Dailė Šiauliuose Antrojo pasaulinio karo metais

ENIn 1940, when Lithuania was occuppied by the Soviets, the importance of art went down in Šiauliai, and not a single art exhibition was organized in town. During the German occuppation period, the artists G.Bagdonavičius, T.Petraitis, J.Jankus, J.Štelbienė, J.Šalkauskienė, L.Katinas, S.Vaitkus and E. Ganusauskas lived and worked in Šiauliai. In 1942 and 1943 several art exhibitions were held. There was an art studio where from 12 to 30 participants studied. In 1942 and 1943 the studio participants organized two exhibitions in the book shop “Žiedas”. The famous artists J.Taujanskienė, A.Pociūtė - Juškevičienė, D.Karaškaitė - Brusokienė have also studied in the art studio. The war and battles coming nearer Šiauliai stimulated the interest in art but there were not enough material resources for it at that time. The premises of gymnasiums and the “Aušra” museum were transformed into war hospitals, though, on the other hand, most of the museum exhibits were saved by taking them to neighbouring villages. The gymnasiums and the “Aušra” museum buildings were burned down during the battles. The subject range remained in the usual frames of Lithuanian art, with the tendency to concentrate on aesthetics. People deprived of the right to solve political, economical and military problems and make decisions were encouraged to reveal themselves in the area of fine arts. It was the only possibility that could be understood as an original form of protest. The education and art centre, the place where the “Varpai” magazine was published, with the art studio, operetta and other musical activity, Šiauliai became the second cultural centre of Lithuania after Kaunas during the years of the German occuppation. But then the town was destroyed, and the development of art stopped for a whole decade.