Open Waters. The Émigré Art Collection of Leonardas Andriekus and the Franciscan Brothers

8 May – 28 September 2025

The title of this exhibition is borrowed from a collection of poetry released by Leonardas Kazimieras Andriekus in 1955, with which he made his debut in the United States. Open Waters serves as a metaphor for freedom and the unbridled spread of creativity; it is also a voicing of the unplanned and painful separation from one’s Homeland, of a future marked by uncertainty and anxiety. We have taken it so as to summarise the Franciscan brothers’ cultural activities in diaspora, in gathering Lithuanians together in a foreign land. By coming together to help Lithuanian artists, the Franciscans made a significant contribution to the fostering of art in emigration: they ran the Lithuanian press, built new churches, opened schools, and decorated churches, offices and residential spaces with professional works of art.

 

A particularly significant contribution is associated with Andriekus’ initiative to collect works by diaspora artists. He met with many of these artists personally while working at the Aidai office. The most prominent writers, artists and scientists concentrated there, and so he began collecting. The gifted paintings aroused in him the need to foster and accumulate beauty. According to the eminent diaspora writer, publisher and art critic, Paulius Jurkus, he did this to “preserve these artworks for the future, and when circumstances would allow, to bring them back to Lithuania as an example of Lithuanian emigrants’ efforts under difficult conditions”. The collection amassed by the Franciscan brothers was meant to compensate for the losses of professional religious art in Lithuania. It sought to provide continuity of Lithuanian art traditions, the spread of sacred art beyond the Atlantic, and to promote expression within the generation of active, modern young artists. The rich collection of Lithuanian diaspora art and works from the Far East and African nations amassed in Lithuanian Franciscan centres in Kennebunkport, Toronto, Brooklyn and elsewhere did return to Lithuania, and is today scattered throughout various Franciscan monasteries in Vilnius, Kretinga, Šiauliai District and Klaipėda.

 

The core of the collection consists of works by Adomas Galdikas, Viktoras Vizgirda, Telesforas Valius, Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas, Paulius Augius and Vytautas Ignas. However, Andriekus noted that “when collecting their works, tried to preserve the beauty of the Lithuanian spirit, while also encouraging cultural dialogue and bonds between different traditions”. Aside from recognised classics, pedagogues and graduates of the Kaunas Art School, the collection also features other artists: there are works by Petras Rimša, Pranas Domšaitis, Albinas Elskus, Petras Kiaulėnas, Kazimieras Žoromskis, Pranas Lapė, Arbit Blatas, Juozas Bagdonas, Antanas Kairys, Alfonsas Dargis, Vladas Žilius and Romas Viesulas. The Franciscans were likewise observant of the distinctive contribution of female artists in diaspora art life. The works of sculptor and painter Elena Kepalaitė, painters Elena Urbaitytė and Vida Krištolaitytė, textile artist Janina Monkutė-Marks, and graphic artists Nijolė Vedegytė-Palubinskienė and Magdalena Stankūnienė all hold an important place in this collection. The tandem of Vytautas and Aleksandra Kašuba is also highly valued.

 

One hundred selected works from the collection are featured in the exhibition, all of them being shown to the public for the first time. Viewers will no doubt be surprised by these works by famous authors reflecting a broad stylistic spectrum. The collection is represented by both sacred and secular art, and a variety of art streams ranging from the conservative and realistic, to examples of expressionism, fauvism, abstract expressionism and op art.

 

According to Sigitas Benediktas Jurčys OFM, “L. Andriekus’ art collection will help us once again understand the origins of our nation’s culture and artists’ contribution to Lithuania’s and diaspora’s cultural heritage. The life of our Franciscan brother Andriekus became for many of us a Gallery of Light – an art space and a living example of the Franciscan spirit and cultural dialogue, inviting us to discover beauty as a wellspring of healing and communality”.

Rasa Adomaitienė, Ilona Mažeikienė, Birutė Pankūnaitė

 

 

Curators: Rasa Adomaitienė, Ilona Mažeikienė, Birutė Pankūnaitė

Consultant: Father Julius Sasnauskas OFM

Architect: Austė Kūliešiūtė-Šemetė

Designer: Jurgis Griškevičius

Restorers: Lina Ona Adomaitytė, Rasa Bieliauskaitė–Mikolaitienė, Jurgita Blažytė–Denapienė, Rimvydas Derkintis, Dalia Jonynaitė, Rūta Kasiulytė, Linas Lukoševičius, Daiva Petrauskaitė, Janita Petrauskienė, Eglė Piščikaitė, Rytė Šimaitė, Algis Vaneikis, Paulius Zovė

Project Developers: Vytautas Kasiulis Art Museum of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Order of Friars Minor, St. Casimir Province of Lithuania

Partner: Maironis Museum of Lithuanian Literature

Media Partner: Bernardinai.lt

 

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