Sr. Ona Mikaila

Lithuanian Folk Art

Sr. Ona Mikaila is a writer and editor of Bendradarbis and belongs to the order of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Lithuanian order in Putnam, Connecticut.

A miniature chapel stands alongside a farmhouse in Plungė, Lithuania. (circa 1916)**

One of the most characteristic types of Lithuanian folk art are woodcarvings of religious figures placed in a shrine called a “koplytėlė” or miniature chapel. These shrines were set up outdoors near a farmhouse, at a crossroads, or in some significant or favorite spot. They were meant to express a petition for divine protection, to call down blessings for the farmer’s family or to give thanks to God. Often they would mark the site of a tragic death or commemorate an important event in the life of the family or country. These shrines were not only decorative but expressed the deep and abiding faith of the people. Everyone respected these wayside shrines and stopped to pray before them.

Wooden shrines and crosses were especially popular in the Lithuanian countryside in the 18th and 19th centuries. Not many of the earlier ones survived; most of those preserved in museums and private collections date from the 19th to the early 20th centuries.

A Precious Heritage

A miniature chapel carved into a fir tree limb around the 19th century in the Tolimėnų cemetery.  Its height reached three meters.**

Early in the 20th century this type of religious folk art was recognized as a unique art form. Professor Ignas Končius, the artist Adomas Varnas, and later the ethnographer Balys Buračas were the first to appreciate this folk art and to make an effort to study and preserve it. One of the first collections, with reproductions sketched by the artist A. Zmuidzinavičius, was published in Vilnius in 1912. At this time Ignas Končius began to travel about the countryside of Žemaitija recording and studying all of the various types of shrines and crosses. Much later, when he was living in the United States, he published a book. Adomas Varnas took pictures of these shrines and crosses and published an album of original photographs in Kaunas in 1920. Balys Buračas who remained in Lithuania made some valuable photographs of the old villages, their folk art, and folk artists.

After World War II, during the communist era, many of these shrines and crosses disappeared. Some fell into ruin, some were destroyed, and some were hidden away and preserved. A number of these original examples of folk art found their way into ethnographic museums and were preserved as the art of the people. In the 1960’s, a series of illustrated books on Lithuanian folk art were published in Vilnius. Pictures of wayside shrines and religious sculpture were included.

In present day Lithuania, religious folk art is being revived. A number of professional artists and sculptors produce a kind of stylized folk art, which retains some of the characteristics of the originals. There are also a few amateurs working on their own, much like the folk artists in the old days.

Folk Artists and Their Work

A miniature chapel in the Gruzdžių cemetery.**

The traditional folk artists were often poor farmers who could not make a living from the land. Some carved at home, while others traveled around the countryside taking orders from their neighbors for crosses and religious figures important to each family. These “dievdirbiai” or “godcarvers” were talented craftsmen. Many also did carpentry, building, and other trades, as well as carving religious sculptures, shrines, and crosses. Usually they were poorly educated and many were illiterate. Their work was valued however, and they were respected as craftsmen even though many regarded them as being rather strange.

These godcarvers would sell their sculptures at the local fairs or they would set up tables showing their wares in the enclosures around the churches. Before offering his carvings for sale, the folk artist would present his collection to the local pastor for inspection. The pastor would judge whether the figures were truly devotional and worthy of being blessed. If he thought them crude, he would say: “Take that one home and cook your potatoes with it.”

Many of these folk artists were real characters with their peculiar eccentricities. Each had his own favorite subjects that he liked to carve. The most popular figures were those of Christ and of the Blessed Mother, and also various saints. A certain folk artist named Skrinskis from Žemaitija would never carve the figures of St. Joseph, St. John or St. George for these were the names of the suitors of a girl whom he loved in his youth.

An unusually gifted folk artist was Vincas Svirskis (1835-1916) from central Lithuania. He dedicated his entire life to his art. With no home of his own, he wandered from place to place wherever his services were wanted. He drew his inspiration from the statues he found in churches or illustrated books of the lives of the saints. His own figures took on a baroque style. Self-taught, he developed his own original style and during his lifetime made over two hundred crosses and shrines. He liked to use oak for his work, since it was a hard wood that weathered well.

Svirskis was a true artist and an interesting character. He was a loner who did not talk much. He liked to work by himself with no distractions. As one folk artist put it, his work had a kind of mystique about it... “When I begin to carve a figure, I need peace, total silence—not a sound. Not even a chicken can run across the path when I am working, no one can look at me, because then a fog gets into my head and I cannot do anything. The work comes from inside my head and deep within I have this fear that I won’t be able to carve. From the early morning I begin with the word of God because if some ugly word gets into my mouth, my work comes to nothing.”

The Styles Expressed

An example of a carved  Lithuanian Pieta.

Each region in Lithuania had its own distinctive style of folk art. In Žemaitija the shrines were often placed on the ground. They looked like miniature houses with doors and windows. The figures inside were solid and realistic as if rooted in the earth. In Aukštaitija the shrines were often on posts or nailed to trees, and the sculptures were more stylized and elongated.

The most popular subject was Christ crucified. The “Rūpintojėlis” or the Pensive Christ sitting on a stump with one hand supporting his head, which is crowned with thorns, was also very much in demand. Blessed Mother Mary was most often depicted as the “Pieta”, the Mother of Sorrows with the swords piercing her heart as she holds the dead Christ on her lap. This figure was often used as a memorial for graves especially to express the sorrow of a mother mourning a dead child. Other figures of Mary with the child Jesus, and Mary, Mother of Mercy were also placed in shrines near the home to bless the farmer’s family. Saints Joseph, Anthony, and also the agricultural Saints George and Isidore were popular.

These religious figures were painted in traditional colors. The Blessed Mother and the women saints were often dressed in cloth and decorated with necklaces. In Žemaitija it was customary to tie the figure of the crucified Christ with a sash or ribbon. This might indicate a part of the body where healing was requested or as a thanksgiving decoration for a favor received.

The figures of Christ were often especially poignant. The “Rūpintojėlis”, which became a characteristic Lithuanian art form, expressed a deep spirituality peculiar to an oppressed people. Ignas Končius interpreted the figure as saying: “He speaks of hardship. He shows us the failures in our lives. He helps us bear the sorrow in our heart. He lessens our sadness and gentles our tears. Or perhaps people put him up as a witness to sorrow: that hearts would not harden and to remind them of the hard times of life so that in remembering them they would become better...”