Student posters from the collections of the Vilnius Academy of Arts Museum
Lithuanian posters have a long, good tradition. Without starting with Adam and Eve (although it is possible that in the heavenly Gardens of Paradise some Lithuanian poster master observed the history of the fall of mankind and captured it all with a work that calls for the consumption of only organic, chemically-untreated fruit), one can also recall the period of independent Lithuania from 1918-1940. During this period (especially in the 1930s), what could be defined as the Lithuanian poster school as a phenomenon was formed. The official sign of wider recognition was the Honorary Prize for posters at the Paris International Exhibition in 1937 (a poster by J. Steponavičius), even two gold medals (posters by V.K. Jonynas and A. Gudaitis), and a silver medal (a work by M. Dobužinskis). When Lithuania regained Vilnius in 1939 and part of the Kaunas art school moved to the capital, the Vilnius Academy of Arts was formed by merging this institution with the Faculty of Arts of S. Batory University. The fact that poster art and its teaching were at a mature level is best demonstrated by the poster for the 1941 exhibition of the VDA students' works (it should be noted that this exhibition probably did not take place, as its opening was scheduled for 22 June, the day when the Third Reich invaded the Soviet Union).
The State Art Institute (now the VDA), which was established in the second half of the 20th century, and its Graphic Arts Department, traditionally trained specialists in the fields of etching, book illustration, applied graphic arts, and posters. In 1975-1993, one of the most famous poster masters, Juozas Galkus, was the head of the department. The Department of Art Pedagogy also paid great attention to the poster genre, with such Lithuanian poster coryphées as Jonas Gudmonas, Albertas Gurskas and Vytautas Kaušinis teaching there. It was then that what can be called not only the Vilnius school of poster art, but the school of poster art in Lithuania as a whole, was developed and deepened. What is characteristic of it? First of all, the orientation towards informational, as well as agitational and advertising purposes (of course, these are also general features of this type of graphic art). The creation of posters is directly inspired by the specifics of the era in which their authors live. Many posters can be seen as a visual document of their period. They are particularly expressive and visual witnesses of political life, cultural activities and the economic situation. Lithuanian posters of this period are characterised by laconism and musicality (especially in the case of cultural works, such as those dedicated to theatre, music events and exhibitions). Another thing is that the conceptual following of the latest fashions and trends in the free, Western-dominated art world is particularly evident in the posters, both those created by students and their lecturers. Even in politically engaged compositions dedicated to the Communist Party, the Moscow Olympics or the anniversary of the LSSR, one can trace the direct influences of pop or op art, minimalism. In "applied" graphic art, the Soviet censor allowed a little more than in other types of fine art.
The exhibition exhibits (all from the collection of the VDA Museum) can be grouped into several parts. On the one hand, I wanted to reveal general tendencies, the development of poster art in the second half of the 20th century (albeit through the pedagogical context of the Art Institute). On the other hand, the exhibition itself was particularly inspired by a set of diploma works from the 1970s, which enriched the Museum's collections a few years ago, donated by the relatives of V. Kaušinis' students (from the Art Pedagogy Department), who were one of the classics of Lithuanian poster art.
A separate segment is made up of a bundle of compositions by Jurgė Ivanauskaitė. The famous writer and artist, traveller, winner of the National Prize for Culture and Art in 1979-1985, studied graphic arts at the then Art Institute and specialised in posters. Her student works are characterised by the same things that characterise her independent and mature work - an atmosphere of hippy psychedelics, a deep intellectuality, a strange combination of lyricism and irony, an emphasis on drawing as a technique and a means of expression, and an intensity of colour. Isn't this typical of the Lithuanian poster school in general?
