Mother with Children

In this composition Mother with children painted by Antanas Gudaitis (1904–1989) while he was studying in Paris, an enjoyment can still be felt of the ability to show the simpler features of a model, which he acquired in the studio of Justinas Vienožinskis. Tension is created by the contrasting colours, painted side by side with emphatically broad brush strokes, and the slanting horizon. The picture emanates anxiety, but it exudes simultaneously the energy of youth, and reflects a spirit of social protest that is characteristic of early works by Gudaitis. However, the small figure of a golden-haired girl walking by her mother’s side anticipates a change in the oeuvre of the temperamental Lithuanian. A watercolour painted the same year of a mother with a fair-haired daughter on her lap, in the artist’s family’s collection, shows the influence of French culture. The direct acquaintance with classics of Western art, and, of course, the work of Cézanne, Picasso and Matisse, was an impetus for Gudaitis to take a different approach to woman, and to painting, to admire them and to enjoy their beauty. Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė.