Stiklo dailininkės Gražinos Didžiūnaitytės kūrybos raida

ENProfessional glass art appeared late in Lithuania, only after the 1950’s, and its development was quite uneven. The founder of fine glass art in Lithuania was prof. S. Ušinskas. After the Second World War, he created vases which are characteristic of constructivism in their decor. These vases are decorated with glaze, because other techniques were hardly possible in Lithuania of the 50’s and 70’s as technical possibilities in the factories were quite limited. S. Ušinskas worked in Kaunas “Aleksotas" Glass factory. In Lithuania his family is famous as the family of the first glass artists, because S. Ušinskas sister, wife and daughter became glass artists too. They have followed the techniques and style of the professor. G. Didžiūnaitytė is the second famous glass artist in Lithuania. She created many decorative vases and their ensembles in the 60’s - 80’s. She still creates glass art and goes deep into the technique of free formation of hot glass. She has made most of her monumental vases and goblet sets in foreign glass factories, such as “Neman” in Byelorussia and Livov in the Ukraine, which have better technical conditions. Other Lithuanian decorative glass artists actively со- operated with these factories as well. Free, bent forms, parti-colouring, abstract colour dėcor and themes of nature prevail in G. Didžiūnaitytė’s vases. All of this we may see in the examples that are being shown at the moment. In the 70’s, besides G. Didžiūnaitytė, glass vases decorated in colourful tones were made by A. Žilys and R. Balsys. The development of glass became more intensive since 1979 when Kaunas branch of Vilnius Academy of Arts started teaching glass art. In 1979 - 1980, G. Didžiūnaitytė it taught artists of decorative glass who create glass plastics and sculptural forms.