Antanas Sutkus.Retrospective.
Antanas Sutkus is justly called Homer of Lithuanian photography - the continuous oeuvre whole life is an epic assembled from fragments of everyday life.
His distinctive works convey an archetypal attitude that has deep-seated relations with his community; however, the power of his artistic language and the scope of his oeuvre put the name of the photographer into the ranks of the creators of the world's culture. The phenomenon of the artist's oeuvre could be defined by the individuality of his artistic expression, a steady program of his ethical ideas and his existential aesthetics. The aim of this book is to present his creative evolution as clearly and thoroughly as possible, to reconsider earlier interpretations and to get to know the author anew. Having entered the XXI century, Sutkus has not changed his opinion, on the contrary - the exposures of his archives only reaffirmed his unusual artistic sensitivity. The photographer does not drown in the overall havoc raised by the dehumanization of society, does not betray his hero, that nameless man, that gray mass in particular, that fills up our real life and his photographic reality as well.
Antanas Sutkus
In 1958 –1964 Sutkus studied journalism at Vilnius University. He was one of the founders of the Lithuanian Society of Photographic Art in 1969, and its chairman in 1980 – 1989. In 1989 –1990 and since 1996 – the chairman of the Union of the Lithuanian Art Photographers. in 1983 he received the Lithuanian State Premium for Art; in 1997 he was decorated with the Order of the Grand Duke Gediminas of the 4th degree; in 1998 he received the Art Award of the Lithuanian Government. In 2001–2002 he won the Erna&Victor Hasselblad Foundation (Sweden) grant Documentation and Conservation of Antanas Sutkus’ Archive of Photographs. In 2003 received the National Premium for Art.
One-man exhibitions
More than 120. Here are the most important of them:
2008 Lithuania, up close and personal, Lensky gallery, Stow-on-the Wold, England
2007
Retrospective, Rachmaninov dvorik gallery, St Petersburg, Russia
Daily Life Archives,Contemporary Art Museum, Minsk Byelorussia, Minsk
J.- P. Sartre ir S. de in Lithuania, 1965. Warsaw, Poland
2006
White Space Gallery, London
Stadtmuseum Münster, Germany
2005
Exhibitions “J-P. Sartre and S. de Beauvoir in Lithuania. 1965” for the 100th anniversary of Sartre:
Centre Culturel Francais, Kiev, Ukraine
Centre Culturel Francais, Stockholm, Sweden
Centre Culturel Francais, Rostock, Germany
Centre Culturel Francais, Greifswald, Germany
Photography gallery 17, Salies de Bearn, France
Artists’ Union Gallery, Riga, Latvia
2004
PHP, Prague, Czech
Galerie argus fotokunst, Berlin, Germany
Susanne Albrecht gallery, Munich, Germany
Stara Galeria ZPAF, Warsaw, Poland
The 5th Moscow Photography Bienalle, Central House of Artists,
Moscow, Russia
CK Zamek, Galeria PF, Poznan, Poland
Galleri Infra, Stockholm, Sweden
2003
Prospekto photography gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania
Fotografie Forum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Group Exhibitions
2008
Spacetime:People / Friction, Vilnius Picture Gallery
Behind Walls, Noorderlicht Photography Festival, Fries Museum, The Netherlands Street&Studio. An Urban History of Photography, Tate Modern, London
Working Men, Analix Forever gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
2007
Presumed Innocence, (from the collection of Beth and Anthony Terrana) DeCordoba Museum, Lincoln, USA
Antanas Sutkus and Classics of Lithuanian Photography, The State Russian Centre of Photography, St Petersburg, Russia
2006
Photography Festival FotoGrafia (with A. Macijauskas and R. Požerskis), Rome, Italy
2005
Galeri Konstepidemin (with S&P Stanikas), Goteburg, Sweden
Galerie Lichtblick (with A. Macijauskas and A. Valiauga), Cologne, Germany
Galerie Susanne Albrecht (with Martin Parr), Munich, Germany
2002
EU Positive Akademie der Künste Berlin, Germany
Les Boreales festival, Caen, France
Clear Vision. Photographs from F.C. Gundlach’s Collection, Internationales Haus der Photographie, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
Lithuanian Insight: 1960 to Now. Fotografie Forum international, Kommunale Galerie, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2000
Self Esteem. Lithuanian Art’ 01, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius
Victoria and Albert Museum Canon Gallery
Photographs have been acquired by
Lithuanian Museum of Art, Vilnius; Museum of Photography, Šiauliai; National Library, Paris; Museum of French Photography, Paris; Museum of Photography, Helsinki; International Center of Photography, New York; Institute of Arts, Chicago; Art Museum, Minneapolis; Fotoforum Felldeg Gallery, Zurich; Art Gallery, Dresden; Art Museum, Boston; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Photography Museum, Odense, Denmark; F.C. Gundlach’s Collection, Hamburg; Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm; Museum The Moscow House of Photography.
