Jonas Vaitys, Landscape

Jonas Vaitys (1903 - 1963)
Landscape
1944, oil on canvas, 44 x 62
Sign. AD: J. Vaitys/1944

PAINTING FROM THE YEAR OF SELF-DETERMINATION
This seemingly unpretentious landscape was painted at a dramatic historical moment for Lithuania at the end of the Second World War. Artists often hid the shocking experiences of that period under the cover of paintings with a neutral subject matter, as if escaping from reality, looking for solace in nature. J. Vaicis's Pajiesis is a typical case of hiding anxiety under the cover of a moody autumn landscape. Looking at the intimate landscape with birch trees just beginning to turn yellow and scrubby bushes, one cannot believe that it was painted during the approaching storm of war, at a crucial moment of decision - to go into the unknown or to stay in Lithuania and wait for the new "liberators". It is perhaps symbolic that Vaitys liked to paint in autumn, when nature is dying. Researchers of the artist's work (Nijolė Tumėnienė, Violeta Krištopaitytė) have taken a closer look at the period of the artist's work during the war years, which had been considered inferior to the interwar period, and have drawn attention to the period of the 1950s, when the artist's work was not so successful. The exhibition also focused on the increased sense of wholeness of the works, freer and more spontaneous brushstrokes, and the ability to create a sense of extension of the image beyond the painting. Vaitys masterfully conveys the state of nature as summer gives way to autumn. The combinations of light greens, browns and yellows, the melting silhouettes of trees and shrubs, the vibrant texture of fine curved brushstrokes show the influence of Impressionism. However, this is a Lithuanian variant of Impressionism - Vaitys was looking for a unique way to create a sense of atmosphere, to emphasise the sunlight, to strive for a painterly whole. It was important for the author that the canvas should have a sense of spatial and painterly perspective, different silhouettes and different greenery of trees. The landscape is characterised by a sensitive and restless painting, a melancholic mood, subtle tones of greyish sky blending with the vegetation disappearing on the horizon. Light is an important factor in the landscape, helping to create the impression of sunlight flooding the trees and meadow. Vaitys avoided watercolours, painting with a spatula and brush, creating a coarse and shaky surface. He was also influenced by Latvian painting, elements of which (coarse texture, application of paint with a spatula) he adopted from his friend Povilas Puzinas, with whom he painted together in the 1940s. Puzinas painted in Panevėžys, where he lived for 5 years.
The work of J. Vaicis is inseparable from the development of 20th century Lithuanian painting. Therefore, his landscape "Pajiesys" is a valuable and important part of the Lithuanian art heritage, showing the artist's way of modernisation, revealing the features of local impressionism and links with Latvian painting.
Dr. Lijana Natalevičienė