Crossing „Alien” National Boundaries: on the Research O F the Identity O F Vilnius a Rt

Laima Laučkaitė LITHUANIAN INSTITUTE FOR CULTURE RESEARCH, VILNIUS Crossing „Alien” National Boundaries: on the Research o f the Identity o f Vilnius A rt The aim of this article is to analyze the cultural identity of Vilnius as an East European city and the construction of its identity during the twentieth century in the historiography of art. The article is based on my experience accumulated while writing the booker//« Vilnius igoo-igis *. The ideas o f the article grew out as a kind o f spin-off from my work on the book. I believe that in the context o f the issue targeted at the cultural identity of Eastern and Central Europe they can be case-fitting and topical. The article is directed at a short period in the art history o f the city of Vilnius - the beginning of the twentieth century and its interpretation in the Lithuanian historiography o f art. At the start of the twentieth century Vilnius belonged to the so-called Northwest Province of the Russian Empire since in 1795 the Commonwealth of the Two Nations ceased to exist as independent following its partition by Russia, Austria and Prussia. In the Lithuanian and Polish lands annexed by Russia the entire nineteenth century was marked by resistance move ments and uprisings which in their turn were followed by repres sion, deportations, political persecution and economic, religious and cultural reprisals. The early twentieth century witnessed dramatic changes in the life of the empire, and the year 1905 was critical. Russia’s protracted war against Japan and the revo lutionary situation within the country made Tsar Nicholas II sign his October Manifesto, promising the people civil rights based on the person s immunity, freedom of conscience, speech and association. A relatively liberal policy o f the Russian Empire after the October Manifesto stimulated the development o f the annexed areas of the empire. Consequently, the social, political, 1 Lauikaitė (2002); Lau Aaitė (2008). Crossing “Alien" National Boundaries: on the Research of the Identity of Vilnius Art 119 religious, nacional, artistic, and scholarly life was released and various organizations and institutions sprang up, the previously forbidden and heavily censored press began to flourish. In Lithuania, the Manifesto enabled the liberation of the stifled initiative and self-awareness of nations. The Latin al phabet, banned in Polish and Lithuanian writings in 1864, ap peared again in public in Vilnius. Polish, Lithuanian, Jewish and Belarusian organizations, scientific, charitable, professional, cultural and religious societies, and political parties developed their activities. Newspapers, journals and books were published in local languages. Many private Jewish, Polish and Lithuanian primary and secondary schools were established. A l l this meant a sort o f national renaissance for the ethnic communities o f the city. In many cases, for the Lithuanians, Jews and Belarusians, these were their first societies, their first newspapers and maga zines, their first exhibitions and museums, and their first stage shows or concerts. True, this spell of liberalization was short lived, national suppression and persecution were renewed, but at that time they were less violent than before. The development of art was affected by the same political factors as that of culture in general. In the late eighteenth cen tury and in the first decades of the nineteenth century, artis tic activities centered around the University o f Vilnius, where professional artists worked as teachers in the Departments of painting, drawing and sculpture. However, in the aftermath of the uprising of 1831 the university was closed. Political repression led to the stagnation and decline of art in particular in the third quarter of the nineteenth century. The general public showed lit tle interest in art, and artists could not subsist on their work. The situation began to change slowly in the late nineteenth century, and major changes occurred only in the early twentieth century, with the development of capitalism, the growth of the city, and political liberalization. National rebirth revived the cultural life of Vilnius. Young artists began to return to the city after their studies abroad, societies o f artists came into being, art: exhibitions were staged, and new schools of art were established. 