unnoticed. It sources of inspiration. Despite the rebellious statements was because Lithuanians, real representatives of the post- expressed in the 1930s, a real avant-garde ideology of con avant-garde epoch, looked 'South'. They admired the flict presenting the development of art as a string of resist Mediterranean art of Cezanne, Picasso and Maillol, fol ances and takeovers remained alien to Gudaitis and other lowed the examples of Art Deco, post-cubism and neoclas- Lithuanian artists. It seems that none of them could have sicism and studied the old European masterpieces. agreed without caution with Paul Dermee who in 1928 in Furthermore, even turning back to their own ethnocultural the magazine MUI3A published in Paris by the poet Juozas heritage they used its most 'Southern' layer, manifestations Tysliava wrote: "I declare a New Spirit approaching from of Baroque folk art. Experiencing the crisis of their histor the North! From the North only! Only there it can find its ical identity, in inter-war Paris Lithuanians looked for a fighters! [... ] The age of the imitation of the past has been 'grand tradition' of the European art which they wanted to closed! Locks have been locked, keys have been thrown modernize, recreate and transform into an integral part of 25 away!" The participant of the movement of Dada and one their national culture. of the founders of the famous magazine L'Esprit Nouveau stated the end of the classical art ("This is a terrible word that burns our lips: The Mediterranean sea is the sea of drath") and turned his look 'North': towards non-classical Notes cultures, innovative artistic experiments, and the free and 1. Tomas Sakalauskas. Autuvas Gudaitis. Septyni vakarai su dailininku (Antanas Gudaitis. Seven Evenings with the Artist). Vilnius. 1989. 58. anarchical future of modernism. However, his words had 2. Ewa Bobrowska-Jjkubowska states that at the beginning of the 20th ccn-

138 CENTROPA 6.2: MAY 2llll(i tury, graduates of the Vilnius Drawing School would often go to continue 1933-1939, he taught evening courses for housepainters and in 1938-1940 their studies in Paris (Ewa Bobrowska-Jakubowska. "Vilniaus dailininku, he was the head of die division of Constructional Painting and Decoration karjeros Paryžiuje XX amžiaus pradžioje" (The careers of Vilnius Artists in at the Kaunas State School of Crafts. In fact, in 1934 the painter prepared Paris at the Beginning of die 20th century), Acta Academiae Artima Vilnensis. a project of the Lidiuanian auditorium at Pittsburg University (USA); how 2000. 17. 59. However, this researcher does not pay any attention to the ever this project was his only large-scale work of monumental painting and fact that die absolute majority of 14 students that she mentions was of the applied art. Jewish origin. Poles and Lithuanians chose this city quite seldom. Even 14. Elizabedi Cowling, Jennifer Mundy. On Classic Ground. Picasso, Leger, diose who decided to study in Paris would soon leave for other art centers, de Chirico and the Nor Classicism 1910-19Ш Tate Gallery. London. 1990.68. most frequendy for die more conservative Munich as did Alfred Römer and 15. "En effet, avec la maturation des derniers groupes avant-gardistes, ä la Stanislaw Bohusz-Siestrzeńcewicz in the second half of the 19th century. fin des annėes vingt, s'ouvre une epoque gui se caractėrise par sa conscience The Parisian art did not have much of an influence upon those who stayed post-avant-gardistc et synthetique." (Tomas Llorens Serra. "Le mouvement in Paris for a longer time. For instance, in 1903-1904 and 1905-1906, moderne au moment de la syndiėse," Annėes SO en Europe. Le temps metiacant Antanas Žmuidzinavičius and Petras Rimša did not heed either French post- 1929-1939. Musėe d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris. Paris. 1997. 27). impressionism or the first noisy manifestations of fauvism. 16. Waldemar George. Galdikas. Paris. 1930. 3. After protracted military' action, and ineffective negotiation, in 1922, 17. Ars. Kaunas. 1932. 5. Vilnius (considered by Lithuanians dieir historical capital) passed to the 18. Ibid. hands of Poland. 19. "Mūsų laboratorija" (Our Laboratory), Kauri vėjai. 1924. 1. 4. 4. Faustas Kirša. "Latvių menininkai Kaune" (Latvian Artists in Kaunas), 20. Ars. i. Sekmoji diena. 12 June 1921; "Latviai apie Lietuvos mena" (Latvians about 21. Lithuanians thought of die period between die 1569 Lublin Union, the Lithuanian Art), Sekmoji dicna. 