The Tolerance Centre of the Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History to be renamed the Samuel Bak Museum

From June 2021, the Tolerance Centre of the Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History will be known as the Samuel Bak Museum. The museum of the famous Litvak artist Samuel Bak, who was born in Vilnius in 1933, was opened in 2017 as part of the permanent exposition of the Tolerance Centre. The artist was made an honorary citizen of Vilnius and in 2018 he was awarded the Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania.

 

The current permanent exhibition of Bak's artwork presents the artist's life and creative experience, which includes not only art, but also memory of the Holocaust, empathy and promoting humanity. Through symbols that are important for the artist, he speaks of hope, of recovery from the collapse of a harmonious world, of opportunities and personal responsibility to recreate a better world. The department's permanent exhibition Rescued Lithuanian Jewish Child Tells About the Shoah also tells the story of Bak's rescue.

 

The Samuel Bak Museum will focus on Litvak art, but it will also continue all the usual activities of the Tolerance Centre, including hosting lectures, film screenings, and discussions on topics relevant to modern society. The motto of the Samuel Bak Museum – Tolerance Through Art – is also based on one of the museum's latest initiatives, which consists of several projects that have been presented this spring: an epistemological and virtual tour In the Footsteps of Samuel Bak in Vilnius and an interactive website www.menas.samuelisbakas.lt devoted to the artwork created by the artist.

 

In June 2021, the Samuel Bak Museum will invite visitors to two new temporary exhibitions: the exhibition A Different Gurtlitt will feature works by German expressionist Cornelia Gurlitt from the collection ‘Gurlitt's Treasures’ donated to the Museum of Fine Arts Bern (Switzerland), and the exhibition Drawings Untitled devoted to the 90th birth anniversary of graphic artist Adasa Skliutauskaitė.

 

VGMJH information.