EXHIBITION OF GRAPHIC WORKS BY KAZIMIERAS ŠVAINAUSKAS "ČIURLIONIS FEET, ŠVAINAUSKAS EYES"

The exhibition, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of M. K. Čiurlionis, invites visitors to embark on a journey that reveals the worlds of two artists - M. K. Čiurlionis and K. Švainauskas - united by Lithuanian identity and cultural ties.

K. Švainauskas' works combine a realistic style and a subtle respect for history. His graphics, created using wood and linoleum carving techniques, are characterized by clear composition, careful line drawing and an aesthetic of black and white spaces. The artist was an active fosterer of Lithuanian culture in Poland: a long-time artistic editor of the Lithuanian newspaper "Aušra", who contributed to the perpetuation of the memory of M. K. Čiurlionis. Thanks to his efforts, memorial boards for M. K. Čiurlionis were created in Warsaw and Pustelnik, and he later immortalized these historical places in his carvings. While immortalizing M. K. Čiurlionis, the artist also created important places in Lithuania: he immortalized the areas of Vilnius and Druskininkai.

The exhibition "Čiurlionis feet, Švainauskas eyes" exhibits the works of K. Švainauskas, created while traveling in the footsteps of M.K. Čiurlionis in Lithuania and Poland. Works from the collection of M. K. Čiurlionis' house-museum are exhibited, which were donated to the museum by the artist himself. This exhibition not only tells about the world of M. K. Čiurlionis, but also reveals the contribution of K. Švainauskas to fostering Lithuanian culture in Poland. It is an artistic dialogue that connects the cultures, heritage and history of Lithuania and Poland, inviting us to make sense of the common journey of both artists.

Kazimieras Švainauskas (1917–2002) was born in Vilnius and grew up in interwar Lithuania. He studied painting at the Kaunas Art School, continued his studies at the Vilnius Art Academy. After his studies, he worked at the "Aušros" Museum in Šiauliai and the Belarusian Museum in Vilnius, where he became interested in architecture and folk art. His life was marked by exile to Siberia, where he worked in the mines of Stalinogorsk, and after the war he returned to his homeland only for a short time, soon emigrating to Poland. In 1950 he obtained diplomas in graphics and easel painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. Later, he worked as an art and drawing teacher in Piaseczno, was a member of the Polish Union of Artists, participated in the projects of perpetuating architectural monuments organized by the Masurian Cultural Society. His series of works "Lithuanian Monuments in Poland" is not only an artistic but also a historical testimony, intended to perpetuate the traces of Lithuania in Poland.