Flowers and a toy duckling

If it were not for the strange creature on the left, this still-life by Emmanuel Mané-Katz (1894–1962) could possibly be just an expressively painted bouquet and a traditional summer still-life. It looks like a toy duckling on casters, but what is it doing beside the flowers? Why did the artist paint it? However closely you try to examine the creature, you will not be able to say definitely what it is. Therefore, the veil of mystery enshrouding this picture produced in heavy brushstrokes and cold colours becomes even thicker. The label on the other side of the picture of Gabriel van Thienen, a Brussels picture framer and gilder, shows that for some time it hung in the foggy Belgium capital. Maybe that was where it became imbued with fog and moisture.

Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

French Expressionism and the École de Paris. In the early 20th century, every young person starting out on a career as an artist dreamt of going to Paris and becoming famous. The large group of Litvaks who migrated there formed the nucleus of the École de Paris. Litvak artists brought Yiddish culture and the shtetl world-view to Paris, which combined with the modern art trends of the time (Post-Impressionism, Cubism, Futurism and Fauvism) and formed a new trend, French Expressionism. This trend was popular between 1915 and 1940, and about 60 Litvaks and more than 150 Jewish painters from all over Europe were adherents of the Paris school.

French Expressionism brought fresh ideas, new motifs and artistic discoveries to art. The trend is characterised by elegance and restrained expression, flat forms, vibrant brushstrokes, light colours, and nuanced painting. The artists were interested in the life around them: views of the city and its squares, people enjoying themselves in cafés, the hustle and bustle of a market, and the razzle-dazzle of carousels and the circus. They painted portraits of their wives and children, streetwalkers and female nudes in studios, apples on windowsills, and flowers in vases.

Text author Vilma Gradinskaitė

E. Mané-Katz © ADAGP/LATGA, Vilnius, 2019

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album OBJECTS ON SHOW (2017). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, STORIES OF LITVAK ART (2023). Compiler and author Vilma Gradinskaitė
Expositions: “Académie de Vilna. Vilnius Drawing School (1866–1915)”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Jolanta Širkaitė). Published: Académie de Vilna: Vilniaus piešimo mokykla 1866-1915 / Vilnius drawing school: Exhibition Catalogue, Nacionalinė dailės galerija 2017 m. 4 d. - lapkričio 26 d., compiled by Jolanta Širkaitė, Vilnius: Lietuvos kultūros tyrimų institutas, 2017, p. 275; "Free and Unfree. Lithuanian Art between 1945 and 1990", 9 September 2021 – 30 April 2022, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curators Dovilė Barcytė and Ieva Burbaitė.
© LATGA, Vilnius 2024

If it were not for the strange creature on the left, this still-life by Emmanuel Mané-Katz (1894–1962) could possibly be just an expressively painted bouquet and a traditional summer still-life. It looks like a toy duckling on casters, but what is it doing beside the flowers? Why did the artist paint it? However closely you try to examine the creature, you will not be able to say definitely what it is. Therefore, the veil of mystery enshrouding this picture produced in heavy brushstrokes and cold colours becomes even thicker. The label on the other side of the picture of Gabriel van Thienen, a Brussels picture framer and gilder, shows that for some time it hung in the foggy Belgium capital. Maybe that was where it became imbued with fog and moisture.

Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

French Expressionism and the École de Paris. In the early 20th century, every young person starting out on a career as an artist dreamt of going to Paris and becoming famous. The large group of Litvaks who migrated there formed the nucleus of the École de Paris. Litvak artists brought Yiddish culture and the shtetl world-view to Paris, which combined with the modern art trends of the time (Post-Impressionism, Cubism, Futurism and Fauvism) and formed a new trend, French Expressionism. This trend was popular between 1915 and 1940, and about 60 Litvaks and more than 150 Jewish painters from all over Europe were adherents of the Paris school.

French Expressionism brought fresh ideas, new motifs and artistic discoveries to art. The trend is characterised by elegance and restrained expression, flat forms, vibrant brushstrokes, light colours, and nuanced painting. The artists were interested in the life around them: views of the city and its squares, people enjoying themselves in cafés, the hustle and bustle of a market, and the razzle-dazzle of carousels and the circus. They painted portraits of their wives and children, streetwalkers and female nudes in studios, apples on windowsills, and flowers in vases.

Text author Vilma Gradinskaitė

E. Mané-Katz © ADAGP/LATGA, Vilnius, 2019

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album OBJECTS ON SHOW (2017). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, STORIES OF LITVAK ART (2023). Compiler and author Vilma Gradinskaitė
Expositions: “Académie de Vilna. Vilnius Drawing School (1866–1915)”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Jolanta Širkaitė). Published: Académie de Vilna: Vilniaus piešimo mokykla 1866-1915 / Vilnius drawing school: Exhibition Catalogue, Nacionalinė dailės galerija 2017 m. 4 d. - lapkričio 26 d., compiled by Jolanta Širkaitė, Vilnius: Lietuvos kultūros tyrimų institutas, 2017, p. 275; "Free and Unfree. Lithuanian Art between 1945 and 1990", 9 September 2021 – 30 April 2022, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curators Dovilė Barcytė and Ieva Burbaitė.
© LATGA, Vilnius 2024