Dailė kaip politikos kalba. Lietuva 1918-1940
Art as the language of politics: Lithuania in 1918-1940

Summary/Abstract: The article reveals how the national image of Lithuania was built in the inter-war years and the influence of this process on the development of art. Two main aspects of the national image of Lithuania are singled out: an idealised agricultural country and a mighty state of the Middle Ages. The author describes the major monumental paintings illustrating the nourishment of that image and determines the distinctive stylistic characteristics. In Lithuania, as in other countries, modernism was related to the left-wing political forces. Therefore, in the development of the state-promoted official style, a deliberate orientation towards neo-classicism and the aesthetics based on the classical ideal of beauty was felt. In order to add some national character to that style, artists were required to employ stylised folk ornaments and to represent the local types and the environment characteristic of Lithuania: rural architecture, landscape, etc.

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