On 6 September 2010, the exhibition Lasar Segall: From Vilnius to São Paulo was launched at the Tolerance Center of the Vilnius Gaon State Jewish Museum. The creative work of Lasar Segall (1891–1957), the famous Litvak modernist, was influenced by Cubism, Futurism, and Expressionism.

His best-known graphic works are on loan from the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme Paris. Among them are lithographs from the book “Erinnerung an Wilna, 1917” (Memories about Vilnius, 1917) printed in Germany in 1922.

Born in Vilnius 1891, which belonged to Imperial Russia, to the family of Torah scribe Abel Segall and Esther Ghodes Glaser, Segall worked in Germany, France and Brazil. While still a student at the Dresden Academy of Art, he joined Die Brucke (The Bridge), the group of expressionist artists established by the prominent modernist E. L. Kirchner in 1905. The members of the group admired African sculpture, primitivism, and intuitive and spontaneous creative work. Later Segall created his own modernist style, which combined Cubism, Futurism, and melancholic Expressionism. Mario de Andrade (1893-1945), a famous Brazilian writer and art critic, wrote about the Litvak artist’s work: “L. Segall absorbs the world around him. The faces in his works exude a deep archaic beauty. Whether he painted a meditating Rabbi or an Indian woman, in his hands they became Humankind and the secret embodying it.”

SEGALL Lasar (1891 – 1957).
Nomad Women II
Japanese paper, woodcut
Museum of Jewish Art and History, Paris

Moments from the opening of the exhibition

The artist’s solo exhibitions have been mounted across the world. In 1967, the Museu Lasar Segall was established in São Paulo. Finally, in the autumn of 2010, Segall’s works are on display in his childhood city Vilnius as though repeating the painter’s wanderings. The exhibition of his works, which are recognized the world over, will remove the dust of oblivion from his creative portrait in his native country.

The Tolerance Center organized the exhibition Lasar Segall: From Vilnius to São Paulo together with the Centre for French Culture in Vilnius and the Lithuanian Embassy in France.

 Ieva Šadzevičienė, the head of the Tolerance Center, curator of the exhibition; Phillipe Seigneurin,  chargé d’affaires at the French Embassy in Vilnius; Claude Gérard Marcus, the founder of the Art and History Museum of Judaism in Paris

Pascal Hanse, director of the Centre for French Culture; Ieva Šadzevičienė, head of the Tolerance Center; Audelin Chappuis, cultural attaché at the French Embassy; Claude Gérard Marcus, founder of the Art and History Museum of Judaism in Paris; Phillipe Seigneurin, chargé d’affaires at the French Embassy in Vilnius

Markas Zingeris, the director of the Vilnius Gaon State Jewish Museum, Phillipe Seigneurin, the charge d’affairs of the French Embassy in Vilnius, and Claude Gerard Marcus, the founder of the Judaic Art and History Museum, addressed the guests during the opening of the exhibition. Zingeris spoke about the successful implementation of the international projects, thanks to which Lithuanian people and foreign guests have the chance to see the works of Litvak artists known across the world. In his address, Seigneurin stressed that the French Embassy and the Centre for French Culture in Vilnius appreciate the joint cultural projects, which are implemented in collaboration with the Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Marcus welcomed the guests on behalf of Laurence Sigal, the director of the Judaic Art and History Museum and emphasised that in the future, he hoped to hold more joint international exhibitions.  

Claude Gérard Marcus, the founder of the Art and History Museum of Judaism in Paris; Phillipe Seigneurin, chargé d’affaires at the French Embassy in Vilnius; Irena Zingerienė; Markas Zingeris, director of the Vilnius Gaon State Jewish Museum

Among the present also were: Pascal Hanse, the director of the Centre for French Culture; Audelin Chappuis, the cultural attaché of the French Embassy and deputy director of the Centre for French Culture; Stefania Del Bravo, the director of the Institute of Italian Culture; Simon Butt, the British ambassador; Joao Manuel da Cruz da Silva Leitao, the Portuguese ambassador; Martina Heranova, the deputy head of the Czech Mission of the Embassy of the Czech Republic; Seyda Hanbay, the second secretary of the Republic of Turkey; Barbara Olševska, the project coordinator of  the Polish Institute and other guests.  

Photographer Aistė Viršulytė