Old wood carvings belong to graphic art. This is called primitive graphics. Since the technique of working carvings at various stages is quite perfect, there is no doubt that they came to Lithuania from elsewhere. Our carvers did not take the prototypes for their carvings from the miraculous pictures or statuettes of our churches, but mostly from German and French churches. Finally, about the origin of our carvings from Germany and their working technique.
The beginning of the appearance of folk carvings in wood is marked in the 18th century. in the first decade. The oldest of the known carvings is "St. Jurgis" - has the date of 1710. The last engravings are dated 1853, although prints have been found even later.
Wood-carved forms (clichés), otherwise known as boards, were printed for decoration not for palaces and not for churches. They decorated smoky shops and granaries, girls even pasted the inside of dowry chests with such prints. Most of the time, the prints were printed on poor paper, with simple, even own-made inks, so smoke, dust, humidity or the sun did not allow the prints to last long. Maybe that's why a lot of prints were printed, and masters have created more than one picture of the saint with the same plot.
We must consider Žemaitija as the center of folk carvings. They were carved and printed all over Žemaitia, but the most famous were the woodcarving school of Žemaitija Kalvarija carvings, the masters of Darbėnai and Kretinga counties. The monks of Kretinga had accumulated a lot of "boards", unfortunately they sold them to the Poles at the beginning of the 19th century. Only two full names can be found in the carvings - they are Samuel Stepanovas and Tadas Jurevičius. Three master monograms are known, E.W., A.J., and P.W. The names of the other masters of the surviving carvings are unknown, but there were undoubtedly many more.
The prototypes of the carving scenes were usually paintings of saints by unknown authors and copies of the works of famous European artists. They were especially fond of carving pictures of saints who were considered miraculous, whose indulgences attracted thousands of pilgrims. Who wouldn't want to bring back a holy abrozd as a memory, and one that was also sanctified through indulgences.
At the beginning of the 19th century, our masters stopped carving and printing prints, because Lithuania was flooded with cheap lithographic imitations of the same carvings, and later so-called oil prints.
Prepared according to Paulius Galaunė "Lithuanian folk art", 1930, Kaunas
One of the most prominent branches of this art in the 20th century. personalities - folk master Romanas Krasninkevičius, whose creative legacy is the greatest stimulus for the creativity of folk artists of this era.
In 2022 The community of folk artists-art creators of the Vilnius region organized a creative workshop-training for beginner colleagues at the Druskininkai craft center "Menų kalvė", where experienced masters shared their accumulated creative experience and the secrets of craftsmanship. The training was conducted by folk artists and members of the community - art creators Odeta Tumėnaitė-Bražėnienė and Klaidas Navickas.
In the exhibition "Unforgettable tradition. Wood and linen carvings" is exhibited by the project participants, folk artists: Raimonda Bolienė, Diana Lukošiūnaitė, Lina Kabelkaitė, Roma Gudaitienė, Lina Razgūnienė, Laimutė Benešiūnaitė-Fedosejeva, lrma Barauskaitė-Klimkiekė, Adele Bražėnaitė-Gančierė and project teachers - Odeta Tumėnaitė-Bražėnienė (Utena ) and Klaidas Navickos (Trakų district), creativity and works created during the workshop.
The exhibition presents paintings made using linen and wood carving techniques, which are characterized by ancient primitive printing: a drawing drawn on a sheet of paper is transferred to a dried wooden board or linoleum, carved with a special chisel or knife, the surface is covered with paint and pressed onto the paper using spoons. The motifs of the carvings are characterized by plant forms and patterns, depicting the old Lithuanian village, nature, fairy tales, and the favorite theme of saints.
The exhibition will be open from October 4-31.
Duration: until October 31