2 According to statistics, in 1897 The rise of modern nationalism overwhelmed Vilnius. The Jews accounted for н0% of the city’s city was inhabited by various national communities: according population, but in 1933 this figure to the 1897 census Jews made up 40 per cent, Poles 30 per cent, stood at 29% (54,000) (Tarytu; Lietuvos enciklopedija, 1988: 566): Russians 10 per cent Belarusians 4.1, Lithuanians z.i per cent Święcicki (1933). of the population of the city2. The beginning of the twentieth 120 Laima Laučkaitė Century for the national communities was very important in de fining and consolidating their ethnic identity. Each community was engaged in its own political and cultural activities; it had its v M X. own writers, artists, exhibitions, critics and its own public and ar ČIURLIONIS tistic life. Vilnius art scene o f this period was comprised o f many agents; therefore it can be described as a complex multinational phenomenon. Meanwhile let us focus on the interpretation of this period o f art in the later historiography and subsequent pub lications. It is worth to take a glance at the art history research and survey of the period from 1919 to 1009: what we can learn about Vilnius art of the beginning of the twentieth century from the main stages of the later historiography. Fig. 1. Cover of the book Mikalojus THE INTERWAR PERIOD Konstantinas Čiurlionis edited by Paulius Galaunė, Kaunas 1938 For the new born states of Eastern and Central Europe after the First World War - Poland and Lithuania among them - modern nationalism became a fundamental issue. The ideals o f a uniform nation-state, the ideology promoting the national homogeneous culture and art became predominant. These factors influenced the nature o f the historical research of art, too. In the interwar period professional Lithuanian art history was making its first steps, and art researches were few. The main publications on the art of the start of the twentieth century in the interwar years were scarce, as a rule these were books ded icated to the most prominent artists of the period. Homage to M. K. Čiurlionis was done by a publication in Kaunas on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of his death in 19383 (Fig. 1). A kind of homage to Ferdynand Ruszczyć was paid in Vilnius just after his death in 1939 by the book entitled F erd y n a n d Ruszczyć: life and work4 (Fig. z), almost coinciding with the Fig. 2. Cover of the book Ferdynand publication of the book on Čiurlionis. Both books were special Ruszczyc życic i ilzit lo. Ksicga ibio - luxury editions with numerous reproductions of the pictures row.i (Ferdynand Ruszczyc: Lite and work. Collective book) edited by Jan and articles written by the friends of the artists, most of them Bułhak, Vilnius 1939 from the Vilnius period. Čiurlionis was presented as a national genius of art: “For us, Lithuanians Čiurlionis is especially dear as a witness of Lithuanian national life and a herald of the re birth o f the national Lithuanian spirit”5, euphorically wrote the painter Vytautas Kairiūkštis, a representative o f Constructivism in Lithuanian art. In turn Ruszczyc was positioned in the book ' Galaunė (1938). Ferdynand Ruszczyc: życie i dzieło as an outstanding leader o f ' Bułhak (1939). Polish art, the tutor o f local artists and the cultivator of Vilnius s Kairiūkštis (1938: 66). Crossing “Alien” National Boundaries: on the Research of the Identity of Vilnius Art 121 artistic culture. Actually Čiurlionis and Ruszczyc were teacher and pupil4; and also colleagues who were on good terms living in Vilnius at the same period, but their presentations in the books were quite different. The book about Čiurlionis contained only few hints on the Vilnius period: in his biography his brother Stasys Čiurlionis wrote several sentences stating that during the Vilnius period he worked for the Lithuanian Art Society and met his future wife Sofija Kymantaitė. Not a single word about the context of Vilnius, its art scene or the meaning o f this city for Čiurlionis’ artistic biography can be found in the article. Other authors (composer Vladas Jakubėnas, painter Antanas Žmuidzinavičius, composer Juozas Tallat-Kelpša) did not mention the Vilnius period either; instead in their publications we learn much more about the Warsaw or St. Petersburg periods of the painter. Vilnius was absent in Čiurlionis’ biography and work in this 6 In 1904-1906 M. K. Čiurlionis stu book. "This issue disappeared from the discourse of Čiurlionis art died ас the Warsaw School of Art due to the historical trauma o f the loss o f Vilnius7. The situation and Ferdynand Ruszczyć was one of was diametrically opposite with Ferdynand Ruszczyc: the major his professors. Historical situation of Vilnius after part of the texts in the book, written by his friend and pho World War One was rather compli tographer Jan Bułhak, writer Wanda Dobaczewska and others, cated: after German army had with was dedicated to the Vilnius period and oeuvre of the master. drawn, the struggles for Vilnius star ted between the Poles, Lithuanians Ruszczyc was shown as the leader of the Vilnius art scene, but this and Bolsheviks. In February 1918, scene was presented as purely Polish and no hints on the other the Lithuanians declared the Act of national segments can be traced in the book. Thus the political the Establishment of the Independent situation divided the art history o f Vilnius into purely different State of Lithuania, with its capital in Vilnius.

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