Jovita Jankauskienė
The Bohemian Life of the Temporary Capital: Self-Expression and Self-Awareness in the Socio-Cultural Environment of a Modern City.
Bohemia is a phenomenon that is both real and imagined, and has been little studied in Lithuania. Moreover, the concept of bohemia has gradually changed. Initially, it was associated with the Roma, who were often unwelcome and almost always considered outsiders and "others." With the establishment of nation states in Europe, the Roma became a nation without a place. One notable exception, at least for a time in the 15th century, was the Kingdom of Bohemia, where Roma who arrived were granted a letter of protection and other privileges. They were thus called Bohemians. In the 18th century, the term "Bohemians" usually referred to the inhabitants of Bohemia, or Gypsies (Roma) – nomads, many of whom pretended to be writers.
In the 19th century, artists carved out a separate part of Paris for themselves, first in the Latin Quarter, then on the north bank, and later in Montmartre, where they gathered in cafés and exchanged ideas, encouraged by intoxicants. Their eccentric behavior gave rise to a new myth: to be an artist, one had to frequent cafés, drink absinthe, and behave unconventionally. This lifestyle was chosen by many famous writers and artists, including Charles Baudelaire, Christopher Marlowe, Lord Byron, Edouard Manet, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Verlaine, and others. They not only lived a bohemian lifestyle, but also depicted it in their works. Gradually, the bohemian lifestyle spread to other large cities. By the end of the 19th century, artistic bohemian districts had already established themselves in many large cities.
The Lithuanian artistic community adopted certain rules of bohemian life, but adapted them to their own socio-cultural environment. The following chapters of the dissertation attempt to look at the changing concept of bohemianism: to trace the moderate origins of bohemianism during the years of press censorship, to find out how the bohemian field adapted and changed in relation to the development of modern art in Lithuania.
The aim of the dissertation is to investigate how bohemian life functioned in the field of art and what forms it took in the temporary capital. Specific objectives: to analyze the concepts of bohemia and bohemian in theoretical literature; to reveal how Lithuanian bohemianism was formed in the socio-cultural environment of modern Kaunas culture and the modern city; to analyze the habits of the bohemian in the temporary capital, or the self-expression, behavior, and actions of artists in social spaces; to reveal the characteristics of the self-perception of the bohemian artists in the temporary capital.
Illiustration: Performers of the State Opera after Puccini's opera La Bohème, 1936. Standing from left: Musetta – soloist P. Radzevičiūtė, Marcello – soloist A. Sodeika, Schaunard – soloist Ch. Šulginas, Mimi – soloist A. Staškevičiūtė, Collene – soloist A. Kučingis, Rodolfo – soloist K. Petrauskas. All are wearing costumes of the characters. Photo: Meheris Smečechauskas, 1936, Kaunas City Museum. Access via LIMIS: https://www.limis.lt/valuables/e/48941776/347132890?searchId=41447361
