Opening of Exhibition Shalom Israel! of Litvak Art Accompanied by Music Performed by Levickis

The exhibition Shalom, Israel. The Paths of Litvak Artists, presenting 24 Litvak artists and 37 pieces of art that unveil the two-way development of Jewish art was opened on the 16th of December 2015 at the Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum.

The exhibition illustrates the influence Litvak art had on the art of Israel and the way nature and traditional folk art in Israel changed the artistic expression of Litvak artists. Visitors will have the possibility to admire the works of Marc Chagall, Max Band, Boris Schatz, Emmanuel Mane-Katz, Pinchus Abramovich and the other artists. These art works belong to the collections of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, Lewben Art Foundation, Lithuanian Expatriate Art Foundation, law firm Valiunas Ellex and other private art collectors. Most of these works have not yet been exhibited in Lithuania before.
Curator of the exhibition Shalom, Israel! Dr. Vilma Gradinskaitė
The guests of the opening were awarded with an opportunity to listen to the short performance of one young virtuoso Lithuanian accordionist Martynas Levickis. He performed music pieces by Niccolo Paganini, Gioachino Rossini and Antonio Vivaldi.

Dr. Kamilė Rupeikaitė, Deputy Director of The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, Head of Law Firm Valiunas Ellex Rolandas Valiūnas, and the Director of Lewben Art Foundation Indrė Tubinienė greeted the guests of The Tolerance Center. As well as the member of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Emanuelis Zingeris, who marked that Litvak artists carried the name of Lithuania even during the years, then Lithuania was occupied, they were the ambassadors of Lithuania in the world: next to every art work created by the Litvak artists, which was exhibited in the great galleries of the world, their Lithuanian origin was mentioned.

Member of the Parliament of Lithuania Emanuelis Zingeris, Head of the Law Firm Valiunas Ellex Rolandas Valiūnas, Deputy Director of International Relations of the Seimas Rimantas Stankevičius.
Artist Raimondas Savickas presented his art work to the exhibition and participated at the opening ceremony.

OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION SHALOM, ISRAEL! THE PATHS OF LITVAK ARTISTS

2015.12.16

The Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum unveiled a new art exhibit December 16 called Shalom Israel! Litvak Artists. The show includes 37 works by 24 Litvak artists from the museums collections, the Lewben Art Foundation, the Lithuanian Exiles Art Fund, the attorneys office Valiunas Ellex and other private collections. One of the more surprising items at the opening was a musical presentation by Martynas Levickis, accordion player and one of Lithuanias most famous virtuosos. Levickis performed works by Paganini, Rossini and Vivaldi.

Deputy museum director Dr. Kamilė Rupeikaitė welcomed guests to the event and Valiunas Ellex director Rolandas Valiūnas, Lewben Art Foundation director Indrė Tubinienė and Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris spoke. Zingeris said Litvak artists kept putting Lithuania on the map even when the country was occupied and acted as Lithuanian ambassadors to the world. He said their Lithuanian origins were indicated next to their works at the most famous galleries everywhere.

Art history expert and curator Dr. Vilma Gradinskaitė presented the idea behind the exhibit and pointed out that almost all of the works on exhibit were being shown publicly for the first time. Two contemporary artists, R. Savickas and A. Jacovskytė, even created works especially for this exhibition. Dr. Gradinskaitė.

The works on exhibit cover more than a century and represent different schools of art. For the first time the Lithuanian public can appreciate the striving for a national Jewish art by the founder of the art school in Palestine (opened in 1906), B. Shatz, and his followers Y. Budka, M. Bernstein and Y. Kowarski; the expressionists E. Mane-Katz, M. Band, B. Tsukerman, J. Kazlauskas and I. Kulvianskis; and works by the representatives of the ethnic Jewish symbolism school which became popular in Israel after World War II including M. Chagall, T. Tobias and S. Bak. Marijampolė native M. Rozental and S. Tepler perfected the expression of figurative abstraction, while Kaunas resident Y. Streichman and Maeikiai resident P. Abramovichs artistic experimentation led to lyrical abstractionism. The exhibit includes contemporary artists who have emigrated to Israel including L. Ray and D. Zundelovičius as well as resident Lithuanian artists including A. Jacovskis, A. Jacovskytė, R. Savickas and S. Teitelbaumas, in whose works images of the Promised Land and feelings for the historical homeland are combined and expressed through metaphor and allusion.

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