Angela Fields

Chase McCleary

Intro to Drawing

10 April 2016

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis

Despite Mikalojus short life of only 35 years he created more art and music than many before him or since. In fact the brunt of his career in the musical, written and visual arts only spaded about a decade of time. During this decade Mikalojus musical repertoire comprised of nearly four hundred musical compositions, including two large-scale symphonic poems, an overture, two piano sonatas, a string quartet, and a cantata for chorus and orchestra. As for his visual arts and literature he also created around four hundred paintings, etchings and drawings, along with several literary works and poems. “Judging by the breath of his artistic activities and diverse interests, Čiurlionis can be seen as a truly Renaissance individual…On the other hand, his active involvement in the Lithuanian national movement and his idealist self-sacrifice for the sake of artistic ideals show him as a typical artist of the Romantic mold.”(Zubovas)

To describe the majority of Mikalojus art work is difficult because of the musical interaction most of his work was intended to contain as the author of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis also states:  

In dealing with the works of Čiurlionis, Vrubel, Van Gogh and many other artists one is confronted with a very difficult problem; to understand how the imaginative power of the creator enabled him to communicate his personal response to reality by transposing it into an art image, in this case how Čiurlionis’ imagination united polyphony and rhythm into visual symbols. It is, what Roman Rolland called, an entirely new continent of art whose Christopher Columbus was Čiurlionis. (Sepetys 1)

But despite this, now that I have both seen and heard Mikalojus works I can truthfully say that you can see a correlation between both. For example if you both see the painting MIŠKO OŠIMAS and listen to his Miške, In the Forest - Symphonic Poem you recognize the balance to both as well as connection.

The life of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis although short was full of experiences and turns in both paths of education, location and artistic interests. Born in Varena on September 22^nd 1875 Mikalojus was one of nine children. At the age of three his parents permanently moved to Druskininkai but Mikalojus at the age of fourteen supported by a family friend, J.Markiewicz, left for M.Oginski a school of music in Plunge where he played flute. At nineteen Mikalojus studied in the Warsaw Conservatoire with two famous composers A.Sygietynski and Z.Noskowski whom taught piano and composition respectively. Here, Mikalojus composed two piano sonatas. “In addition to his main subject, Čiurlionis also studied harmony, the theory and history of music, the natural sciences, astronomy, philosophy, numismatics and mineralogy, and attended a choir class.”(Zubovas) While attending Warsaw, Mikalojus had financial hardship but graduated with a diploma in composition. Later he declined a headmaster post at the Lublin School of Music at the age of twenty four then writing “Into the Forest” between the years of 1900 and 1901.

After attending lectures in Leipzig Conservatoire Mikalojus moves back to Warsaw in 1902. “There he earns a living as a music teacher, participating in the activity of the Warsaw Lithuanians Group, leads its choir, and harmonizes Lithuanian folk songs. That is how he joins the Lithuanian Movement.”(Grigas) In 1904 he begins to study at the Warsaw School of arts. There he leads a choir, gives private lessons and begins to write his second symphonic poem “The Sea.”  He was also part in an exhibition of paintings for the first time in 1905 with his cycle "The Storm." Between 1907 and 1908 Mikalojus lived in “Vilnius, constantly visiting Druskininkai, he lead the "Vilniaus kankles" choir, gave concerts, painted pictures intensively, wrote articles on the point of art, and took interest in Lithuanian language, literature and folklore.” (Grigas) In 1909 “In Šateikiai, a small town near Plungė, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis married Sofija Kymantaitė. After the wedding, they went to St Petersburg.” (Zubovas) During the years of 1907 thru 1909, "Fairy-Tale", "The Zodiac", "Winter" cycles, all the "sonatas", and "Rex" were created, which are some of his most famous works as well as the painting I choose “Rural Cemetery.” Shortly after this period Mikalojus began to fall ill and on April 10^th 1911 dies at the age of 35, of a pneumonia, in the Pustelnik sanatorium.

