Still-life with birds

Antanas Martinaitis (1939–1986) painted mostly figure compositions. He treated the characters in his pictures, classic nude beauties and their partners with far from Classical features, such as dwarfs and commedia dell’arte characters, as actors in the theatre of eternal life. Sometimes they play a role inside, and sometimes outside the premises, against a familiar background of a Lithuanian landscape. The artist liked to arrange the action, whether it is taking place inside or outside, around a table painted in the foreground, on which there is almost always a still-life composition, giving the scene a festive solemnity. Martinaitis’ pictures usually have a vase of flowers or a flowerpot, a bowl of fruit, sometimes a jug for a drink, and large glasses. The objects, the figures and the background are tightly entwined together, so that at first the viewer’s eye cannot distinguish the separate items. A good look at the picture reveals that the rhythm and the harmony of the flickering colours, and the distinctiveness of the draughtsmanship, were equally important to the artist. His clear and accurate drawing brings out the shapes of separate objects from a viscous mass of paint.

Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album OBJECTS ON SHOW (2017). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

Antanas Martinaitis (1939–1986) painted mostly figure compositions. He treated the characters in his pictures, classic nude beauties and their partners with far from Classical features, such as dwarfs and commedia dell’arte characters, as actors in the theatre of eternal life. Sometimes they play a role inside, and sometimes outside the premises, against a familiar background of a Lithuanian landscape. The artist liked to arrange the action, whether it is taking place inside or outside, around a table painted in the foreground, on which there is almost always a still-life composition, giving the scene a festive solemnity. Martinaitis’ pictures usually have a vase of flowers or a flowerpot, a bowl of fruit, sometimes a jug for a drink, and large glasses. The objects, the figures and the background are tightly entwined together, so that at first the viewer’s eye cannot distinguish the separate items. A good look at the picture reveals that the rhythm and the harmony of the flickering colours, and the distinctiveness of the draughtsmanship, were equally important to the artist. His clear and accurate drawing brings out the shapes of separate objects from a viscous mass of paint.

Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album OBJECTS ON SHOW (2017). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė