A large section is devoted to folk art. The majority of exhibits
include the works of the 18th and the 19th century folk artists,
sculptors, painters, graphic artists, smiths, and embroiderers. The
displayed works are from
the collection of the Lithuanian Art Museum.
The folk art heritage contains small art pieces, which are
particularly valued - the decaying crosses, roofed pillar-type crosses
and pillar-type chapels erected at farmsteads, on waysides and in
fields. Kazys Simonis (1887-1978), when travelling around Lithuania
made a number of their drawings and fixed a variety of their forms. In
Zemaitija preference was given for pillar-type crosses and small
shrines, while in Aukstaitija tall roofed pillar-type crosses were
more popular. One of such impressive two-tier roofed pillar-type
crosses, fascinates one with its skilful carving. It was originally
located in Zarasai vicinity in 1842 and today can be seen in the
exposition. The artist is unknown, like many other masters, who
hollowed and carved wooden crosses and statuettes, painted pictures
and created woodcuts. Folk artists did not usually put their signature
to their works.
As soon as the visitor enters the hall, he is met by monolithic oak
crosses with the hollowed out figures of saints. These are works
created by the talented master Vincas Svirskis (1835-1916), who
devoted all his life to the carving of crosses. He went from village
to village, and worked on farms. He lived where he worked - he had no
home of his own. Over 200 of his crosses stood in the villages of
Middle Lithuania. Now they are housed in Lithuanian museums. All the
halls containing folk art display Vincas Svirskis’ crosses marked by
high-relief compositions, demonstrating their complex Baroque plastic
art - the Last Supper, St Isidore, Christ among Apostles, the
Baptism of Christ, Pieta.
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Aleksandras Vinkus
(1832-1912). St Joseph and
Child with Other Saints. LDM |
Folk artist from the early 20th c.
St George and a Princess.
LDM (showcase 3) |
Aleksandras Vinkus
(1832-1912). Movement for
Abstinence in Lithuania. 1861.
LDM |
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Folk artist from the 19th c.
Lamentation over Christ.
LDM |
Crucifixion. 1882. Picture of
the processional banner. LDM |
Folk artist from 19th c.
St John of Nepomuk. 1850.
Picture of a processional banner.
LDM |
Smaller art forms are used for memorial purposes. Crosses,
pillar-type chapels and roofed pillar-type crosses were erected in
commemoration of people and historical events. They usually contained
figurines of saints and depended on the occasion. They were carved by
skilful, uneducated but naturally gifted folk craftsmen, who had seen
other sculptures in churches. People called them dievadirbiai
(god-carvers). They used simple everyday tools: knives, an axe, a
chisel. Professional art did not have a great impact on their works.
Sometimes they didn’t even follow the usual rules for the depiction
of saints. Statuettes of saints were often static, in frequent cases
of irregular proportions, abounding in ethnographic elements and
domestic attributes. The strength of expressiveness is increased by
the use of colours. Apart from round-sculpture, bas-reliefs - St
Casimir, the Nuns’ Handicrafts, St Cecil
and St Simon high-reliefs (V. Svirskis’ crosses) were
gaining popularity.
God-carvers chose to depict saints whom country-folk loved and
respected the most, and who were, of course, expected to help them in
the event of illness, famine or flood. St Isidore with a
basket in his hands, two angels and oxen in a furrow (showcase 1)
helped them in fieldwork. St George, the Valiant Knight,
on a horseback, thrusting a spear into a wriggling dragon under the
horse’s hoofs, was guardian of the peasant’s cattle. His holiday -
Jurgines (St George’s Day) - is associated with the rebirth of
nature at Spring time. The Pensive Christ was
particularly meaningful to the peasant and inseparable from his mode
of life. Lost in thought, he looked at people from wayside roofed
pillar-type crosses and pillar-type chapels. The pilgrim St
Roche guarded them from the plague, and St Florian from
fire. At bridges and rivers the statues of St John of Nepomuk were
often built. A frequent subject in folk art is the life of the
Holy Family.
