Ostblick 1/2011 - 1 Landmarks of 'rt (istor$ ?nternational conference dedicated to the 200th anni ersar$ of the deli er$ of the first art-historical lecture at #ilnius Uni ersit$, &aunas, 14th-15th October 2010 Revie1 b$ Odeta KukauskienJ On October 14th-15th 2010 art historians from Lithua- "ure of -aunders and other art historians’ contributi- nia, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia and ons to the study of Lithuanian art and architecture) I@- Estonia "athered at the Vytautas %a"nus Universit$ in !--' ?) -#?R?:' em.hasized the si"nificance of the Kaunas for the international conference Landmarks of conference as finally rescuing -aunders from obscuri- 'rt History, addressing traditions, methodolo"ical is- t$ and reco"nizing his im.ortance 1ithin the history of sues and institutional discourses in art history. *he the discipline) ?n 1800, he had left England for -t) Pe- conference carried on from the international jubilee tersburg 1here he became kno1n as an eAcellent en- conference *he History of 'rt History in Central, "raver. ?nvited b$ the Polish-Lithuanian aristocrat Eastern and South-Eastern Euro.e organized by Jerz$ 'dam 0erz$ ,/artoryski, Curator of the Lithuanian %alino1ski at *oruń 314th-16th -e.tember 2010)) Both -chool :istrict, he came to Vilnius in order to teach conferences 1ere celebrating the 200th anniversary of art history at the ?m.erial University, 1hich became a the first lecture on the history of art delivered at Vilni- leading academ$ in early 19th-century Russia) *he si- us on 15th -e.tember 1810. *he$ 1ere launched b$ "nifi- cance of his designation as .rofessor in the his- %alino1ski, 1ho em.hasised that 0ose.h -aunders tory of art becomes evident in vie1 of the fact that it 31773-1854) 1as the first one to be a..ointed Profes- 1as only the third such a..ointment throughout Euro- sor of Art History anywhere in Central Euro.e) .e, follo1ing the .recedents of 0ohann :ominicus *he t1o-da$ conference focused on the develo.- <iorillo at 9Bttingen Universit$ 31799) and 0ohann ment of art history in a re"ion distinguished b$ its 9ottlieb Buhle - also from 9Bttingen - 1ho lectured in multi-layered cultural herita"e 1hich 1as sha.ed suc- the theory of fine arts at %osco1 Universit$ in 1804- cessively b$ the le"acies of the 9rand :uchy of 1810. -virida stressed -aunders’s .romotion of En- Lithuania, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the li"htenment ideas and his focus on the social si"nifi- Russian Em.ire and Lithuania’s time of occupation b$ cance of art) 'lthough he did not use the term of the -oviet Union. *imes have certainly changed since Kunst"eschichte in his lecture -aunders follo1ed 1810 1hen -aunders delivered his lecture in the <a- Cinckelmann’s ideas in general terms. cult$ of Literature and 'rts at Vilnius University, entit- LA?%' D?@&E@'?*F .resented an analysis of led :iscours sur l’influence ou l’utilit= des arts imita- -aunders’s lecture on the .rominent Polish and tifs) Ke$ issues of the conference 1ere the need to Lithuanian artist -/ymon ,/echo1ic/ 3-imonas surve$ Central and Eastern Euro.ean art historio"ra- Čechavičius), 1hich 1as .ublished in the monthly .hy, to assess the achievements of the discipline of :/iennik 1ileński in 1815. -he argued that -aunders art history in the re"ion, and to locate these themes 1as the .ioneer in revealing the aesthetic value of 1ithin the 1ider frame1ork of the develo.ment and ,/echo1ic/’s works - painted for various Vilnius chur- re-definition of art history as a 1hole) 'nother to.ic of ches - and conveying it to the contem.orary societ$ the conference 1as the cultural and national identit$ of the cit$) DinkūnaitJ underlined -virida’s assess- of different countries. *his theme 1as the leitmotif of ment of -aunders’s fundamental im.ortance in esta- both the Toruń and the Kaunas conferences. blishing art history in the territory of the former Polish- *he first .anel entitled *he :evelo.ment of 'rt Histo- Lithuanian Commonwealth. ry in the 19-20th centuries included .a.ers on the fi- Conference Review Landmarks of Art History kunsttexte.de 1/2011 - 2 RE*' 0'NO@?ENĖ’s .a.er 1as dedicated to %i- cultural history as 1ell as defining its special Luality, chael Homolicki and his contribution to Lithuanian art sha.ed as it is b$ the confessional coeAistence of Ca- history. Homolicki .ublished 1ritings on buildings in tholicism and OrthodoA$) Vilnius - notably cathedral and its cha.el of -t) Casi- ?n her .a.er on BaroLue architecture in .re- mir - and undertook research on the oldest OrthodoA sent-da$ Belarus, *'%'R' 9'BRUS stressed the and Uniate churches in the cit$) He thus emerges as artistic ori"inalit$ of buildings such as the 0esuit the first serious architectural historian of Vilnius, church in Krivoshe, the Bernardin church in -lonim or eLually distinguished b$ his em.hasis on historical re- the *rinitarian church in Lysko ) -he set out the ideo- cords and the 1ide range of .eriods and