BETWEEN THE SKY AND THE SEA II

“BETWEEN THE SKY AND THE SEA II” is the first exhibition meant to view the artistic heritage created on the Curonian Spit during the Soviet years. Almost one hundred works of art by more than 30 painters feature the unique landscape and inhabitants, disclose significant changes on the spit. Among the authors of paintings – Antanas Žmuidzinavičius, Antanas Gudaitis, Leonas Katinas, Vytautas Ciplijauskas, Algirdas Petrulis, Rimtas Kalpokas, Arvydas Šaltenis, Adolis Jonas Krištopaitis, Kazys Rimtas and Valerija Vija Tarabildai, Romualdas Adrūnas Kunca, Adelė Medutytė, Eugenija Jurkūnienė and others. A great part of the works is shown for the first time.

Only a few prewar residents – the Curonians returned to the spit after the war, much more new settlers have been recruited by the new Soviet government to develop the fish industry on the emptied peninsula. Likewise, the old Curonian sailing ships were being replaced by smaller and faster motorboats – trawlers, dories, and boats that were more likely to implement and exceed the Soviet five-year plans.

The works on display in the exhibition also reflect the history of the Neringa resort. Since the 1950s, the then Lithuanian government, having appreciated the uniqueness of the Curonian Spit landscape and realizing that fish resources in the Curonian Lagoon were limited, started thinking about establishing a resort. The paintings depict the wonderful nature of the spit, its unique architecture, people who lived, worked, and rested there. They tell us how Neringa has grown from devastated post-war villages and fishing collective settlements into a recognized and coveted resort, famous not only in Lithuania.

This exhibition continues the review of the artistic heritage created on the Curonian Spit preserved in Lithuanian museums and private collections. The exhibition was organized in 2011 acquainted with the artworks created on the peninsula before the Second World War by foreign artists (mostly Germans) and Lithuanians who had just started to discover the spit.

Curator of the exhibition: Irmantė Šarakauskienė

Partners: Neringa museums and Lithuanian National Museum of Art

The exhibition has been partially supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture