A side street in Vilnius

Adolf Popławski (1907–1982) was born and grew up in Vilnius, graduated from Stephen Báthory University, and produced a number of works portraying his beloved city. The woodcut A side street in Vilnius stands out as unusual: it was not drawn from nature, but invented and formulated into one image. Two different worlds coexist in it: one is the historic Old Town, with its architectural monuments. Separated from it by a brick wall is another, a town of wooden houses situated at the foot of a hill, with an outdoor toilet in the foreground standing provocatively in the centre. It is two cities: the upper and the lower one, rich and poor, historical and present, stone and wood, noble and ordinary, the centre and the suburb, coexisting dramatically side by side, both carved expressively on a wooden block.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
Expositions: “Vilnius. Topophilia. Views of Vilnius from the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Laima Laučkaitė)

Adolf Popławski (1907–1982) was born and grew up in Vilnius, graduated from Stephen Báthory University, and produced a number of works portraying his beloved city. The woodcut A side street in Vilnius stands out as unusual: it was not drawn from nature, but invented and formulated into one image. Two different worlds coexist in it: one is the historic Old Town, with its architectural monuments. Separated from it by a brick wall is another, a town of wooden houses situated at the foot of a hill, with an outdoor toilet in the foreground standing provocatively in the centre. It is two cities: the upper and the lower one, rich and poor, historical and present, stone and wood, noble and ordinary, the centre and the suburb, coexisting dramatically side by side, both carved expressively on a wooden block.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
Expositions: “Vilnius. Topophilia. Views of Vilnius from the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Laima Laučkaitė)