EXHIBITIONS

The collection (paintings and graphics, as well as part of his personal archive) formed by Carolyna Leigh and Helena Miksevicius, daughters of Australian Lithuanian artist Jurgis Miksevicius (1923–2014) and donated to Lithuania (paintings and graphics, as well as part of his personal archive) was exhibited this year at the Vytautas Kasiulis Art Museum, and from May 14th it will come to Šiauliai. The exhibition, adapted to the exhibition space of the Chaimas Frenkelis Villa-Museum, is being exhibited in a smaller scale.

The artist’s exhibition in Šiauliai is not a coincidence – J. Miksevicius was born on March 8th, 1923 in Šiauliai, to the family of engineer Medards and doctor Elena. In 1940 he graduated from the “Aušros” boys’ gymnasium in Kaunas. After his family left Lithuania in 1941, he studied in Berlin, and from 1946 he studied architecture at the Darmstadt Technical University. He attended prof. Paulius Thesing's studio at the Darmstadt Creative Art Workshop. The years of study in Germany matured J. Mikševičius as an artist, formed a system of aesthetic values, and developed an artistic taste.

In 1948, the artist emigrated to Australia. At first, he lived and worked in a migrant camp in Bathurst (New South Wales). In 1949, he moved to Canberra. In the same year, he was the first Lithuanian to become a member of the Canberra Artists' Society and actively participated in exhibition activities. In 1953, the artist moved to Sydney, where he participated in the activities of the Contemporary Art Society and organized art exhibitions. He was one of the founders of the Baltic artists' group "Six Directions" (1956). He organized joint exhibitions with Lithuanian artists Algirdas Šimkūnas, Henrikas Šalkauskas and others. Since 1961, he has worked as an art teacher. During his studies and later, while preparing for pedagogical activity, J. Mikševičius was interested in religious and philosophical texts of Hinduism and Indian art. He traveled to India several times (1978, 1982, 1987), practiced Buddhism. Around 1978, J. Mikševičius retired from public artistic life, but did not abandon his creativity, painting until the last days of his life. The artist died at his home in Bensville, 2014. July 23. His ashes were scattered in the vicinity of his home.

J. Mikševičius' creative legacy includes landscapes, portraits, still lifes, abstract compositions, drawings. The search for color harmony, modern expression brings him closer to Paul Klee's abstract and avant-garde experiments, and meditative moods bring him closer to the Indian practice of mysticism. The artist's multifaceted work intertwines painful European war experiences, love for the Australian landscape, a warm and sensitive relationship with people, and a dimension of sacredness.

The artist's works are in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, the Lithuanian National Art Museum, the National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum, the Bathurst Regional Gallery, the Manly Art Gallery and Museum, the artist's family, and private collectors.

The exhibition at the Chaim Frenkels Villa-Museum is on display until 2025 August 31.

Exhibition curators and coordinators: Ilona Mažeikienė, Regina Urbonienė, Carolyn Leigh, exhibition designer Rūta Mozūraitė, exhibition architect Austė Kuliešiūtė-Šemetė. Exhibition coordinator in Šiauliai – Jūratė Kaučikaitė.

Organizer – Lithuanian National Museum of Art, partner – Šiauliai “Aušros” Museum.

July 9 – September 7, 2025
The Photography Museum will host the exhibition “Lithuanians in Argentina: Departures and Returns”. This is a joint creative project by photographer Mykolas Juodelė and Argentine Lithuanian Sandra Rivero, exploring the history and present of the Lithuanian diaspora in Argentina.

In the interwar period, fleeing poverty and political instability, more than 30,000 Lithuanians emigrated to Argentina. Among them were Sandra Rivero’s great-grandparents, Povilas Lipnickas and Adelė Baršauskaitė, who left Daujėnai parish for Buenos Aires in 1925. Sandra first learned about her Lithuanian roots as a teenager, and her long search for family history eventually led her to the same church in Daujėnai where her great-grandparents had married nearly a century earlier.

The exhibition “Lithuanians in Argentina: Departures and Returns” is a documentary photo narrative in three parts.

The first part tells the story of the Szlapelis (Šlapelis) family from Kupiškis, who founded the town of Sarmiento in Patagonia at the end of the 19th century. It is enriched with previously unpublished photographs by the town’s first photographer, José Szlapelis (Juozas Šlapelis), along with excerpts from his diaries. The second part reveals the histories of Lithuanian communities in Buenos Aires, Rosario, Berisso, and Esquel, as well as the return journeys of younger generations of Argentine Lithuanians to Lithuania. The third part is a photo essay about Sandra Rivero’s journey to her ancestral villages in the Pasvalys district, searching for traces of her great-grandparents’ lives.

Over ten months of travel across Argentina and Lithuania, the creators gathered archival material, conducted interviews with dozens of Argentine Lithuanians, and visited Lithuanian communities from Buenos Aires to Esquel, and from Rosario to Sarmiento. The photographic series is complemented by archival photographs, fragments from emigrants’ diaries and letters, and textual inserts that convey both historical context and personal narratives.

Organizer: Photography Museum, a branch of Šiauliai “Aušros” Museum
Curator: Valentyn Odnoviun
Communications Designer: Darius Linkevičius

Project funded by:
Lithuanian Council for Culture
Lithuanian Copyright Protection Association LATGA