19 June 1921. It should be emphasized, combining federally die states of Lidiuania and Poland and stimulating die that Latvians became interested in the French art, particularly cubism, Polonization of the culture of die Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and die first immediately after World War I. See Dace Lamberga. "Cubism in Latvian Lithuanian periodical publication Ausra [Dawn] issued in 1883 as a string Painting," Modernity and Identity: Art in 1918-1940 (cd: Jolita Mulevičiūtė). of losses in national history. This perception eliminated the entire three Vilnius. 2000. 122-140. centuries from die image of die Lithuanian past. 5. Kazys Pakštas. Baltijos respublikų politine' geografija (Political Geography 22. Sakalauskas. Antanas Gudaitis. Septyni vakarai su dailininku. 80. of the Baltic Republics). Kaunas. 1929. 124. 23. It should be noted, that the culture of the independent Lithuanian 6. Petras Juodelis. "Laiškas p. Kiršai" [A Letter to Mr. Kirša], Piuvis. 1929. Republic was first acknowledged widely precisely for its folk art. In 1925 1.7. Monza (Italy) at the Second Exhibition of Decorative Art, along with other 7. Strained inter-state relations between Lithuania and Poland did not hin European states that presented their modern products, Lidiuanians exhib der the cooperation of the artists of both countries. For instance, the Polish ited the works of rural weavers and wood-careers that were evaluated very artist Józef Pankiewicz helped the Lithuanian painter Viktoras Vizgirda with positively. The short study L'Att rustique et populaire en Lithuanie (Milan. his advice when the latter arrived in Paris in 1926. The poet Juozas Tysliava 1925) by Giuseppe Salvatori published on the occasion of this exhibition settling in Paris in 1927 became a close friend with the artists Wanda and attracted die interest of French specialists. The art historian Henri Focillon, Stanislaw Grabowskis and Henryk Stażewski who supported his intention among others, paid attention to the Lithuanian folk heritage; he used to publish the magazine MUBA devoted to avant-garde art and literature. Lithuanian examples at his lectures at Sorbonne University. Later the direc The Galerie Zak which belonged to the widow of die painter Eugeniusz tor of the Čiurlionis Gallery Paulius Galaunė, in his article "L'Art popu Zak and which often exhibited the works of Polish artists organized laire Lithuanien" (L'Art Vtvant. 15 May 1928. 387-391), presented the Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas's personal exhibition of graphics in 1935. Lithuanian folk art and architecture to French readers. Moreover, the works 8. Sakalauskas. Antanus Gudaitis. Septyni vakarai su dailininku. 40^H. of Lithuanian farmers were presented at the Exhibition of Folk Art of the 9. Ibid. 62. Baltic Countries in Paris in 1935. Hence, the Parisian elite knew the 10. "Meno idėjos ir gyvenimas" [Art Ideas and Life], Naujoji Romuva. 1930. Lithuanian ethnic heritage much better than the works of Lithuanian con 22-23.418. temporary professional artists. 11. Vytautas Alantas. "Tautos Vadas meno klausimais" [The Nation's Leader 24. Jonas Umbrasas who first paid attention to this problem offered the on the Issues of Art], Vairas. 1934. 8-9. 74. term of 'lyric expressionism' later widely accepted by Lithuanian art histo 12. Lietuvių keramikos maestro Liudvikas Strolis [Maestro of the Lithuanian rians. See Jonas Umbrasas. Lietuvių tapybos raida 1900-1940. Srovės ir ten Ceramics Liudvikas Strolis], (ed: Danutė Skromanienė). Lithuanian Art dencijos (Development of Lithuanian Painting in 1900-1940). Vilnius. Museum. Vilnius. 2005. 35. 1987. 13. In this sense, the situation of Lithuania was paradoxical. Although the 25. Paul Dermėe. "Naujoji dvasia eina iš Siaurės" (The New Spirit is state supported in every way the study of applied art and crafts, after grad Approaching from the Nordi), MUBA. 1928. 1. Only two issues of this uating artists rarely used their knowledge. It was due to the fact that magazine have been published. These issues printed poetry, prose, philo Lithuania lacked the technical basis and material resources to develop sophical essays and articles of art criticism in Lithuanian, French, Latvian applied art. For instance, Gudaitis could use his education received in Paris and Polish. Jean Cocteau, Bruno Jasieński, Piet Mondrian, Joseph Delteil, only as a teacher: after returning to Kaunas, he cooperated with the TristanTzara, Georges Vantongerloo, Jan Brzekowski, Andrejs Kurcijs and Chamber of Agriculture that organized courses for craftsmen; in others were among audvors and collaborators of this publication.

LOOKING 'SOUTH' 139