Pranas Domšaitis (1880–1965). Her / His Figure
From November 15, 2024, to February 16, 2025
The narrative of the exhibition „Her / His Figure“, dedicated to the oeuvre of painter Pranas Domšaitis (1880–1965), is the figure of the artist as a nomad, migrant, and emigrant. The artist’s creative legacy meanders through East Prussia, Germany, Austria, and finally, South Africa. He not only captured the landscapes of geographical locations where he stayed for shorter or longer periods, but also, as a nomad by nature, sketched the landscapes to which his curiosity drew him. These were mainly countries beyond the borders of the European continent: Tunisia, Somalia, the Bosphorus Strait, Turkey, and so on. During his travels, Domšaitis paid much attention to observing the environment. Nature and the inhabitants of various places were the artist’s main source of inspiration and the subject of his paintings. Thus, sketches from his travels, made in pencil or pastel and later transferred to canvas in oil, show figures – usually of women – posing en face for the artist/viewer or performing everyday household chores. The portrait genre paintings, framed by the „male gaze“, easily identify the dominant canon of female representation at the time – the imperative of exoticized beauty, distinct ethnic features, and subtle psychologism.
The exhibition intertwines two genres of classical painting – portraiture and landscape – to highlight the color nuances of different geographical sceneries and the interactions between the ethnic features of the portrayed, mainly women, as well as the links between postcolonialism and climate change. Issues of identity eventually arise in the attempt to characterize the portrait of Domšaičius himself, a foreigner without a homeland (German: Heimatlose Ausländer).
The artist’s artistic legacy, presented in this exhibition, shows that the (art) world, which has been migrating between languages and cultures, identities and geographies, is constantly confronted with a self-consciousness of „them“ and „us“, and encounters the codes of a visual language that has deep-rooted (ideological) traditions in Western culture.
National Gallery of Art under the Lithuanian National Museum of Art
Exhibition curator: Aušra Trakšelytė
Coordinator: Gabrielė Radzevičiūtė
Exhibition architect: Mindaugas Reklaitis
Exhibition designer: Laura Grigaliūnaitė
Translator: Aleksandra Fominaitė
- Purchase an e-ticket for this exhibition
- Book a guided tour of this exhibition by phone +370 5 219 5961, email edukacija@ndg.lt
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22 Konstitucijos Ave, LT-08105, Vilnius, Lithuania
+370 5 212 2997,
info@ndg.lt
www.ndg.lt
