An exhibition “More Than Just Beauty. The Image of Woman in the LAWIN Collection” opened at the National Art Gallery
The exhibition “More Than Just Beauty. The Image of Woman in the LAWIN Collection” marks the 20th anniversary of the LAWIN law firm’s Vilnius office. To celebrate this date, the firm is providing the public with a unique opportunity to view the art collection that they have accumulated. The exhibition has an underlying theme: the featured works reveal how late 18th to early 21st century Lithuanian artists, i.e. artists who were born, studied, or lived in Lithuania, regardless of their national origin, saw and depicted women.
The exhibition’s visual narrative comes in eight parts: “A Portrait as a Memento”, “An Embodied Vision”, “The Charms of Childhood”, “Motherhood”, “Woman at Work”, “An Object of Desire”, “As Seen by Ethnographers”, and “The Life Drawing Model”. A short commentary by the curator Dr Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, which is expanded by her annotations of individual works, accompanies each of these parts.
The exhibition’s visitors will be given the chance to acquaint themselves with works by acclaimed Lithuanian artists, as well as artists who are poorly represented in museum collections, and thus less familiar to the culture as a whole. In this regard, the work of painters who have thus far not become part of the national art history discourse, primarily the alumni of the Department of Fine Arts of the Stefan Batory University (Halina Bobaryko-Modelska, Koźma Czuryło, Michał Dobriak, Edward Karniej and others) is of particular importance. The greatest treasures of the collection, however, are the works of such classic Lithuanian artists as Antanas Gudaitis, Jonas Mackevičius, Kanuty Rusiecki, Franciszek Smuglewicz, Kazimierz Stabrowski, Adomas Varnas and Justinas Vienožinskis, as well as a large set of works by Stasys Ušinskas from various periods, early paintings by Vytautas Kasiulis and Kazys Varnelis, rare bronze casts by the sculptors Juozas Zikaras and Petras Rimša, and some of the very best works by Vytautas Kašuba, Antanas Martinaitis, Audronė Petrašiūnaitė, Jonas Rimša and Adolfas Valeška.
Since ancient times, collecting has provided essential private financial support for the creation and dissemination of art. This dissemination can take many forms, from the artist’s promotion of his own works, to the private gallery owner’s placement of his client’s creations, and the auction house’s propagation of the nation’s cultural heritage. In other words, collecting is one of the most esteemed forms of artistic patronage. Therefore, it is within the size and breadth of such collections, and the artistic quality they reflect, that the society’s vitality and creative powers can be seen. In this way, the work of the collector plays a most crucial role in ensuring the general welfare of the nation. The exhibition of the LAWIN collection demonstrates that it is these contemporary patrons, who have encouraged the public to remember the names of the first Lithuanian art collectors – the doctors, engineers, landowners, military officers, priests, and, surely, lawyers who put together the foundations of national art collections – who are emerging alongside the more widely known expatriate Lithuanian collectors and patrons of our times, such as Kazys Varnelis and Mykolas Žilinskas.
The exhibition is open from 12 October to 11 November 2012
Organisers of the exhibition: the law firm LAWIN and the National Art Gallery of the Lithuanian Art Museum
Curator: Giedrė Jankevičiūtė
Coordinators: Ernestas Parulskis (NAG) and Jurgita Semenauskienė (LAWIN)
Architecture: Rokas Kilčiauskas (Processoffice)
Graphic design: Sigutė Chlebisnskaitė
The exhibition “More Than Just Beauty. The Image of Woman in the LAWIN Collection” marks the 20th anniversary of the LAWIN law firm’s Vilnius office. To celebrate this date, the firm is providing the public with a unique opportunity to view the art collection that they have accumulated. The exhibition has an underlying theme: the featured works reveal how late 18th to early 21st century Lithuanian artists, i.e. artists who were born, studied, or lived in Lithuania, regardless of their national origin, saw and depicted women.
The exhibition’s visual narrative comes in eight parts: “A Portrait as a Memento”, “An Embodied Vision”, “The Charms of Childhood”, “Motherhood”, “Woman at Work”, “An Object of Desire”, “As Seen by Ethnographers”, and “The Life Drawing Model”. A short commentary by the curator Dr Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, which is expanded by her annotations of individual works, accompanies each of these parts.
The exhibition’s visitors will be given the chance to acquaint themselves with works by acclaimed Lithuanian artists, as well as artists who are poorly represented in museum collections, and thus less familiar to the culture as a whole. In this regard, the work of painters who have thus far not become part of the national art history discourse, primarily the alumni of the Department of Fine Arts of the Stefan Batory University (Halina Bobaryko-Modelska, Koźma Czuryło, Michał Dobriak, Edward Karniej and others) is of particular importance. The greatest treasures of the collection, however, are the works of such classic Lithuanian artists as Antanas Gudaitis, Jonas Mackevičius, Kanuty Rusiecki, Franciszek Smuglewicz, Kazimierz Stabrowski, Adomas Varnas and Justinas Vienožinskis, as well as a large set of works by Stasys Ušinskas from various periods, early paintings by Vytautas Kasiulis and Kazys Varnelis, rare bronze casts by the sculptors Juozas Zikaras and Petras Rimša, and some of the very best works by Vytautas Kašuba, Antanas Martinaitis, Audronė Petrašiūnaitė, Jonas Rimša and Adolfas Valeška.
Since ancient times, collecting has provided essential private financial support for the creation and dissemination of art. This dissemination can take many forms, from the artist’s promotion of his own works, to the private gallery owner’s placement of his client’s creations, and the auction house’s propagation of the nation’s cultural heritage. In other words, collecting is one of the most esteemed forms of artistic patronage. Therefore, it is within the size and breadth of such collections, and the artistic quality they reflect, that the society’s vitality and creative powers can be seen. In this way, the work of the collector plays a most crucial role in ensuring the general welfare of the nation. The exhibition of the LAWIN collection demonstrates that it is these contemporary patrons, who have encouraged the public to remember the names of the first Lithuanian art collectors – the doctors, engineers, landowners, military officers, priests, and, surely, lawyers who put together the foundations of national art collections – who are emerging alongside the more widely known expatriate Lithuanian collectors and patrons of our times, such as Kazys Varnelis and Mykolas Žilinskas.
The exhibition is open from 12 October to 11 November 2012
Organisers of the exhibition: the law firm LAWIN and the National Art Gallery of the Lithuanian Art Museum
Curator: Giedrė Jankevičiūtė
Coordinators: Ernestas Parulskis (NAG) and Jurgita Semenauskienė (LAWIN)
Architecture: Rokas Kilčiauskas (Processoffice)
Graphic design: Sigutė Chlebisnskaitė
