Laiškai į tremtį: Stasio Ušinsko ir Vitalijos Blažytės susirašinėjimo fragmentai

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Laiškai; Lietuvos dailė; Modernizmas; Stasys Ušinskas; Susirašinėjimas; Tremtis; Vitalija Blažytė; Correspondence; Exile; Letters; Lithuanian art; Modernism; Stasys Ušinskas; Vitalija Blažytė.

ENStasys Ušinskas (1905–1974) was a classic of 20th-century Lithuanian art, and a proponent of Modernism. Alas, there is no comprehensive analysis of his work, and little is known about how his life affected his work and inspired his technique or his changes in style. That is why his letters to Vitalija Blažytė (1926–1999), his student, muse, lover and second wife, have such a unique value. The correspondence lasted from 1948 to 1951, when Blažytė and her mother were incarcerated in one of Stalin’s gulags. The letters helped Blažytė to get to know Ušinskas, and provided an insight into his work in the 1940s and the problems and realities of his professional life. The correspondence reveals a lot about the little-known and hardly analysed reality of postwar daily life. It shows that state-imposed ideology did not play a big part in most people’s lives: they loved, dreamt, had fun, read prewar books, exchanged knowledge and ideas that were not talked about in public, and listened to music that provided an escape from the restrictions of the Soviet world. The correspondence between Stasys Ušinskas and Vitalija Blažytė was prepared by the art historian Giedrė Jankevičiūtė. [From the publication]