Artists wishing to make a career of their craft were still required to paint so-called “thematic” paintings, even after 1956. These were works encompassing multiple figures engaged in “socialist” narratives (war, “revolutionary” struggles, labour, recreation, sport). If we compare Augustinas Savickas’ triptych Revoliucinis Vilnius, 1918–1919 (Revolutionary Vilnius, 1918-1919, completed in 1958) with his later paintings Pirčiupių motina (The Mother of Pirčiupiai, 1959) and Kraujas ir pelenai. Fašistų sudegintame kaime (Blood and Ashes. A Village Burned Down by Fascists, 1965), it is evident that painters learned how to manage this challenge rather simply, without violating the requirements imposed by the government.

Assemblages, an art form that involved creating a purposely awkward arrangement of found objects or their parts on a flat surface, were crafted by Vytautas Kalinauskas, Linas Katinas, Igoris Piekuras, Algimantas Kuras and Mindaugas Skudutis in works that began appearing in art exhibitions in the 1980s. The assemblage technique expands a painting into the viewer’s own space, destroying the line between art and reality, meaning and existence. Among these works, experiments with form by Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė in the 1960s are particularly noteworthy. Her geometrically shaped boxes — constructed from wood, cardboard, metal, plastic, tin and mirrors — are empty except for the space inside them and are covered in hard, transparent or dark screens. The pieces are reminiscent of a theatre stage and appear to have been impacted by a strong application of force.

Assemblages, abstraction and the Aesopian language of meaningful forms — the manifestations of what has been called “quiet modernism” by Elona Lubytė, Elona Lubytė, Tylusis modernizmas Lietuvoje: 1962–1982, Vilnius: Tyto alba, 1997. or “semi-nonconformism” by Alfonsas Andriuškevičius  Alfonsas Andriuškevičius, Lietuvių dailė: 1975–1995, Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademija,1997.— arose under certain specific conditions. By borrowing foreign art albums from one another or reading the cultural press of the “Socialist bloc”, artists were able to familiarise themselves with the trends of modernism: surrealism, postcubist configurations and New York abstractionism. They were also influenced by European art, particularly the works of Tadeusz Kantor and Władysław Hasior.

 

As members of the Artists’ Union, Kisarauskas, Antanavičius and other artists no longer felt a need to survive solely from their art or to sell “thematic” paintings to the state. They preferred to earn their living from teaching: at the Art Division of the Čiurlionis School of Art, established in 1960, or the Justinas Vienožinskis Children’s Art School, while they exhibited their work in locations that were less accessible to the general public, including the Writers’ Union Club, the Artists’ Union office (now home to the German Embassy), the Artists’ Palace (now the Lithuanian Presidential Palace), the Art Salon on Cvirkos (now Pamėnkalnio) Street, the Republican (now Martynas Mažvydas) Library, the Conservatory, the “Vaga” publishing house, the Institute for Urban Planning, or the Panevėžys Drama Theatre. Before 1968, these institutions were able to host exhibitions without any real intrusion by the leadership of the Artists’ Union or the Ministry of Culture. The 1960s also saw the appearance of the first collectors of contemporary art, including Vladas Žukas, Laimonas Noreika and Zigmantas Liandzbergis. Friends and acquaintances purchased paintings from artists for a few tens of roubles as gifts, usually for their doctors. Later, works of art were sold to anyone wishing to purchase them at stores operated by the Artists’ Union.

 

The Soviet government in Lithuania sought to legitimize the activities of less than obedient artists by continuously expanding the limits of officially sanctioned culture in an attempt to prevent the rise of underground art movements. Artists’ Union officials were among those who attended “secret” exhibits at the home of Judita and Vytautas Šerys (in Vilnius, at 2 Užupio Street), and organized the inclusion of works by lesser known painters in Soviet art exhibitions in Paris (1965), London (1967) and Tokyo (in 1969, 1970, and 1972). The works of the “quiet modernists” could not develop into a serious challenge to the system because of the limited size of their audience and a lack of theoretical interpretation.