Roofs of Vilnius

Jonas Švažas (1925–1976) was one of the initiators of the Baltic States painting biennials in Vilnius. These exhibitions, which were held from 1969 onwards, presented the latest works by the most interesting and professional painters in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and showed recent tendencies in painting. The Soviet authorities took an ambiguous approach to the exhibitions, but they became the most important artistic event of the year in Vilnius, and showed the exceptional quality of art in the Baltic States within the context of Soviet art. In 1969, the first year of the biennial, Švažas painted Roofs of Vilnius, which showed the efforts of Lithuanian painters at that time to transform and remake real shapes, to formulate them into a subjective and decorative vision, and to demonstrate the expressive nature of the Lithuanian school of painting. The old roofs of Vilnius inspired Švažas to create an almost abstract composition, made up of the diagonal lines of the roofs and the harmony of red and brown tones, accentuated by the white of the snow.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
Expositions: “Vilnius. Topophilia. Views of Vilnius from the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Laima Laučkaitė)
© LATGA, Vilnius 2024

Jonas Švažas (1925–1976) was one of the initiators of the Baltic States painting biennials in Vilnius. These exhibitions, which were held from 1969 onwards, presented the latest works by the most interesting and professional painters in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and showed recent tendencies in painting. The Soviet authorities took an ambiguous approach to the exhibitions, but they became the most important artistic event of the year in Vilnius, and showed the exceptional quality of art in the Baltic States within the context of Soviet art. In 1969, the first year of the biennial, Švažas painted Roofs of Vilnius, which showed the efforts of Lithuanian painters at that time to transform and remake real shapes, to formulate them into a subjective and decorative vision, and to demonstrate the expressive nature of the Lithuanian school of painting. The old roofs of Vilnius inspired Švažas to create an almost abstract composition, made up of the diagonal lines of the roofs and the harmony of red and brown tones, accentuated by the white of the snow.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
Expositions: “Vilnius. Topophilia. Views of Vilnius from the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Laima Laučkaitė)
© LATGA, Vilnius 2024