The Influence of japonisme, the Old Testament, and Lithuanian mythology on the series of paintings Sonata of the Serpent by M. K. Čiurlionis
ENThe influence of Japonisme on the paintings of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911) has been briefly researched since 2009 and has been mentioned frequently in my articles. My previous research presumed that the only ukiyo-e prints that Čiurlionis might have seen were ukiyo-e prints and original Nikuhitsu-ga paintings donated by Feliks Jasieński, which were actually included in the catalogues of several exhibitions of the ukiyo- e collection held at the National Museum in Kraków. However, we have now discovered that the number of ukiyo-e prints actually donated by Feliks Jasieński to the museum amounts to more than 5,000, and considering that Čiurlionis visited museums in Prague, Dresden, Nuremberg, Munich and Vienna in 1906, the number of ukiyo-e prints he might have seen was in fact much larger. Therefore, the scope of the research has been expanded to include the famous ukiyo-e series by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), which would have already been introduced to Europe at that time. Since the paintings Allegro, Andante, Scherzo and Finale from the series of paintings Sonata of the Serpent were intensively created in Druskininkai in the summer of 1908, in this article, we will look at the paintings he created from the beginning of 1908 until the end of August 1908, before his departure for St. Petersburg, and will discuss the influence of Japonisme, the Old Testament, Lithuanian mythology and the fairy-tale fragments found in his series of paintings Sonata of the Serpent and paintings with serpent motifs created during that period. Keywords: Čiurlionis, Landsbergis, Hokusai, Hiroshige, ukiyo-e, Japonisme. [From the publication]
- Čiurlionių "Nebaigtoji": meno ir gyvenimo sintezės grimasos / Nida Gaidauskienė. Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911): jo laikas ir mūsų laikas / sudarytojos Gražina Daunoravičienė, Rima Povilionienė. Vilnius: Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija, 2013. P. 544-579.
- Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis: piešiniai, kompozicijų eskizai, grafika / sudarė Milda Mildažytė-Kulikauskienė. Vilnius : Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras : 2020. 438 p.
