Eksponato byla: kilimas EMO 3817 - Lietuvos kultūros "ambasadorius" Paryžiuje

LTStraipsnyje pristatomas Lietuvos nacionaliniame muziejuje (toliau LNM) saugomas iš juostų susiūtas kilimas EMO 3817, pagal dokumentus austas XIX a. pab. Šakių apskrityje dr. Jono Staugaičio užsakymu ir eksponuotas Paryžiaus parodoje. Pasitelkus rašytinius ir archyvinius šaltinius, siekiama įvertinti, kiek kilimas atitinka etnografinę tradiciją, nustatyti, kokia Paryžiaus paroda minima inventoriniame kilimo apraše, atsekti kilimo užsakovo ir eksponato pateikėjo muziejui ryšius. Kilimas EMO 3817 savo raštais ir spalvų derme labai išsiskiria iš kitų žinomų šios rūšies eksponatų. Jo autorius liko nežinomas, jaučiama profesionalaus dailininko įtaka. Nustatyta, kad minima paroda – 1927 m. Luvre Dekoratyvinio meno muziejuje vykusi Pirmoji Šiaurės ir Rytų Europos kilimų paroda. Kilimas į Paryžių buvo išsiųstas, tačiau ar buvo eksponuotas, duomenų trūksta. Kilimo savininkas buvo dr. Jonas Staugaitis. LNM eksponatą įgijo iš Vlado Česo – operos solisto, tenoro, kilimą gavusio 1946 metais kaip vestuvių dovaną. Išsiaiškinta, kad Vl. Česo žmona Liucija Jakevičiūtė – dr. J. Staugaičio pusseserės dukra. Tyrimo metu atskleisti nauji faktai leidžia muziejinių etnografinių rinkinių istoriją papildyti informacija, išplėsiančia praėjusio amžiaus pirmųjų dešimtmečių juostų kilimų audimo raidos ir jų sklaidos parodose panoramą. Reikšminiai žodžiai: dr. Jonas Staugaitis, kilimas iš juostų, Lietuvos nacionalinis muziejus, lietuvių dailės parodos, Pirmoji Šiaurės ir Rytų Europos kilimų paroda Paryžiuje (1927), Vladas Česas. [Iš leidinio]

ENThe article presents the carpet made of sashes, which has been stored at the National Museum of Lithuania (hereinafter NML) since 1963 after receiving the code EMO 3817. According to inventory records, it was made in Šakiai county in the late 19th century. It was commissioned by Dr. Jonas Staugaitis. In the present research, an attempt was made to assess how much the carpet was in line with ethnographic tradition, to determine which Paris exhibition is mentioned in the inventory description of the carpet, and it was aimed to trace links between the persons who ordered and delivered the carpet to the museum. Similar carpets were sewn between the late 19th century and the 3rd–4th decades of the 20th century from traditional collections of sashes used in costumes or households of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century (since 1907), the carpets made of sashes were often exhibited in Lithuanian art exhibitions showing folk art alongside professional art. The sashes of the carpet EMO 3817 are woven of linen, cotton (it was found in NML restoration centre that some cotton threads are merserized), hard silk wool, yarns from multi-coloured threads. The carpet is very different from other known exhibits of this type due to its patterns and colour consistency. The patterns of some sashes have proved to be not very typical of traditional sashes, they are too innovative and occupy a very narrow part of the sash. The carpet colour gamut is interesting as well. Unlike other exhibits of this kind, where colours are arranged evenly, light and darker sashes are aligned rhythmically across the width, the sashes of the carpet EMO 3817 create an impression of colour transition, a “wave” of colours, with pattern colours moving from yellowish to a few shades of yellow, further green, red, pink, purple and ending in blue shades.As if it is not enough of the colour transition, one sash is woven with transient multi-colour threads. When you look at this carpet, you get the impression that a professional artist, or at least it was followed of her advice, might have contributed to matching the colours of the sashes, or maybe the weaver herself had learned the art. There is the possibility that the carpet was created in the early 20th century under the influence of art exhibitions and reviews of the works exhibited in them. Dr. Jonas Staugaitis (1868–1952) was a medical doctor, was four times a member of Seimas (Constituent, I, II, III), Prime Minister from 1894 until 1919 (in this position he worked intermittently because of Japan and World War I), and worked as a private doctor in the city of Šakiai. The carpet may have been commissioned at that time. It was established that the carpet was taken to the First Exhibition of Northern and Eastern European Carpets held at the Louvre Museum of Decorative Arts in 1927 (LeTapis. Première exposition, Europe septentrionale et orientale: Finlande, Lithuanie, Norvège, Pologne, Roumanie, Suède, Ukraine, Yougoslavie. Musée des arts décoratifs, Pavillon de Marsan, Palais du Louvre, Paris, juin-septembre 1927). The organizers of the exhibition applied to the then Lithuanian ambassador to France, Petras Klimas, regarding Lithuania’s participation in the exhibition. The Lithuanian Art Society took care of the organization of the exhibition, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs financed it – as we can see from the later report, 5,000 litas was allocated for the exhibition. Not only wall or floor carpets were selected for the exhibition but also bedspreads, decorative mats, and aprons that look like rugs. Dr. Jonas Staugaitis’s carpet was sent to Paris, but there is no information on whether it was exhibited. The space allocated to Lithuania was not large and it seems that not all exhibits were placed in showcases.A total of 148 exhibits were sent to the exhibition in Paris, but 33 exhibits were recorded in the list of exhibited carpets, and only 32 were in the exhibition catalogue. NML acquired the exhibit from Vladas Česas, an opera soloist, tenor, pedagogue, who received the carpet as a wedding gift in 1946. It was not he, but his wife Liucija Jakevičiūtė who had connections with the Staugaičiai family. Liucija’s mother, Elena Jakevičienė, was a cousin of Dr. J. Staugaitis, while her aunt, Elena’s sister, Agnietė Ambraziejūtė-Steponaitienė was a well-known doctor, researcher, public figure, who embroidered her own paintings and participated in exhibitions. According to relatives of the Staugaičiai family, Agnietė Ambraziejūtė-Steponaitienė could mediate when ordering the carpet and ordered it according to her taste. It is possible that in 1927, after learning about the carpet exhibition being held in Paris, it was she who encouraged her cousin Dr. J. Staugaitis or even sent his carpet there herself. In 2022, the carpet EMO 3817 together with contemporary textile masters will represent Lithuania at the International Textile Festival (LeFestival International des Textiles Extraordinaires (FITE)) at the Bargoin Museum, in Clermont-Ferrand in France, and in 2023 the FITE exhibition IMAGINE! will arrive at the exhibition spaces of the NML House of Histories. [From the publication]