Part VI

Encyclopedic approach to exhibiting Jewish heritage in Lithuania

A special exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research at the Vilnius Picture Gallery, part of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, has become the first one in the world celebrating the centenarian mark of this unique institution. The curators of the exhibition opted for a wide and synthetic approach, setting in their halls a journey for their visitors throughout the five centuries of the extremely rich legacy of the Lithuanian Jews. 

That journey includes ritual objects, rare books and manuscripts, telling mementos from a Jewish daily life, historical art and documents, sculpture, original documents, including the Chagall and his family correspondence with YIVO, and original art which is represented in a warm selection of works from very rich collections of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, their partners, two significant private collections in Lithuania, and  great YIVO collection in New York. 

Warmth-spot from two private collections 

Four works from two private collections, together with the works from the Lithuanian National Museum of Art collection, has created a particularly warm spot in the middle of the encyclopaedic in character exhibition. All four works were selected well by the curatorial team of the Vilnius Picture Gallery, and they brought a sense of palpable authenticity to the visual narrative of the exhibition. 

The two private collections are very well known both in Lithuania and internationally. One is The Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE, one of the largest private art collections and art centres in Lithuania, belonging to a well-known lawyer and philanthropist Rolandas Valiunas, and another is the Lithuanian Art Collection and Fund of  Dr Jaunius Gumbis, who is also a well-known philanthropist and a philosopher of a law. 

Both men, who are colleagues and partners in business, are not only avid art collectors, but also top intellectuals and very well versed historians who are keen to know everything of every single piece in their both worthy collections, and who are quite open and willing to share their art treasures and history behind it with the public. 

There is also a special feature in both Lithuanian most notable private art collections. Both the Tartle Art Centre  of Rolandas Valiunas and Lithuanian Art Collection of Jaunius Gumbis are dedicated to Lithuanian art, and both of them include either works of Litvak masters, or works of the other well-known artists on a variety of  Jewish themes. This state of things reflects the tissue of Lithuanian history, in which Jewish heritage and legacy have been the organic part of it for more than seven centuries, from the 14th century onward. Notably, Jewish heritage in Lithuania and from Lithuania in many aspects of human activities was so developed that it has become an international phenomenon.

Interestingly, one of their recent achievements of the Tartle Art Centre was their exhibition and superb art catalogue dedicated to the Stories of Litvak Art  ( 2023). They also participated in a meaningful way in the landmark, first in over 80 years exhibition of the Litvak art in Lithuania and Baltic countries which I had analysed at the time. 

For the current exhibition, celebrating YIVO at the Vilnius Picture Gallery, the curators choose two artworks from the Tartle art collection, a well-known and highly representative of Litvak art Jewish Boy........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)