EXHIBIT OF THE MONTH

This museum valuable is part of the Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History collection. It serves as a piece connecting two outstanding personalities of the Lithuanian culture of the 20th century, namely painter Jonas Mackonis and Jewish writer Jokūbas Josadė.

 

The rich artistic life of Jonas Mackonis, who was a painter, professor of the Vilnius Academy of Arts, and doctor of art criticism, is a beacon of light in the history of Lithuanian art criticism. His paintings and his art monographs serve witness to his versatile talent as an artist. In 1948, Mackonis (born in Paąžuolė, Kaniava County, in 1922, died in Vilnius in 2002) graduated from Kaunas Art Institute, and prof. S. Ušinskas’ painting studio. In 1950, the artist began taking part in exhibitions in Lithuania. In 1982, he held solo exhibitions in Vilnius and Kaunas. His artwork can be found at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius, M. K. Čiurlionis Art Gallery in Kaunas, Klaipėda and Šiauliai Art Galleries, Kiev Art Gallery, and Brest Art Museum. A number of the artist’s works are part of private collections in Germany, Israel, Lithuania, Poland, and USA.

 

Jonas Mackonis created historical paintings, landscapes and portraits. The portrait of writer Jokūbas Josadė is not a mere reflection of the then reality, characteristic of socialist realism of the 1930s-1950s. Even though the portrait was created in the genre of realism, it conveys the vivid individuality of the person depicted, and is amply attractive for its poetic beauty and powerful realistic drawing. The portrait of the writer emphasizes the sensitive and subtle line of the realistic drawing, and the free brush stroke that captures the play of forms.

 

 

Jokūbas Josadė (born in Kalvarija in 1911, died in Vilnius in 1995) was a Lithuanian writer, playwright, fictionist and literary critic. In 1931–1934, he studied at the Faculty of Humanities of Vytautas Magnus University. In 1935, he published short stories in Jewish periodicals in Yiddish. From 1940 to 1941, Josadė worked in the editorial office of the Jewish newspaper Der Emes. During World War II, he was a soldier of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division. In the post-war years, after the Jewish press in Lithuania was closed down, he began writing critical reviews in the Lithuanian press. From 1948 to 1959, Josadė headed the Critical Review Unit of the Pergalė magazine. In the 1970s, he again took to writing in Yiddish, which was his mother tongue. Josadė wrote short stories, plays, and published a collection of articles on the Lithuanian literature.