Still-life with flowers and fruit

The rather sketchy style of painting makes us wonder whether Adolfas Valeška (1905–1994) left this work unfinished, or whether the style only reflects his attempts to generalise real-life impressions as much as possible, approaching conditional expression. The composition was probably painted from nature. Judging by the date of the painting, the picture could be assigned to his Freiburg period. Valeška left Lithuania at the end of the war, and ended up in Germany. From 1946 to 1948, he supervised the painting studio of the Arts and Crafts School established at the initiative of Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas (1907–1997) for young refugees in the French zone near Freiburg. It reflects the life of an artist who was used to difficult conditions living in a foreign country. We can see that he was surrounded by simple but beautiful things: a polished wooden table with brass drawer handles, a knife, and a potted plant that resembles a pelargonium or begonia, which were popular in Germany. The various fruits and nuts spread out on the table would have been signs of unattainable luxury to Valeška’s countrymen who had stayed in Lithuania

Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album OBJECTS ON SHOW (2017). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė
© LATGA, Vilnius 2024

The rather sketchy style of painting makes us wonder whether Adolfas Valeška (1905–1994) left this work unfinished, or whether the style only reflects his attempts to generalise real-life impressions as much as possible, approaching conditional expression. The composition was probably painted from nature. Judging by the date of the painting, the picture could be assigned to his Freiburg period. Valeška left Lithuania at the end of the war, and ended up in Germany. From 1946 to 1948, he supervised the painting studio of the Arts and Crafts School established at the initiative of Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas (1907–1997) for young refugees in the French zone near Freiburg. It reflects the life of an artist who was used to difficult conditions living in a foreign country. We can see that he was surrounded by simple but beautiful things: a polished wooden table with brass drawer handles, a knife, and a potted plant that resembles a pelargonium or begonia, which were popular in Germany. The various fruits and nuts spread out on the table would have been signs of unattainable luxury to Valeška’s countrymen who had stayed in Lithuania

Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album OBJECTS ON SHOW (2017). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė
© LATGA, Vilnius 2024