Kaunas arts school graduate painter Julija Petkevičienė: a review of her life and work

Straipsnyje pristatoma nepelnytai primirštos dailininkės, Kauno meno mokyklos auklėtinės, Lietuvos moterų dailininkių draugijos valdybos narės tapytojos Julijos Jablonskytės-Petkevičienės gyvenimo ir kūrybos biografija. Dailininkės kūrybos palikimas, išsibarstęs po privačius rinkinius, šiandien beveik nežinomas, stokojama net jos biografijos duomenų. Kaip ir dauguma tarpukario menininkių, J. Petkevičienė, nors ir mąstė apie moters menininkės socialinę padėtį visuomenėje, kūrybinius siekius derino su buitiniais rūpesčiais, vėliau kūrybinį darbą nutraukė pokario tragedija, todėl jos kūrybos palikimas negausus. Vis dėlto šios tapytojos gyvenimo biografija, ypač meninės raiškos požiūriu kukli jos kūryba, patenkanti tik į bendrąjį XX a. nacionalinės dailės kontekstą, yra ryškus daugelio neemancipuotų tarpukario inteligenčių, bandžiusių derinti šeimos moters ir menininkės vaidmenis, portreto pavyzdys.The creative work of the artist Julija Jablonskytė- Petkevičienė (1896-1987), a graduate of Kaunas art school isn't known well by the wider public or art researchers; even the facts of her biography are obscure. Her creative output is sparse, since, like most of the interwar women artists, she had to juggle her professional demands with family and children needs and also to struggle against the public opinion on a woman's place and obligations in society. Also, the artist herself did not participate in exhibitions due to a variety of complex reasons, especially because of personal tragedies and repressions after the war, none of her work can be found in museums and the relatively meagre creative output of the artist is still held in private collections. Other than that, Julija Petkevičienė is noted in the history of Lithuanian art as a member of Lithuanian women artist society board (1938-1940), a participant of the society's exhibitions who wrote about these exhibitions in the press and also as an artist who immortalised prominent personalities of society, science and culture in her paintings. Formally, Julija Petkevičienės creative output can be divided into two periods. The paintings, painted in the 1930s are attributed to the first period, and those created in the 1950's - to the second period, though the difference in worldview and artistic expression is small: all of her work reflect a sincere point of view, the work from the first period show a more open and subjective expression of feelings, while the compositions from the second period display a stronger analytic and rational thinking. Petkevičienės creative output consists of still life, landscapes, portraits and interior fragments. For her still life paintings the author often chose central composition from a rather close up point of view, painted slowly using faithfully selected colours similar to the object depicted and creating an integral colourway, enriched by subtle colour variations and light and shade contrasts. Some of her still life paintings are composed from objects differing in form, material, texture and purpose. An important element of the still life paintings is assigned to the subtly painted background, which balances the whole colourway and also creates an illusion of recessed space ("Vase with flowers, ashtray and book", c. 1932-1933, "Still life with vegetables and pitcher", "Still life with mushrooms and bowl", both c 1934-1938). These features also prevail in the paintings of interior details, created in the cosy home surroundings ("Interior with books and vase", c. 1934-1936). In the 1930s the painter created a few memorable landscapes of intimate mood, noted for the sincere depiction of nature. Most prominent of them are iconic, deeply seated in collective memory images of a rural homestead drowning in leafy foliage, bewitching by their freshness of outdoors painting. ("Homestead", c. 1932-1933). Some of the landscape paintings are more emotional, they have some features of interpreted view, portraying a feeling roused by the scene, a warm sunny day or summer mood; the other works show a more objective outlook ("Stillness of winter", "Landscape with bird feeder", both c. 1936-1938). [...