Mary is given a particular place in folk art and a great number of
prayers and hymns dedicated to her. People understood her sorrow for
the Son and took it deeply to their hearts. Mary - the Sorrowful,
the Merciful, the Gracious, of the Immaculate
Conception (V. Svirskis’ crosses, a small processional
altar). In statuettes, she is different every time, sometimes smiling,
worried, spreading her so-called graces, lofty as a queen, or in
suffering. In Pieta she is most frequently depicted with
a crown and seven swords thrust in her heart, symbolizing the sorrow
of Mother from Simeon’s prophecy about the death and burial of the
Saviour.
The Folk Art hall highlights a great many moments from Christ’s life
- from Baptism (V. Svirskis’ pillar-type chapel) to
the scenes of the Stations of the Cross (processional
banners). In thematic respect Jesus of Nazareth with his
tied hands and a crown of thorns on his head is closed to them. Such
iconographic statuettes are spread all over Lithuania, when
god-carvers began to imitate the statuette of the Nazarite from
the Church of Madrid Trinitarians brought to Vilnius. Worthy of
mention are the rarest works - the Last Super (showcase
5) by Stanislovas Burneika from Kursenai, who worked in the early 20th
century and the Sleeping Apostles by Pranas Perminas
(1864-1937).
Self-educated painters, like sculptors, portrayed the same popular
saints and themes from the Holy Scripture. Unknown painters imitated
professional art and did their best to make the personages of their
pictures correspond to Christian iconography. However, the folk artist’s
creative ideas were less influenced by outer factors - changing styles
can hardly be noticed in their works. The drawings of self-educated
artists are primitive and the view flat. Their paintings are of
special merit due to their lively folk quality.
A triptych of the altar antependium St Francis Nurtured by
Angels (17th c.) of the Staliorai cemetery chapel should be
attributed to the most valuable folk art pieces. The rules of
perspective were not observed. The angels standing in the wings,
slightly turned to the saint, form a closed static composition. Of
interest is the colouring of the picture - the angels’ red wings,
the white and deep brown pulsating tones of the background contrast
with the smoke-coloured forest. A peaceful mood of early Baroque
prevails in the picture.
St Casimir, considered to be the patron of Youth by Lithuanians, won
the peoples’ great favour. He was featured in statuettes, woodcuts,
and paintings. Duke Casimir, who died young, was very kind to the
poor. His kind heart could not help exciting the imagination of
artists. The picture painted in the first half of the 19th century
depicts that it was in the power of saints to work miracles - in the
background, the artist narrates a victorious battle of Lithuanian
troops with the military forces of Muscovy in 1518 at Polock.
More paintings of interest are: Stations of the Cross of
the Church in Paskarbiskes, the Holy Family, Christ
on the Lilac Hill, the Last Supper and some of
the saints - St Francis of Assisi, St Dominic, St
George, St Barbara, St Ursula, St Jude
Thaddeus and St Simon (processional banner). The
paintings inlaid with abundant and rich decorative carvings were
sometimes installed in small portable altars carried during church
processions. Among them are displayed Crucifixtion, St Joseph
and Child, Tree of Redemption, Sin and Penance.
By the 19th century, there was an increased demand for
religious pictures. It was related to the ban in printing Lithuanian
books as well as the abstinence movement which stimulated folk artists
to take up wood carving. The displayed colourful and decorative
graphic sheets of simple and clear-cut artistic idiom by Steponas
Kuneika, who worked in the first half of the 19th century, Kajetonas
Grigalauskas (d. ca. 1880), Aleksandras Vinkus (1832-1912) and by some
other unknown folk wood carvers enjoyed great popularity.
The displayed processional banners look impressive during church
processions. Embroidered, appliquéd and painted by nuns and the
needlework of lay-persons, processional banners carried by smartly
dressed people alongside others with crosses, church lanterns and
small altars created solemn ritual due to their expensive materials
and the intricate trimmings. The exposition includes five pairs of
church lanterns from the collection of Rev Mykolas Dobrovolskis
(Father Stanislovas). They are small tin boxes with colour glass
windows, forged crowns, flowers and small crosses mounted on a long
staff. Today, blacksmiths no longer make them. They were used up to
World War II.
Showcase 9 features some rare specimens of applied arts associated
with church liturgy, namely: a monstrance, a paten, a baptistery and
an offering-box.
This comparatively small exposition cannot cover the diversity of
Lithuanian folk art and display all the creative process of several
centuries. The selection was based on the principle of presenting
works which unfold the peasant’s world perception formed by
Christian culture as well as the spiritual and moral values of the
nation.
