In the Shadow of Knowledge. Sculpture Pre-context
“We also hold what resides in the shadow of knowledge,” remarked Vladas Urbanavičius, one of Lithuania’s most renowned sculptors, in conversation with the art critic Alfonsas Andriuškevičius. This idea defines the concept of the exhibition, which presents sculpture as a direct, sensory experience. Sculpture in the shadow of knowledge invites viewers to encounter sculptural objects before contextualizing their themes or meanings. Here, the emphasis is on the intrinsic properties of sculpture – its spatial presence, materiality, and emotional impact – elements we perceive immediately, before engaging in rational analysis and starting to “read” the work like a book. The exhibition unfolds in three sections: space, material, and dream. It features works from the TARTLE collection, spanning the 19th to the 21st centuries, with a strong focus on classical and modernist Lithuanian sculpture. Complementing these pieces are contemporary sculptures from artists’ private collections, which challenge tradition and invite new ways of seeing – offering moments of surprise and discovery.
The Pacs are one of the most eminent, oldest, influential, wealthiest and most celebrated magnate families in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that constantly defended the interests of the state. They were proud of their aristocratic title of counts and the expressive double lily motif on their coat of arms, also used by the monarchs of France and the Medicis of Florence.
The exhibition boasts a total of around 300 exhibits: paintings, graphic art works, sculptures, textiles, goldsmithery and other applied art works, drawings and projects, old photographs, authentic documents and early prints, weapons and armour, as well as other historical relics from Lithuania’s, Poland’s and Ukraine’s museums, libraries, archives, churches, monasteries and private collections. A record number of owners – fifty – have kindly loaned exhibits for display. Three of the artworks come from the TARTLE collection.
The exhibition Inconvenient Vilnius is about inhabitants of the city whose stories are buried beneath layers of prejudice and stereotypes. They are individuals we know little about, often avoid, and sometimes even fear. It is an exhibition about people who, according to surveys, Vilnius residents would prefer not to see. And about beliefs that fuel conflict and make life more difficult. An artwork from TARTLE was lent to this exhibition.
This exhibition is a story about Justinas Mikutis, a symbol of civil disobedience in Soviet Lithuania. For his profound insights, he was called and still is remembered as a philosopher, a thinker, even a prophet. In an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, many artists admired the freedom of his thought. His erudition contrasted with the primitiveness of official ideology. Socially, he was a marginal whose life was not in line with normal way of being, he did not care about comfort, instead, he himself was uncomfortable for others. After a decade‘s imprisonment in a Siberian camp, he returned crippled, was deeply affected by the traumatic experience, but his posture radiated the courage of a man who had no fair of the system, there was nothing to lose. An artwork by painter Arvydas Šaltenis was lent to this exhibition by TARTLE.
Currently, we are changing the exhibition and we will be open for visitors starting from June.
Vilnius Picture Gallery of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art (LNMA) opens an exhibition With Heart and Eyes. Wincenty Sleńdziński (1838–1909). It is the first solo exhibition in Lithuania by the painter known for celebrating the mundane, composed to present his multifaceted art and his person. Four works were lent to this exhibition by TARTLE.
The sixth exhibition at the Lithuanian Art Centre Tartle is part of an exhibition diptych on the theme of Vilnius, and is one of the 700th anniversary events, inviting visitors to experience the city through different forms of time.
The exhibition focuses on the works of three Baltic women artists – Malle Leis (1940–2017), Maija Tabaka (1939) and Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė (1933–2007) – in the late Soviet era of the 1970s and 1980s. All three of the artists challenged contemporary art discourses through non-conventional approaches to self-representation, ways of creating space and reflections on being artists.
On March 9th at the MO museum, exhibition “We Don’t Do This. Intimacy, Norms and Fantasies in Baltic Art” was opened. During the long decades of Soviet occupation, sexuality-related content and discussion were widely censored from the public. According to a famous catchphrase, there was no sex in the USSR. We ask why was sex so suppressed and what kind of love was allowed? How different are the region’s public notions of intimacy, gender, love and sexuality today? \"We Don’t Do This. Intimacy, Norms and Fantasies in Baltic Art\" will explore the shifts and changes in representations of gender, family and sexuality, marked by back-and-forth loosening and re-enforcement of norms throughout the Soviet era and beyond. Two of the works for the exhibition were lent by TARTLE.
The exhibition “A Woman in Yellow. The Retrospective and Inspirations of Antanas Samuolis (1899–1942)”, dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the birth of painter Antanas Samuolis.
This comprehensive exhibition dedicated to Antanas Samuolis, one of the most famous Lithuanian artists of the early 20th century, is held at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art after a 25-year break.