The exhibition "Cornelia Gurlitt: the Journey of the Heart. Kaunas and Vilnius Accents 1915-1917" from the collections of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum and the private collections, was opened at M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art M. Žilinskas Art Gallery on the 4th of February, 2016. Lithographs and drawings by Cornelia Gurlitt (1890-1919) reveal the drama of an artist, who served as the sister of mercy at Vilnius’ German military hospital during the years of WWI.

The exhibition, based on the 22 original drawings and litographs by Cornelia Gurlitt, is up-dated not only with the authentic WWI views of Lithuania, captured on the cameras‘ of Generalfeldmarschall Hermann von Eichhorn’s army photographers as well as the thoughts of the contemporaries about Vilnius, but also with the art works by Magnus Zeller (1888-1972) and Walter Buhe (1882-1958), who served in Kaizer’s Army as the artists. These art works, created during WWI years in Vilnius and Kaunas, were recently donated to the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum by Dr. Hubert Portz, owner of Kunsthaus Desiree Art Gallery in Germany. As were the historical photos of Kaunas and the authentic silk ribbons Vivat Kowno and Vivat Vilna, which were distributed in August and September, 1915, to mark the victories of German army while overtaking the largest cities of Lithuania from Russian Empire. Director of M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art Osvaldas Daugelis, Director of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum Markas Zingeris, patron of the exhibition Dr. Hubert Portz and the Curator of the Exhibition Ieva Šadzevičienė spoke during the opening of the exhibition.
Osvaldas Daugelis, Director of M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art greets the guests of the opening	Director Markas Zingeris speaks about the cultural input of Cornelia Gurlitt and the other German artists who served in the territory of Lithuania during the years of WWI
Maecenas Dr. Hubert Portz talks about the German artists and litterateus, who were dislocated in Vilnius and Kaunas during the years of WWI and were closely cooperating with each other, including the brother of Cornelia Hildebrand Gurlitt and the artist Magnus Zeller (Translator Vilija Gerulaitienė stands on the left)

Cornelia Gurlitt was already known as talented artist in Germany, in 1914, where she held two exhibitions. Artist met the love of her life, art critic and editor Paul Fechter in WWI years, in Vilnius. Love became one of the reasons, making her talent to blossom. “What she produced in the way of drawings, lithographs and paintings was among the most powerfully expressive art of those years and above all, was hardly paralleled in the achievements of the female artists of the era“, wrote Paul Fechter in his art history book, in 1949. WWI posters and newspaper advertisements testify that the exhibitions of Oberost artists (including Cornelia Gurlitt) were organized in Vilnius in Kaunas.     

Thanks to Dr Hubert Portz’s diligent research, through Cornelia’s eyes we can see wartime Vilnius and the Kaiser’s 10^th Army under the command of Generalfeldmarschall Hermann von Eichhorn, which was in charge of the Oberost province from the end of 1915. In his article Affairs of the Heart (printed in the catalogue of the exhibition) Dr Portz published excerpts from letters of the painter conveying the reality of Vilnius of that period. In 2010 the collection of authentic digitalised photos of the Kaiser’s Army and the sights of Vilnius was donated to the museum by Rolf Dyckerhoff from Wiesbaden (Germany), great-great-grandson of Hermann von Eichhorn.

Authentic WWI photos from the collection of the Generalfeldmarschall Hermann von Eichhorn

At the exhibition

In the end of 2014 Bern Museum (Switzerland) published the list of the art works of the collection, inherited from Cornelius Gurlitt, the nephew of Cornelia Gurlitt and the son her brother Hilderbrand Gurlitt, who was one of infamous Nazi looted art collectors. It became clear that in his secret collection Hilderbrand Gurlitt saved 138 his sister‘s artworks, dated from 1914 to 1919. The arrangements are being made to present these art works in Lithuania in the near future.

Exhibition will be opened at M. Žilinskas Art Gallery from the 4^th of February, 2016, till 10^th of April, 2016.

Curator of the exhibition: Ieva Šadzevičienė
Organizers of the exhibition: Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, Patron of the Exhibition Dr. Hubert Portz.
Partners: Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Vilnius, Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to Germany, ValiunasEllex
Media sponsors: www.bernardinai.lt, 7 meno dienos 

More information:
Ieva Šadzevičienė
Head of the Tolerance Center, Curator of the Exhibition
Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum
Tel.: 00 370 5 262 9666;
E-mail: ieva.sadzeviciene@jmuseum.lt
www.jmuseum.lt

Photos by Jurga Jackevičiūtė