Rural Cemetery painted in 1909 by M.K Čiurlionis is of a graveyard in Zemaitija (Lithuania). It is 61.5x62 cm and is in landscape format. Although the medium escaped me I would have to guess, based on my own experience with types, that the work was done in a mix of mediums. I see distinct hints to washes indicating paint as well as pastels often used in his other works. Not to prove a trend but for the painting/drawing I selected of Mikalojus, is again prevalent in blue and green tones, one of my weaknesses when seeking out art. I also found the painting to be one of his more highly symbolic paintings and was able to collect a greater sense of the many possibilities one may feel when seeing this work. Not only does this work demonstrate a good sense of many of the artistic strategies but overall shows the artists perception of gestalt with no portion more glaring than another.

This painting has a nice fading effect with tone, indicating twilight or dawn as well as a difference in tone of the forefront tomes with the background tomes. The space of the tomes, trees and church to the sky demonstrates the artist’s perceptions of edges. The dimensions of the tombs from front to back diminishes as well as the trees and church gives the artists perception of relationships were sighting and a basic unit may have been used. The contrast of tone in the sky and the horizon scene is his perception of light and shadow with the objects appearing as silhouettes. Positive and negative shapes from the sky and the background objects show these contrast even further with his choice of fading tones and his perception of spaces. Since the tombs in the front are darker than those in the back as well as more defined gives his use of chiaroscuro and contour to create depth with his use of value and brush quality.

 It appears Mikalojus used chromatic grays in this photo of the background tomes that shows his aerial perspective as well as his choose of colors giving great value-contrast. The colors Mikalojus chose have a pleasing arrangement you can feel the order of the painting with the color harmony. The blues of the sky used seem to be monochromatic in the intensity of the color as it rises. The color scheme is simple in Rural Cemetery.  It may have also been Mikalojus intension when choosing to use the cooler colors as another means of symbolism to the coldness of death. The sky seems to have a pattern in it, both horizontally and diagonally which could imply the artist using a wash painting technique or was done so intentionally since a lot of Mikalojus work is meant to represent in visual form, music. When applied here, one could say that it shows a representation of a staff and music that fills each rising or descending sun with stars to punctuate it with notes.

I feel that the choice of horizontal painting with the inclusion of a large part dedicated to the brown tone of the graveyard setting indicates a bit of focus to the meaning of this painting; what lies below for all of us. I also see the comfort Mikalojus tried to include in this work of beneath the starry skies is where we will remain when above the surface is no more. The symbolism of twilight in this image is another indication to the artist’s mindset during this period of his work, and where this particular painting was done in 1909 and his passing in 1911. It seems to state a sentiment of fading, finality in this world or thoughts, though that may only be seen as an irony now, perhaps. The distant figures of birds could also be seen as symbolic of death, like vultures or crows in the graveyard. However the fact that they are somewhat symmetrical and facing each other could represent sentinels at the gates of heaven and the horizontal view could imply that which lays beyond life, a journey we must all take; that the sun will finally set a last time for all of us, but there may be more that awaits us still. Since this scene could be dawn and not twilight and those could be angels or devils waiting at heaven or hells gates respectively all manner of persons find their way in a collection of graves.

Though Mikalojus may have not been known far and wide within his days, his art and music are admired today by many. In fact, “Chamber ensembles, music schools, a long-distance footpath, two mountains and an asteroid have all been named after Čiurlionis. Since 1989 his art has been exhibited in Germany, France, Belgium, Canada, Spain, Italy, Poland, and Japan.”(Kennaway 235) Though not recognized for his beautiful talents around the world during this life Mikalojus’ optimism was sound with his passion and even his own words when he himself once said “The broader the sweep of man’s wings, the bigger the circle he makes in his flight, the greater the sense of lightness, the fuller the happiness he achieves. (M.K. Čiurlionis) His works of art and music are truly unique and I have thoroughly enjoyed viewing, listening and experiencing them all throughout this project. 

Work Cited

Grigas, Osvaldas. ciurlionis.licejus.lt/index. N.P. 2001. Web. 10 April 2016.

Kennaway, George. "Lithuanian Art and Music Abroad: English Reception Of The Work Of M.K. Ciurlionis, 1912-39." Slavonic & East European Review 83.2 (2005): 234-253.                                                  

            Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Sepetys, Lionginas and Civrlionyle-Karuziene, Valerijar Grigi. Mikalojus Konstantinas                                          

         Čiurlionis. Vaga, 1977. Print.

Zubovas, Rokas. ciurlionis.eu/en/ciurlionis TEO - Buti su pasauliu.

N.P. Web. 17 April 2016.