styles he in- lo"ical difficulties challenging research on this to.ic vestigated) 1hilst Belarus 1as incorporated into the Russian Em- ELI*' 9RO-%'@! offered a 1ider .erspective in .ireM OrthodoA BaroLue churches 1ere dismissed as revie1ing the develo.ment of art history in Latvia, manifestations of a .rimitive .eripheral ethnical dia- from the foundation of the so-called Academia Petrina lect and .artly rebuilt in a .seudo-Russian style) ?nte- in 0elgava in 1775 until the ?nternet-based .roject 'rt rest in Belarusian BaroLue arose in the 1920s in the History of Latvia started in 2006. -he defined several 1ake of the national-romantic movement and led to sta"es of Latvian art historio"ra.hy and linked them the investigation of numerous buildings in Cestern 1ith significant figures: the "eneration of art historians Belarus and the definition of the term ‘Vilnius Baro- in the 1880s and the 1ritings of Cilhelm Neumann; Lue;) <ollo1ing the ne"ative im.act of the .ost-se- the .ublication of the first "eneral history of art edited cond 1orld 1ar socialist and anti-national ideolo"y, b$ Vilhelms Purvītis and Visvaldis PePQerots (1934-36, interest in the distinctiveness of Belarusian BaroLue 8) ol.), taking into account the art of Latvia and has undergone a recent Renaissance, resulting in the neighbouring countries 3Norway, -1eden, Lithuania, .ublication of several specialist studies since 2000. Estonia5 as 1ell; the "lorification of socialist realism OLEG *RUSO# "ave an overvie1 of the develo.- after Corld Car ??, i"noring local artistic traditions and ment of architectural history in 1estern Belarus T as- denigrating them as remnants of 9erman cultureN and si"ned to Poland after Corld Car ? - in 1921-1939. the surve$ of Latvian art history .ublished in -tock- Under Polish influence architectural conservation and holm b$ the =mi"ré scholar 0anis -iliņš 31979-1993)) restoration 1as significantly advanced, leading to the 9rosmane concluded that serious 1ide-ranging rese- foundation of a national restoration school and ne1 arch on the country’s art history has only been enab- research on Belarus’s national culture which traced its led b$ the formation of the ?nstitute of 'rt History at origins in Polatsk) %any religious buildings 1ere re- the Latvian 'cadem$ of 'rts 32002), an initiative .os- built or reconstructed, removing S.seudo-Russian’ al- sible once Latvia had re"ained its inde.endence from tera- tions to BaroLue churches. the Soviet Union. ?R?@' CHEB'@ focused on the contributions of *hree .a.ers 1ithin this .anel 1ere delivered b$ Nicholas -chekatihin to Belarusian art history. -he researchers from Minsk and focused on Belarusian art stressed his achievements in the research on eccle- historio"ra.hy. *his is currently informed b$ the siastical architecture, the .eriodization of art history, a1areness of the country’s multicultural .ast and the the eA.loration of the "enesis of artistic forms and of necessit$ to take into account transnational historical the different influences on Belarusian art) -cheka- .erspectives, as Belarus - to"ether 1ith its neigh- tihin’s le"ac$ is still relevant, Cheban concluded, be- bours Lithuania and the Ukraine - formed .art of the cause it defines the identit$ of Belarusian art as 1ell Lithuanian 9rand :uchy and the Polish-Lithuanian as sho1ing its conneAions to the art of Cestern and Commonwealth. Belarusian BaroLue - Euro.e’s nor- Eastern Euro.e) thernmost manifestation of this style in its urban and *he second .anel ?ssues of %ethodolo"$ and *er- architectural im.act - .romises to be a .henomenon minolo"$ in 'rt History 1as o.ened b$ !:UAR:- yielding .articularly stimulating insi"hts 1ith re"ard to &U'#?VD 1ho eA.lored the methodolo"ical traditions .lacing the country 1ithin the conteAt of Euro.ean in Latvian art historio"ra.hy. -urveying the most Conference Review Landmarks of Art History kunsttexte.de 1/2011 - 3 .rominent Latvian art historians Kļaviņš demonstrated tJ em.hasised the so-called Vilnius 'rt -chool’s intel- their respective methodolo"ical a..roaches, noting lectual formation b$ strong influences from 9erman <ranz von Kugler’s and Cilhelm Lübke’s influences on and 'ustrian art history as 1ell as the Craco1 school Cilhelm Neumann, Boriss Vipers’s formation b$ the of art history. conce.ts of Heinrich CBlfflin, 'lois Rie"l and %aA 'UŠR?@F -LA#?@,&?!@F sketched the develo.- :voYZk, and Cilhelm Pinder’s im.act on 0[nis -iliņš. ment of art history at the Vytautas %a"nus Universit$ Conce.ts such as structuralism and semiotics 1ere of Kaunas, where the traditions of Lithuanian art histo- reflected in more recent 1ritings, contributing to Kļa- ry 1ere develo.ed during the inter-1ar-period b$ viņš’s overall dia"nosis and criticism of methodolo"i- Paulius 9alaunė and 0urgis Baltrušaitis, 1ho .ublis- cal .luralism and fra"mentation in current Latvian art hed the first .rofessional manual of "eneral art history history which, he argued, lacks theoretical a1areness.