Artists on the Move

“Artists on the Move” is the current exhibition on show at the TARTLE museum. This exhibition traces a retrospective journey through nine decades of the twentieth century, following Lithuanian artists far beyond the borders of their homeland. Spanning the period from their studies at Parisian academies in the 1910s to the mature modernism of the exile period at the century’s end, it tells the story of the artist as a wanderer – carrying home within a canvas, a sculpture, or a print while navigating shifting borders and political upheavals.

The exhibition presents rarely shown works by Lithuanian émigré artists who followed both transatlantic and continental migration routes, bringing together paintings, prints, sculptures, and archival materials that enrich this multifaceted narrative. Although the reasons that forced many of the exhibition’s protagonists to leave Lithuania were often painful and complex, migration also enabled the circulation of ideas. As artists moved across countries and continents, they carried with them knowledge, experience, artistic ambitions, and the influence of their teachers and artistic circles. These encounters reshaped styles and forms, encouraged adaptation to local artistic currents, and at times inspired the search for a distinct artistic identity.

Curators: Prof. dr. Rasa Žukienė, dr. Ieva Burbaitė, Emilija Vanagaitė

Architects: Aušra Siaurusaitytė-Nekrošienė, Agnė Makariūnaitė