A Century of Lithuanian Artists in Chicago
The exhibition “BeLonging: Lithuanian Artists in Chicago 1900 to Now” which opened this fall at the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago (USA) features the art of twenty-nine Lithuanian artists. The exhibition, which has been in the making for four years, is part of the Art Design Chicago project.
At the exhibition, visitors can expect not only paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and textile works but also photographs, mosaics, stained glass windows, books, lithographs, various documents and exhibition catalogs. Slides, including ecclesiastical art and video interviews, are also present.
Victoria Kasuba Matranga, the curator of the exhibition, visited various art archives, museums in Chicago and other cities and the houses of Lithuanian collectors, looking for the works of Lithuanian artists.
Artists, many of whom came to the United States as already established artists, dominate the exhibition. Five artists from the first wave are also exhibited, i.e., those, who emigrated back in the time of the Russian tsar, as well as the work of the children of such immigrants. The four artists came to the US after the restoration of independence.
Six thematic narratives
The exhibition presents three waves of emigration. Each wave left Lithuania for different reasons: economic hardship, social issues or political tensions. At the same time, common traits were also sought: how emigrants longed for their homeland, tried to adapt in a foreign land, had to support their families, pursue professional goals and find a balance between different countries and cultures.
The available exhibition space in the Balzekas Museum also determined the size and scope of the exhibition. In total, the exhibition consists of six parts framing six thematic narratives.
The exhibition begins with the earliest available exhibit—Mikas Šileikis’s painting “Plowman” (1932). In part called “Chancing Chicago,” paintings and photography reveal the changes in Chicago and how the city has changed the artists who live and create in it.
Most of the works cover the 1940s and the 1970s, when the city was on the rise, with world-famous skyscrapers rising and artists’ careers taking off. The exhibition highlights several prints from 1936–1956, which show how Lithuanians exhibited their works in the English-speaking areas of Chicago.
Another space “Sacred Art” pays attention to church art. This part has the fewest exhibits.
Next, visitors are greeted by “Art as Activism.” In this space, they are introduced to DPs, starting with a map of Germany with marked DP camps. The most important work is by the artist who grew up in Anykščiai and moved to Chicago in 1938—“Vietnamese Child #1” by Rudolf Baranik.
The fourth part “Mythic Feminism” presents the works of members of the Lithuanian Women Artists’ Society. It is followed by the forth part called “Designed in Chicago.”
“Even local Lithuanian Chicagoans are surprised to learn that Lithuanians created or contributed to Chicago’s famous logos and advertising, such as the sausage ads of a famous meat factory. They did not know that Jonas Kelečius created many signs and posters by hand, even before the advent of printing presses,” Victoria Kasuba Matranga notes.
Petras Aleksa’s and Dalia Ancevičienė’s inventions for popular, everyday toys and conveniences, which have earned US patents, also surprise everyone. This part especially attracts historians and visitors from Lithuania, who ask for more information about industrial design and graphic design professions and Lithuanian achievements.
The exhibition ends with the section “Belonging,” which exhibits works by artists from all three waves of emigration. “We have selected works that reflect contemporary reflections on the human condition from the point of view of an expatriate,” the curator says. “At the same time, I had to tell about the Chicago art world and how Lithuanians fit into it and found their place.”
The exhibition will be open until May 17, 2025. The exhibition catalog will be published in 2025 and is currently being prepared together with the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.
By Ugnė Jonaitytė / LRT.lt
The flyer of the exhibition.
The exhibition displays not only paintings, sculptures, ceramics, textile works but also photographs, mosaics, stained glass windows, books, lithographs, various documents and exhibition catalogs. Photo credits: Balzekas Museum.