LIUDAS TRUIKYS. ART IS A SACRIFICE TO THE COSMIC BALANCE

The exhibition “Liudas Truikys. Art is a Sacrifice to the Cosmic Balance”.

This year, commemorating the 120th anniversary of the birth of the famous Lithuanian scenographer Liudas Truikys (1904–1987) the organisers of the exhibition invite to acquaint with the personality and his work from the point of view of historical and cultural context including the global trends of Egyptian art, Japanese aesthetics, Christian mysticism, esoteric teachings, and folk style. Visitors will be welcome in the exhibition spaces enveloped by a unified sense of a synthesis of the arts, enriched with scenographical elements, synaesthetically combining sight and sound, as well as scents specially for this exhibition created by a scent artist Laimė Kiškūnė.

Visitors to the exhibition will have a unique opportunity to be the first to see three monumental paintings featuring the Procession of the Twelve Apostles, painted by Liudas Truikys. The works adorned a chancel of St Nicholas (Benedictines) Church, however, since 1948 they have been considered lost, luckily, discovered in the church in 2023. This iconographic scene, which was common in the art of Late Antiquity, Byzantium and the Middle Ages, was not usual in Lithuania, and is therefore a unique example of our ecclesiastical art. Delicately restored by the restorer Teresė Blažiūnienė, the Apostles, glowing nobly in blue and muted gold, are overwhelming in their grandeur and beauty.

The artist rose to fame as a scenography artist working for drama and opera performances in which he had innovatively tackled issues relating to the synthesis of the arts, confident that the means of expression should correspond to the musical structure of a work. He originally interpreted the motifs from ancient Egyptian and Japanese civilisations, Christian Western Europe, pagan Lithuania and Lithuanian folk art. The master felt a duty to serve the Light and considered art a tool in protecting the world from chaos and ensuring the harmony of the Cosmos.

The power of his personality was fascinating – always elegant in appearance and sophisticated in his manners, interested in esoteric matters at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Surrounded by an exotic environment in his apartment, Liudas Truikys had become a living legend of his time, just like his muse, the opera soloist Marijona Rakauskaitė (1892–1975).

The exhibition also shows sketches of the most important works for the operas “The Three Talismans” (1936), “Eglė” (1939), “Gražina” (1968), “Madame Butterfly” (1937, 1959, 1986), “Aida” (1963-65, 1975), “Otello” (1938, 1983-84), and “Don Carlos” (1959, 1981) which highlight unique principles of symphonism of visual forms. Among the exhibits – several impressive theatrical costumes, exceptional objects from the artist's collection of Eastern and Lithuanian folk art, portrait photographs of L. Truikys and M. Rakauskaitė, the interior views and personal notes.

The power of his personality was fascinating – always elegant in appearance and sophisticated in his manners, interested in esoteric matters at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Surrounded by an exotic environment in his apartment, Liudas Truikys had become a living legend of his time, just like his muse, the opera soloist Marijona Rakauskaitė (1892–1975).

The cycle of the jubilee events will be followed by a scientific conference "Liudas Truikys – 120. Consonances". Organisers of the conference: Aušra Endriukaitienė and Prof. Dr Helmutas Šabasevičius. Peports will be presented by Associate Professor Raimonda Bitinaitė-Širvinskienė, Dr Miglė Lebednikaitė, Dr Radvilė Racėnaitė, Rasa Jonė Ruibienė, Dr Vytautas Tumėnas. Rimantas Dichavičius, Dr Audronė Girdzijauskaitė, Aldona Kuprelytė, Bronius Leonavičius, Dr Nijolė Tumėnienė will share their memories about L. Truikys.

Curators of the exhibition – Dr Radvilė Racėnaitė, Rasa Bieliūnaitė, Rasa Ruibienė
Coordinator – Lina Pranaitytė
Architects – Rasa Butiškytė, Saulius Valius („Ekspobalta“)
Designer – Inga Navickaitė („Hands on Press“)
Scientific consultants and co-authors of annotations – Dr Miglė Lebednykaitė (“Madame Butterfly“), Dr Tadas Rutkauskas (“Aida“), Dr Indrė Šurkutė (tryptich “Apostles“)

Organiser – M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art

Key partners: Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema Museum, Kaunas St Benedictine Sisters Monastery

Partners: The Lithuanian Archive of Literature and Art, Kaunas City Museum, Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Oak Grove Library, Maironis Museum of Lithuanian Literature, National Museum of Lithuania, Klaipėda County Ieva Simonaitytė Public Library, Šiauliai "Aušros" Museum, JSC “Kvapai verslui", JSC “Užuovėja"

Information partners: Kaunas full of culture, Kaunas Day, 15min.lt

Text Editor – Aurelija Gražina Rukšaitė
Text translator – Aušra Simanavičiūtė
The exhibition communication – Vida Labanauskienė, Monika Mastavičiūtė, Aistė Šutaitė
Educational solutions – Justė Kutkienė, Milda Norbontė
Educators – Karolina Sadinauskaitė, Iveta Pociūtė
Accessibility solutions – Rūta Klevaitė
Exhibition scents and scent annotation – Laimė Kiškūnė
Descriptions of oriental carpets – Laura Bohne
Digital images – Edgaras Austinskas
Installation of the exhibition – "Ekspobalta", Irmantas Kuskys, Mindaugas Bagdonavičius, Izoldas Smagarauskas

Restorers: Virgilijus Aksamitauskas, Lina Bajoriūnė, Teresė Blažiūnienė, Vita Blažiūnienė, Audronė Petroševičiūtė, Daiva Snitkutė, Milda Šulniūtė, Dalia Valujevičienė

Acknowledgements: Nijolė Adomavičienė, Rasa Adomavičienė, Živilė Ambrazaitė, Arūnas Baltėnas, Miglė Banytė, Audrius Beinoris, Onutė Butkutė, Žygintas Būčys, Linas Citvaras, Saulius Dičiūnas, Rimantas Dichavičius, Aušra Endriukaitienė, Asta Giniūnienė, Monta Martinsone,Liucija Mikučionytė, Justė Mocevičiūtė, Milda Kairaitienė, Daina Kamarauskienė, Julija Karaliūnaitė, Violeta Karmalavičienė, Violeta Krištopaitytė-Jocienė, Renata Kovalčiukienė, Algimantas Kunčius, Aldona Kuprelytė, Alisa Raminta Lampsatytė, Raimonda Norkutė, Egdūnas Račius, Jurgita Ragaišienė, Palmyra Sakalauskienė, Janina Savickienė, Rokas Sinkevičius, Kristijonas Siparis, Jolanta Skurdauskienė, Skirmantė Smilingytė-Žeimienė, Aldona Snitkuvienė, Krista Svalbonas, Daina Tilvytytė, Marija Valasevičiūtė, Odeta Žukauskienė.