| Photography
by Alis Balbierius Last year, at the end of the millennium, there was a torrent of photography books. We have never seen this in Lithuania before. I have in mind art and documentary photography rather than the publication of coffee table books. This is rather odd, because the publication of art photography was the Achilles' heel of Lithuanian publishers during the whole period of independence so far. It is a surprise also for the fact that these books are being published at a time which is not too favourable from an economic point of view, when even those who really need books have stopped buying them, and the average citizen spent 0.95 cents on books... One of the more interesting and original books, Atsisveikinimas su XX amžiumi (Farewell to the 20th Century), was published by Vaga and the Lithuanian Union of Photography Artists. It includes works by photographers of the last century which had an impact on the development of art photography, and which are symbolic and metaphorical for the past. It attempts to convey the versatile aesthetic and varied experience of Lithuanian art photography and is quite a success. The publication is a form of reminiscences - it is not in vain that the book begins and ends with photographs from the cycle called "Reminiscences" taken by Algimantas Kunčius, a winner of the National Prize. Farewell to the 20th Century has no sham efficiency typical of publications with similar titles; the photographs selected are noted for their artistic tension, nostalgia and sadness; they are saturated with signs of the past. The variety of photographers is striking - from the patriarch of Lithuanian photography Balys Buračas, and classics of the older generation, to younger photographers who perceive the world in a modern and up-to-date way. Works of all the most prominent photographers have been included in the album. Algimantas Aleksandravičius, who in the last few years of the last century quite unexpectedly became the best portrait photographer, published two solid books, one after the other: Portraits of Lithuanian Artists (Lithuanian Union of Photography Artists) and Lietuva, Meno veidai (Lithuania: Faces of Art, Vaga). The creative jump by this photographer, as well as his extraordinary diligence, is surprising: his impressive gallery of portraits of artists, which is constantly growing, was created in the last two or three years. As a portraitist, Aleksandravičius skilfully combines his experience of classical art with post-modernistic tendencies and creates his own future classics. The cover of Lithuania: Faces of Art is symbolic: a portrait of the actor G.Girdvainis with a big tear in his right eye taken close-up ... It is worth pondering over that tear: it is not there by accident. Those who know Antanas Sutkus well, both as a photographer and as a person, who has returned to head the Lithuanian Union of Photography Artists again, are surprised at the peculiar renaissance of this artist of the older generation. The most interesting thing is that his new book comes from the past, from old pictures from archives which were absolutely unsuitable to the facade culture of Soviet times. Today, however, these photographs, and not only old ones, somehow deeply and meaningfully convey the spirit, its quintessence, of the times and the people who lived then. The photographs (some of them were stored in the author's archives) have acquired a new force, significance and symbolism, they have become witnesses of a time that would never return. Perhaps, therefore, it is not surprising that such a solid publisher as Baltos lankos has brought out Sutkus' work Photographs. 1959–1999. Both this album and his recent exhibition of old works, "Užmiršta …" (The Forgotten), help the photographer acquire a somewhat deeper, weightier image in the photography art of Lithuania, and to extend his own boundaries. Admirers of "pure" aesthetics can enjoy a wonderful book, Smėlis ir vėjas (Sand and Wind), by the photographer Kazimieras Mizgiris (Amber gallery). After Zavadskis, Kalvelis, Strauskas and many others, Mizgiris remains the most devoted "sandman": he has been taking pictures of the sands of the Curonian Spit for over thirty years. Mizgiris' photographs, the variety of forms created by the sand and the wind, seem to remind us that every man, like everything else in this world, becomes in the end just a grain of sand in the winds of earth and time. The book Fotografijos frazės (Photographic Phrases) by Marija Šileikaitė-Čičirkienė, published at the beginning of January, is a pleasant surprise. The author's portraits are playful, and the play of forms, textures and light and shade in her photographs is subtle. On the whole, photographers from the town of Panevėžys enjoy a particular creative respect. This is testified to by the books of Aleksandravičius and Čičirkienė. Also in January, two books by the photographer who has won the greatest number of titles, Vitalijus Butyrinas, appeared. These are Terra incognita and 13. These publications are the first books to be published in his motherland. Before that, publishers in Germany and Russia published his work. He is a classic of Lithuanian fantasy and mystical photography, which developed in the days when computer-assisted manipulation was still terra incognita. Such a large number of books appearing at the turn of the century exceeded those published over the whole decade following the re-establishment of independence. I have mentioned here only the most important publications. Let us hope that this boom in publishing photography does not end soon, as there are many excellent photographers at work in Lithuania. Translated by ALDONA MATULYTĖ |