Satyr and Owl

The sculptor’s work from his mature period, depicting the universal symbolism of life, is rendered in the Art Deco style. This flat sculpture is richly decorated with ornamentation inspired by the Lithuanian folk tradition, particularly the ornamentation found on wooden battledores and distaff heads. There are several versions of this sculptural composition. Vita/Quies (Day/Night) is also known as variant III. A similar version of this sculpture, but with a bronze base depicting symbolic compositions, is held in the M.K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art. Petras Rimša (1881–1961) reflects on his style in his memoirs: ‘My style represents the need of country people to speak in the language of ornamentation, combined with a realistically rendered main picture. Ornamentation in my work is not separate from the whole, from the main subject, from the idea. It’s the spiritual language of my characters, pieces of their daily life and soul, which I have felt and experienced in my own way. That constitutes my individuality.’*

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

* J. Rimantas. Petras Rimša pasakoja. Vilnius, 1964, p. 258.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE ART OF MATERIALS. Compiler and text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

The sculptor’s work from his mature period, depicting the universal symbolism of life, is rendered in the Art Deco style. This flat sculpture is richly decorated with ornamentation inspired by the Lithuanian folk tradition, particularly the ornamentation found on wooden battledores and distaff heads. There are several versions of this sculptural composition. Vita/Quies (Day/Night) is also known as variant III. A similar version of this sculpture, but with a bronze base depicting symbolic compositions, is held in the M.K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art. Petras Rimša (1881–1961) reflects on his style in his memoirs: ‘My style represents the need of country people to speak in the language of ornamentation, combined with a realistically rendered main picture. Ornamentation in my work is not separate from the whole, from the main subject, from the idea. It’s the spiritual language of my characters, pieces of their daily life and soul, which I have felt and experienced in my own way. That constitutes my individuality.’*

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

* J. Rimantas. Petras Rimša pasakoja. Vilnius, 1964, p. 258.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE ART OF MATERIALS. Compiler and text author Jurgita Ludavičienė