Čiurlionis: Correspondences of the Arts, Nations, and Friendship: Warsaw–Vilnius, Kaunas–Poznań: Rev. M. K. Čiurlionis, Korespondencja. Korespondencija. Vol. 1: 1892–1906, ed. R. Okulicz-Kozaryn, N. Adomavičienė, P. Kimbrys, ISBN 978-9955-471-71-4, Wydawnictwo Narodowego Muzeum Sztuki im. M. K. Čiurlionisa w Kownie, Kaunas 2019, pp. 552. Vol. 2: 1907–1910, ed. R. Okulicz-Kozaryn, N. Adomavičienė, P. Kimbrys, ISBN 978-9955-471-92-9, Wydawnictwo Narodowego Muzeum Sztuki im. M. K. Čiurlionisa w Kownie, Kaunas 2024, pp. 452

Abstract

The author introduces readers to the contents of two volumes of correspondence by one of the most prominent Lithuanian artists, regarded in Lithuania as a national figure, the painter and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911). The article discusses the structure of the volumes, their contents, as well as the nature and distinctive qualities of the artist’s letters. The publication is bilingual, in Polish and Lithuanian, as the overwhelming majority of the reprinted letters were originally written in Polish. The Polish context is also emphasized, since Čiurlionis was closely associated with Polish culture for many years, living and creating in Warsaw, where he studied at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts. His natural milieu consisted of the Young Poland literary and social elite, as well as Warsaw salons.