Antanas Sutkus
Exhibition
Pushkin House, Photography, London, United-Kingdom
Friday August 3, 2012 - Thursday September 6, 2012 - Event ended.
Born in 1939, Sutkus studied journalism at Vilnius University between 1958 –1964. He was one of the founders of the Lithuanian Society of Photographic Art in 1969, and its chairman in 1980 – 1989. In 1989–1990 and since 1996 he is the chairman of the Union of the Lithuanian Art Photographers. In 1983 he received the Lithuanian State Premium for Art; in 1997 he was decorated with the Order of the Grand Duke Gediminas of the 4th degree; in 1998 he received the Art Award of the Lithuanian Government. In 2001–2002 he won the Erna & Victor Hasselblad Foundation (Sweden) grant and, in 2003, the National Premium for Art.
This exhibition at Pushkin House celebrates the photographic achievements of Antanas Sutkus including a recent commission for The Photographers Gallery called The World in London.
Sutkus’s series People of Lithuania is considered one of his most important works. It is a continuing project begun in 1976 to document the changing life and people of Lithuania. Working at the time when Lithuania (as the Lithuanian SSR) was part of the Soviet Union, Sutkus focused on black and white portraits of ordinary people in their everyday life rather than the model citizens and workers promoted by Soviet propaganda. Sutkus had an opportunity to spend time with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in 1965 when they visited Lithuania. One image, taken against the white sand of Nida, is highly regarded as capturing Sartre’s ideas.
In 1983 Antanas Sutkus received the Lithuanian State Premium for Art; in 1997 he was decorated with the Order of the Grand Duke Gediminas of the 4th degree; in 1998 he received the Art Award of the Lithuanian Government. In 2001–2002 he won the Erna&Victor Hasselblad Foundation (Sweden) grant Documentation and Conservation of Antanas Sutkus’ Archive of Photographs. In 2003 received the National Premium for Art.
Vilniaus šiokiadieniai (Daily Life in Vilnius; with R.Rakauskas), 1965
Tėviškės laukų suvenyras (A Souvenir from the Fields of Homeland), 1969
Šalis ta Lietuva vadinas (This Land is called Lithuania; with R.Rakauskas),1970
Senojo Vilniaus Fragmentai (Fragments of the Old Vilnius), 1973
Lazdynai, 1975; Lietuva iš paukščio skrydžio (Bird’s Eye View of Lithuania),1980, 1981
Neringa, 1980, 1982, 1992
Daina Lietuvai (A Song for Lithuania),1984
Draugystė (Friendship), 1988
Naturparadies Kurische Nehrung (with H.Peitch), 1988
Lietuva/Lithuania, 1991,1993; Lietuva (Lithuania), 1993;
Basų kojų nostalgija: parodos katalogas (Nostalgia for Bare Feet: Exhibition Catalogue), 1995
Pro Memoria: Exhibition Catalogue, 1997; Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in
Lithuania,1965: Exhibition Catalogue (1999);
Antanas Sutkus. Fotografijos, (Antanas Sutkus. Photographs), 2000;
Antanas Sutkus. Kasdienybės archyvai. 1959-1993 (Daily Life Archives. 1959-1993), 2003; Antanas Sutkus. Sartre & Beauvoir. Cinq jours en Lituanie. Le Bord De L’eau Editions, France, 2005
Antanas Sutkus: Lithuanian Portraits/Signs of Time. White Space Gallery, 2008
event venue
Editor choice (SD)