Private collections
Paul Smith, London
Beth and Anthony Terrana, USA
Danguolė and Viktoras Butkus, Lithuania
Publications
Vilniaus šiokiadieniai (Daily Life in Vilnius; with R.Rakauskas), 1965; Tėviškės laukų suvenyras (A Souvenir from the Fields of Homeland), 1969; Šalis ta Lietuva vadinas (This Land is Called Lithuania; with R.Rakauskas),1970; Senojo Vilniaus Fragmentai (Fragments of the Old Vilnius), 1973; Lazdynai, 1975; Lietuva iš paukščio skrydžio (Bird’s Eye View of Lithuania),1980, 1981; Neringa, 1980, 1982, 1992; Daina Lietuvai (A Song for Lithuania),1984;) Draugystė (Friendship), 1988; Naturparadies Kurische Nehrung (with H.Peitch), 1988; Lietuva/Lithuania, 1991,1993; Lietuva (Lithuania), 1993; Basų kojų nostalgija: parodos katalogas (Nostalgia for Bare Feet: Exhibition Catalogue), 1995; Pro Memoria: Exhibition Catalogue, 1997; Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in Lithuania,1965: Exhibition Catalogue (1999); Antanas Sutkus. Fotografijos, (Antanas Sutkus. Photographs), 2000; Antanas Sutkus. Kasdienybės archyvai. 1959-1993 (Daily Life Archives. 1959-1993), 2003; Antanas Sutkus. Sartre & Beauvoir. Cinq jours en Lituanie. Le Bord De L’eau Editions, France, 2005; Antanas Sutkus. Retrospective. 2009
His distinctive works convey an archetypal attitude that has deep-seated relations with his community; however, the power of his artistic language and the scope of his oeuvre put the name of the photographer into the ranks of the creators of the world's culture. The phenomenon of the artist's oeuvre could be defined by the individuality of his artistic expression, a steady program of his ethical ideas and his existential aesthetics. The aim of this book is to present his creative evolution as clearly and thoroughly as possible, to reconsider earlier interpretations and to get to know the author anew. Having entered the XXI century, Sutkus has not changed his opinion, on the contrary - the exposures of his archives only reaffirmed his unusual artistic sensitivity. The photographer does not drown in the overall havoc raised by the dehumanization of society, does not betray his hero, that nameless man, that gray mass in particular, that fills up our real life and his photographic reality as well.
Margarita Matulyte
Antanas Sutkus
In 1958 –1964 Sutkus studied journalism at Vilnius University. He was one of the founders of the Lithuanian Society of Photographic Art in 1969, and its chairman in 1980 – 1989. In 1989 –1990 and since 1996 – the chairman of the Union of the Lithuanian Art Photographers. in 1983 he received the Lithuanian State Premium for Art; in 1997 he was decorated with the Order of the Grand Duke Gediminas of the 4th degree; in 1998 he received the Art Award of the Lithuanian Government. In 2001–2002 he won the Erna&Victor Hasselblad Foundation (Sweden) grant Documentation and Conservation of Antanas Sutkus’ Archive of Photographs. In 2003 received the National Premium for Art.
