Viola Curreli-Matulienė
Neorealism in Lithuania and the Baltics: reflections on analogies and incongruences with Italian art
As demonstrated in the analysis of left-leaning Realist paintings, artists employed art as a means of propagating political and social ideologies. Despite the apparent similarities in the aims and characteristics of the movement in the wider international scope, it is evident that the representation of the social reality and the social themes were “provincial” in nature. This is intended both as the thematic choices of representing the working class and the everyday life, and the portrayal of the regional and local realities, which were integral components of the artists’ cultural formation. In this manner, international Realisms, more specifically in the context of the research Intersectional Socialist Realisms, are considered a dynamic artistic current. The perception of reality is understood to mutate based upon local thematic content, socio-political objects, and expressive characteristics of the artistic works. As asserted by Enrico Crispolti in 1983, the Neorealist paintings of Renato Guttuso present three different types of perception of reality: “[the] relation to perceptive reality, the relationship with artistic tradition, the artist's point of view and the civil value of the work of art”. The hypothesis, denominated Multiple Realisms theory, posits a precise definition of Italian Neorealist paintings, which are regarded within this study as part of the Intersectional Socialist Realisms, and are non-monolithic and contingent on the prevailing socio-political context.
The theory proposed by Crispolti is particularly apt in addressing the research objective, which aim seeks to illustrate the “provincial” as well as the international characteristics of Realist paintings from Soviet Lithuanian production, which requires an innovative analysis that aligns with contemporary transnational and decentralised perceptions of Soviet art.The study will analyse the artistic exchange between Lithuanian and Italian Neorealist paintings, highlighting the artistic and socio-political similarities and discrepancies between the movements. The Multiple Realisms theory will serve as the framework for the study of the artworks produced by Vincentas Gečas and Silvestras Džiaukštas’ from the 1950’s until the 1980’s. The chronological period under consideration corresponds to the artistic liberation in the USSR under Nikita Khrushchev (1956), culminating in the exhaustion of the social purpose of the Intersectional Socialist Realisms, symbolised by the introduction of the Perestroika (1985).The study of Gečas and Džiaukštas artworks will facilitate the development of an artistic analysis of Soviet Lithuanian paintings, both in terms of its local characteristics and its integration within the broader context of Intersectional Socialist Realisms.
Illustration: Vincentas Gečas, Bedarbių demonstracija (1965), oil on cavas, 161x191, Lietuvos nacionalinis dailės muziejus
