Spring (A sketch for the plafond for Kaunas Aviator's House)

The figures of monumental naked women floating in the sky in the sketch called Spring can be recognised in another ceiling decoration by Stasys Ušinskas (1905–1974), which used to be owned by Jūratė Ušinskaitė, and since 2006 has been in the M.K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum. Both pictures were painted in about 1937, to commemorate the tragic flight by the Lithuanian pilots Darius and Girėnas. The main difference between the two compositions is that in the Lituanica memorial in the M.K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum there are five instead of two figures, and one of them is a naked man in the same posture as the female nude in the foreground of Spring. Today, it is difficult to tell whether or not these two compositions were parts of the same project. While no sources that can verify the hypothesis have yet been found, we can only guess that both large-format works depicting nude people floating in the air were to be used in the Darius and Girėnas House of Culture designed by Jurgis Okunis and built in 1935 in Panerių Street in Vilijampolė.

Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

The work and teaching activities of Stasys Ušinskas (1905–1974) were a major impetus to the development of Lithuanian art. An alumnus of Kaunas Art School, Ušinskas returned to Kaunas from Paris in the early 1930s, where he had studied stained glass at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers under Henri Marcel Magne, improved his painting skills at the Academie Moderne under Fernand Leger, and followed classes in set design given by Aleksandra Exter. Ušinskas made his debut in Kaunas with a solo exhibition in the autumn of 1931, presenting the artistic innovations he had learnt in Paris, which were until then almost unknown on the local art scene.

His compositions in the styles of Cubism, Constructivism and Art Deco received critical acclaim. Halina Kairiūkštytė-Jacinienė wrote: ‘Ušinskis’ exhibition is the first exhibition sui generis in Kaunas. Due to its innovative nature, the Kaunas audience will definitely find it interesting to visit, although, being used to mostly realistic works that tend to idealise or copy nature, visitors will probably have various opinions’ (H. Kairiūkštytė-Jacynienė, ‘The Exhibition of Work by the Artist Ušinskis‘, Židinys, 1931, No 8–9, p. 165). The fear of a hostile reaction by the public to artistic innovations was not justified. The exhibition attracted huge interest, and as many as 15 out of the 27 paintings found buyers.

In the second half of the 1930s, like most of his colleagues seeking state support, Stasys Ušinskas (1905–1974) turned from avant-garde explorations to Neoclassicism, a style that was more approved of, and more suitable for the interiors of public buildings. His work was not merely a conservative attempt to imitate the art of the past. The plafond Circus rehearsal is reminiscent of the 17th-century trompe l’oeil wall paintings that decorated the best spaces in interiors, but the Art Deco style chosen by Ušinskas puts the work in a contemporary context.

Text authors Dovilė Barcytė and Ieva Burbaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album MORE THAN JUST BEAUTY (2012). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, KAUNAS–VILNIUS / 1918–1945 (2021). Compilers and text authors Dovilė Barcytė and Ieva Burbaitė
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; "A Glance at the History of Lithuanian Art from Užupis", 30 August 2018 – 1 June 2019, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curator Giedrė Jankevičiūtė; "Creative gene", 6 June – 27 September 2025, at the Pakruojis Firefighters Society carport. Curator Rimantė Baratinskienė.

The figures of monumental naked women floating in the sky in the sketch called Spring can be recognised in another ceiling decoration by Stasys Ušinskas (1905–1974), which used to be owned by Jūratė Ušinskaitė, and since 2006 has been in the M.K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum. Both pictures were painted in about 1937, to commemorate the tragic flight by the Lithuanian pilots Darius and Girėnas. The main difference between the two compositions is that in the Lituanica memorial in the M.K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum there are five instead of two figures, and one of them is a naked man in the same posture as the female nude in the foreground of Spring. Today, it is difficult to tell whether or not these two compositions were parts of the same project. While no sources that can verify the hypothesis have yet been found, we can only guess that both large-format works depicting nude people floating in the air were to be used in the Darius and Girėnas House of Culture designed by Jurgis Okunis and built in 1935 in Panerių Street in Vilijampolė.

Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

The work and teaching activities of Stasys Ušinskas (1905–1974) were a major impetus to the development of Lithuanian art. An alumnus of Kaunas Art School, Ušinskas returned to Kaunas from Paris in the early 1930s, where he had studied stained glass at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers under Henri Marcel Magne, improved his painting skills at the Academie Moderne under Fernand Leger, and followed classes in set design given by Aleksandra Exter. Ušinskas made his debut in Kaunas with a solo exhibition in the autumn of 1931, presenting the artistic innovations he had learnt in Paris, which were until then almost unknown on the local art scene.

His compositions in the styles of Cubism, Constructivism and Art Deco received critical acclaim. Halina Kairiūkštytė-Jacinienė wrote: ‘Ušinskis’ exhibition is the first exhibition sui generis in Kaunas. Due to its innovative nature, the Kaunas audience will definitely find it interesting to visit, although, being used to mostly realistic works that tend to idealise or copy nature, visitors will probably have various opinions’ (H. Kairiūkštytė-Jacynienė, ‘The Exhibition of Work by the Artist Ušinskis‘, Židinys, 1931, No 8–9, p. 165). The fear of a hostile reaction by the public to artistic innovations was not justified. The exhibition attracted huge interest, and as many as 15 out of the 27 paintings found buyers.

In the second half of the 1930s, like most of his colleagues seeking state support, Stasys Ušinskas (1905–1974) turned from avant-garde explorations to Neoclassicism, a style that was more approved of, and more suitable for the interiors of public buildings. His work was not merely a conservative attempt to imitate the art of the past. The plafond Circus rehearsal is reminiscent of the 17th-century trompe l’oeil wall paintings that decorated the best spaces in interiors, but the Art Deco style chosen by Ušinskas puts the work in a contemporary context.

Text authors Dovilė Barcytė and Ieva Burbaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album MORE THAN JUST BEAUTY (2012). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, KAUNAS–VILNIUS / 1918–1945 (2021). Compilers and text authors Dovilė Barcytė and Ieva Burbaitė
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; "A Glance at the History of Lithuanian Art from Užupis", 30 August 2018 – 1 June 2019, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curator Giedrė Jankevičiūtė; "Creative gene", 6 June – 27 September 2025, at the Pakruojis Firefighters Society carport. Curator Rimantė Baratinskienė.