Antakalnis motif (Feeding birds)

Łucja Bałzukiewicz (Bałzukiewiczówna, 1887–1976) was one of several women artists of the beginning of the 20th century. It is interesting that both of her brothers chose to be artists too: Józef became a painter, and Bolesław a sculptor. She went to Paris to develop the artistic skills she had acquired at Ivan Trutnev’s school, although the Neo-Impressionist influence of her Parisian teacher Olga Boznańska rarely shows in her work. Perhaps her Parisian reminiscences, flights of imagination and dexterity were eventually subdued by the teaching routine: during the interwar period, Łucja Bałzukiewicz taught art at the Joachim Lelewel gymnasium in Antakalnis. In about 1900 she noticed a woman feeding birds, and recorded the sight at least twice. Similar composition, Feeding birds, in a slightly larger format (100.5 x 66.5 cm), dated 1900, is in the M.K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum. This genre piece depicts a typical corner of Antakalnis: a house with shutters, a courtyard with hollyhocks, and a dovecote on a high pole. A woman is bending down carefully to feed some white birds. Breeding pigeons was a tradition and a hobby in Vilnius since the 19th century. In this picture, Bałzukiewiczówna depicts a private, not a public, space in the city. As a suburb, Antakalnis was a place of small quiet plots hidden among gardens. The view of the dome of the Trinitarian Church of the Lord Jesus gives this rural idyll a Christian aspect.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album MORE THAN JUST BEAUTY (2012). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
Expositions: “More Than Just Beauty: The Image of Woman in the LAWIN collection”, 12 October – 11 November 2012, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Giedrė Jankevičiūtė); “Académie de Vilna. Vilnius Drawing School (1866–1915)”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Jolanta Širkaitė). Published: Académie de Vilna: Vilniaus piešimo mokykla 1866-1915 / Vilnius drawing school: Exhibition Catalogue, Nacionalinė dailės galerija 2017 m. 4 d. - lapkričio 26 d., compiled by Jolanta Širkaitė, Vilnius: Lietuvos kultūros tyrimų institutas, 2017, p. 95.

Łucja Bałzukiewicz (Bałzukiewiczówna, 1887–1976) was one of several women artists of the beginning of the 20th century. It is interesting that both of her brothers chose to be artists too: Józef became a painter, and Bolesław a sculptor. She went to Paris to develop the artistic skills she had acquired at Ivan Trutnev’s school, although the Neo-Impressionist influence of her Parisian teacher Olga Boznańska rarely shows in her work. Perhaps her Parisian reminiscences, flights of imagination and dexterity were eventually subdued by the teaching routine: during the interwar period, Łucja Bałzukiewicz taught art at the Joachim Lelewel gymnasium in Antakalnis. In about 1900 she noticed a woman feeding birds, and recorded the sight at least twice. Similar composition, Feeding birds, in a slightly larger format (100.5 x 66.5 cm), dated 1900, is in the M.K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum. This genre piece depicts a typical corner of Antakalnis: a house with shutters, a courtyard with hollyhocks, and a dovecote on a high pole. A woman is bending down carefully to feed some white birds. Breeding pigeons was a tradition and a hobby in Vilnius since the 19th century. In this picture, Bałzukiewiczówna depicts a private, not a public, space in the city. As a suburb, Antakalnis was a place of small quiet plots hidden among gardens. The view of the dome of the Trinitarian Church of the Lord Jesus gives this rural idyll a Christian aspect.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album MORE THAN JUST BEAUTY (2012). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
Expositions: “More Than Just Beauty: The Image of Woman in the LAWIN collection”, 12 October – 11 November 2012, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Giedrė Jankevičiūtė); “Académie de Vilna. Vilnius Drawing School (1866–1915)”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Jolanta Širkaitė). Published: Académie de Vilna: Vilniaus piešimo mokykla 1866-1915 / Vilnius drawing school: Exhibition Catalogue, Nacionalinė dailės galerija 2017 m. 4 d. - lapkričio 26 d., compiled by Jolanta Širkaitė, Vilnius: Lietuvos kultūros tyrimų institutas, 2017, p. 95.