One-man exhibitions
More than 120. Here are the most important of them:
2008 Lithuania, up close and personal, Lensky gallery, Stow-on-the Wold, England
2007
Retrospective, Rachmaninov dvorik gallery, St Petersburg, Russia
Daily Life Archives,Contemporary Art Museum, Minsk Byelorussia, Minsk
J.- P. Sartre ir S. de in Lithuania, 1965. Warsaw, Poland
2006
White Space Gallery, London
Stadtmuseum Münster, Germany
2005
Exhibitions “J-P. Sartre and S. de Beauvoir in Lithuania. 1965” for the 100th anniversary of Sartre:
Centre Culturel Francais, Kiev, Ukraine
Centre Culturel Francais, Stockholm, Sweden
Centre Culturel Francais, Rostock, Germany
Centre Culturel Francais, Greifswald, Germany
Photography gallery 17, Salies de Bearn, France
Artists’ Union Gallery, Riga, Latvia
2004
PHP, Prague, Czech
Galerie argus fotokunst, Berlin, Germany
Susanne Albrecht gallery, Munich, Germany
Stara Galeria ZPAF, Warsaw, Poland
The 5th Moscow Photography Bienalle, Central House of Artists,
Moscow, Russia
CK Zamek, Galeria PF, Poznan, Poland
Galleri Infra, Stockholm, Sweden
2003
Prospekto photography gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania
Fotografie Forum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Group Exhibitions
2008
Spacetime:People / Friction, Vilnius Picture Gallery
Behind Walls, Noorderlicht Photography Festival, Fries Museum, The Netherlands Street&Studio. An Urban History of Photography, Tate Modern, London
Working Men, Analix Forever gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
2007
Presumed Innocence, (from the collection of Beth and Anthony Terrana) DeCordoba Museum, Lincoln, USA
Antanas Sutkus and Classics of Lithuanian Photography, The State Russian Centre of Photography, St Petersburg, Russia
2006
Photography Festival FotoGrafia (with A. Macijauskas and R. Požerskis), Rome, Italy
2005
Galeri Konstepidemin (with S&P Stanikas), Goteburg, Sweden
Galerie Lichtblick (with A. Macijauskas and A. Valiauga), Cologne, Germany
Galerie Susanne Albrecht (with Martin Parr), Munich, Germany
2002
EU Positive Akademie der Künste Berlin, Germany
Les Boreales festival, Caen, France
Clear Vision. Photographs from F.C. Gundlach’s Collection, Internationales Haus der Photographie, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
Lithuanian Insight: 1960 to Now. Fotografie Forum international, Kommunale Galerie, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2000
Self Esteem. Lithuanian Art’ 01, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius
Victoria and Albert Museum Canon Gallery
Photographs have been acquired by
Lithuanian Museum of Art, Vilnius; Museum of Photography, Šiauliai; National Library, Paris; Museum of French Photography, Paris; Museum of Photography, Helsinki; International Center of Photography, New York; Institute of Arts, Chicago; Art Museum, Minneapolis; Fotoforum Felldeg Gallery, Zurich; Art Gallery, Dresden; Art Museum, Boston; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Photography Museum, Odense, Denmark; F.C. Gundlach’s Collection, Hamburg; Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm; Museum The Moscow House of Photography.
Private collections
Paul Smith, London
Beth and Anthony Terrana, USA
Danguolė and Viktoras Butkus, Lithuania
Publications
Vilniaus šiokiadieniai (Daily Life in Vilnius; with R.Rakauskas), 1965; Tėviškės laukų suvenyras (A Souvenir from the Fields of Homeland), 1969; Šalis ta Lietuva vadinas (This Land is Called Lithuania; with R.Rakauskas),1970; Senojo Vilniaus Fragmentai (Fragments of the Old Vilnius), 1973; Lazdynai, 1975; Lietuva iš paukščio skrydžio (Bird’s Eye View of Lithuania),1980, 1981; Neringa, 1980, 1982, 1992; Daina Lietuvai (A Song for Lithuania),1984;) Draugystė (Friendship), 1988; Naturparadies Kurische Nehrung (with H.Peitch), 1988; Lietuva/Lithuania, 1991,1993; Lietuva (Lithuania), 1993; Basų kojų nostalgija: parodos katalogas (Nostalgia for Bare Feet: Exhibition Catalogue), 1995; Pro Memoria: Exhibition Catalogue, 1997; Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in Lithuania,1965: Exhibition Catalogue (1999); Antanas Sutkus. Fotografijos, (Antanas Sutkus. Photographs), 2000; Antanas Sutkus. Kasdienybės archyvai. 1959-1993 (Daily Life Archives. 1959-1993), 2003; Antanas Sutkus. Sartre & Beauvoir. Cinq jours en Lituanie. Le Bord De L’eau Editions, France, 2005; Antanas Sutkus. Retrospective. 2009
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