Poster ‘Lithuanian Art Exhibition’

In response to an invitation from Lithuanians in the United States to organise an exhibition on the other side of the Atlantic, the Lithuanian Art Institute in Freiburg, uniting expatriate artists, began gathering works created in exile. A special committee comprised of Viktoras Vizgirda, Aleksandras Marčiulionis, Telesforas Valius and Antanas Tamošaitis was responsible for selecting the pieces, while the organisational responsibilities in the project fell to the exhibition commissioner Liudas Vilimas (Dalia Ramonienė, Lietuvių dailės institutas Freiburge [The Lithuanian Art Institute in Freiburg], Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, 2007, No 46, pp. 22–23). The exhibition was originally to be advertised by a poster in line with the tradition of interwar national modernism designed by Viktoras Petravičius. However, it was ultimately replaced by advertising material created in the United States. Starting in the autumn of 1949, the travelling exhibition toured the United States for a year, showcasing Lithuanian art in New York (the New York Hall of Science), Waterbury (the Silas Bronson Library), and Chicago (the Chicago Historical Society). The first large-scale exhibition of Lithuanian artists in the USA attracted not only the Lithuanian expatriate community but also the American public. In New York alone, it drew nearly 30,000 visitors (Jolanta Bernotaitytė, ‘Lietuvų dailės reprezentacija JAV XX a. 6–9 dešimtmečiuose: organizacinis aspektas / Lithuanian Art Representation in the USA in the 1950s–1980s: The Organizational Aspect’, dissertation, Vilnius: Vilnius Academy of Art, 2015, pp. 40– 42). A documentary depicting the everyday life of refugees in displaced persons camps in Germany was shown alongside the works of art, to further convey the painful experience of Lithuanians who had lost their homeland. The exhibition served as a form of cultural diplomacy, with Lithuanians viewing it as an opportunity to promote the name of Lithuania, highlight the reality of occupation, and raise awareness of the question of the country’s liberation.

Text author Laura Petrauskaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album ARTISTS ON THE MOVE (2025). Compiler and text author Laura Petrauskaitė
Expositions: "Free and Unfree. Lithuanian Art between 1945 and 1990", 9 September 2021 – 30 April 2022, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curators Dovilė Barcytė and Ieva Burbaitė.

In response to an invitation from Lithuanians in the United States to organise an exhibition on the other side of the Atlantic, the Lithuanian Art Institute in Freiburg, uniting expatriate artists, began gathering works created in exile. A special committee comprised of Viktoras Vizgirda, Aleksandras Marčiulionis, Telesforas Valius and Antanas Tamošaitis was responsible for selecting the pieces, while the organisational responsibilities in the project fell to the exhibition commissioner Liudas Vilimas (Dalia Ramonienė, Lietuvių dailės institutas Freiburge [The Lithuanian Art Institute in Freiburg], Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, 2007, No 46, pp. 22–23). The exhibition was originally to be advertised by a poster in line with the tradition of interwar national modernism designed by Viktoras Petravičius. However, it was ultimately replaced by advertising material created in the United States. Starting in the autumn of 1949, the travelling exhibition toured the United States for a year, showcasing Lithuanian art in New York (the New York Hall of Science), Waterbury (the Silas Bronson Library), and Chicago (the Chicago Historical Society). The first large-scale exhibition of Lithuanian artists in the USA attracted not only the Lithuanian expatriate community but also the American public. In New York alone, it drew nearly 30,000 visitors (Jolanta Bernotaitytė, ‘Lietuvų dailės reprezentacija JAV XX a. 6–9 dešimtmečiuose: organizacinis aspektas / Lithuanian Art Representation in the USA in the 1950s–1980s: The Organizational Aspect’, dissertation, Vilnius: Vilnius Academy of Art, 2015, pp. 40– 42). A documentary depicting the everyday life of refugees in displaced persons camps in Germany was shown alongside the works of art, to further convey the painful experience of Lithuanians who had lost their homeland. The exhibition served as a form of cultural diplomacy, with Lithuanians viewing it as an opportunity to promote the name of Lithuania, highlight the reality of occupation, and raise awareness of the question of the country’s liberation.

Text author Laura Petrauskaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album ARTISTS ON THE MOVE (2025). Compiler and text author Laura Petrauskaitė
Expositions: "Free and Unfree. Lithuanian Art between 1945 and 1990", 9 September 2021 – 30 April 2022, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curators Dovilė Barcytė and Ieva Burbaitė.