The LNMA invites the public to see its spring exhibitions, which will present some rarely showcased artwork from the collections of the LMNA, from the other Lithuanian and foreign museums, and from private collections. Visitors to the national pavilion at the 60th Venice Contemporary Art Biennial are promised a unique experience.
Fourteen new exhibitions are opening this 2024 spring season across the LNMA departments in Vilnius, Klaipėda and Palanga. The exhibitions will be accompanied by educational events, creative workshops and conferences. All of the LNMA exhibitions can be visited independently or with tour guides.
A study by the LNMA and Mindletic has found that museum going improves our emotional wellbeing, therefore the museum invites its visitors to meet the coming spring with positive emotions.
A Hymn to a Broken Smile by Algimantas Jonas Kuras’ s to sound at the National Gallery of Art
This Thursday 28 March, the National Gallery of Art of the LNMA opens Algimantas Jonas Kuras’s exhibition Hymn to a Broken Smile.
This exhibition is a kind of poetic retrospective of the work by the influential painter, a winer of the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Art. It is an overview with an emphasis on the relevance of his art in the contemporary context of rampant ecological, quasi-religious ideologies. It would be a mistake to perceive the ecology theme in his canvases; the painter sought to revolt against the dominant ideological background and the propaganda of the optimistic Soviet reality.
It is the first exhibition by Kuras of such a scope and chronology, composed of the works from the Lithuanian museums, from private collections and from the works that are the artist’s property.
Rare pieces by Mark Chagall at the Museum of Applied Arts and Design
This late April, the Museum of Applied Arts and Design of the LNMA will offer maybe a life-time opportunity to see the tapestries by the Litvak artist Mark Chagall, which are unique pieces known only by few art lovers.
Chagall was a versatile artist: he painted, created book illustrations, decorations for theatre stage, stained glass, ceramic pieces and prints. His interest in tapestry was only kindled when Israel commissioned a large piece for the state receptions hall of the Parliament building. Chagall decided that warm textile pieces would add human dimension to this spacious room and started cooperating with the weaver Yvette Cauquil-Prince. The creative tandem produced around thirty of tapestry pieces in total. Compared to his paintings, tapestries by Chagall are rare.
The exhibition will be accompanied by an exceptional catalogue designed by Jonė Miškinytė.
New spring events at the LNMD departments in the capital: Lithuanian artists in focus
The departments of the LNMA in Vilnius – the National Gallery of Art, Radvila Palace Museum, the Museum of Applied Arts and Design, Vilnius Picture Gallery, Vytautas Kasiulis Museum of Art – this spring invite the public to see nine exhibitions.
The Museum of Applied Arts and Design opens the international jewellery exhibition Cosmos organized by Poland. The Radvila Palace Museum meets spring with an exhibition by the interdisciplinary artist Dainius Liškevičius. The National Gallery of Art presents a retrospective by Algimantas Jonas Kuras and the Unknown Mushrooms, an exhibition by the young generation artist Andrej Polukord.
In April, Vytautas Kasiulis Museum of Art will present an international exhibition arriving from Estonia, Unframed: Leis, Tabaka, Rožanskaitė. The exhibition brings into focus the artwork by three outstanding female artists of the Baltic countries – Malle Leis, Maija Tabaka and Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė – and analyses their unorthodox self-representation in their art. Visitors to the Applied Arts and Design Museum will have a life-time opportunity to the Gobelin tapestries by Mark Chagall; the works by Darius Hecq-Cauquil will also be on display at the museum at the same time.
In May Vilnius Picture Gallery will host an exhibition by 19th-century-Lithuanian painter and public figure Boleslovas Mykolas Ruseckas and his contemporaries, dedicated to the artist’s 200th birth anniversary. At the same time, an exhibition by Žygimantas Augustinas, a portraiture artist working in the modernist style, will be on at the gallery.
Cooperation with the Ukrainian museums at the coastal departments of the LNMA
The spring season exhibition programme at the coastal departments of the LNMA includes six exhibitions hosted by Palanga Amber Museum, Pranas Domšaitis Gallery and the Clock and Watch Museum in Klaipėda.
From 21 March the Clock and Watch Museum hosts the exhibition Florentempus. It is a continuation of Florentem which previously was on at Vilnius Picture Gallery with great success with art lovers and professionals. The current exhibition is tailored specially for the visitors to the Clock and Watch Museum.
Pranas Domšaitis Gallery offers three exhibitions this spring. The gallery hosts two exhibitions from 22 March, From Dürer to Rembrandt and Will She Rise Again? The latter offers to see the art of Francisco Goya. The exhibits of these two events have been evacuated from the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts, and include steel and copperplate engravings, aquatint etchings. These exhibitions, previously displayed by the Radvila Palace Museum and Vilnius Picture Gallery of the LNMA, are a unique opportunity to see the masterpieces of graphic art from 16th – 18th century European art school. Thus April the gallery hosts an exhibition by the established Lithuanian sculptor Algirdas Bosas.
In May visitors to Palanga Amber Museum will see a new exhibition of work by the designer Mantas Lesauskas. This time he presents design objects from amber, amber dust composite, artificial ebony printed by 3D printer and from other materials. Visitors to the park surrounding the palace will see an outdoor display Windows of History.
The inflamed bodies at the Venice Biennial
20 April, the National Lithuanian pavilion of Venice Biennial, produced by the LNMA, presents a collaborative project by the contemporary artist duo Pakui Hardware – Neringa Černiauskaitė and Ugnius Gelguda – and the artist Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė.
The international audience of the biennial will see a coherent vision of these creators. The images of the exhibition will reveal the inflammatory forces affecting humankind and the world. The theme of inflammation guided Pakui Hardware to enter into a dialogue with the art of M.T. Rožanskaitė, who explored the relationships of bodies and medicine back in the 1970s. This exhibition will talk about the inflammation of post(human) bodies under current economic and social conditions. The paintings by M.T. Rožanskaitė and the installation by Pakui Hardware will bring the audience to face the theme of medicine and hospitals, unfolding before them natural, cosmic and industrial landscapes.
“April 20, the opening day of the Lithuanian pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennial, is a great day for us. It is a joy indeed and responsibility for us to work with the wonderful artist duo Neringa Černiauskaitė and Ugnius Gelguda,” Dr Arūnas Gelūnas, director general of the LNMA and pavilion’s commissioner is thrilled.
The architectural part of the Lithuanian national pavilion is created by the architect duo, Ona Lozuraitytė-Išorė and Petras Išora-Lozuraitis. The curators of the national pavilion are Valentinas Klimašauskas and João Laia.
What is on in the summer?
This summer the visitors of the LNMA will be offered several surprises in Vilnius and the museum coastal departments. The National Gallery of Art will host a Japanese art exhibition curated by the director general of the LNMA Dr Arūnas Gelūnas. The Radvila Palace Museum of Art will introduce to the audience the work by the American photographer Andy Sweet and a Polish painting exhibition arriving from the Contemporary Art Museum in Krakow MOCAK.
The LNMA will open Pamario Gallery in Juodkrantė, and organize educational events and camps for schoolchildren in the capital and coastal museums.