Composition 1923

Vytautas Kairiukstis made this oil on canvas painting called Composition sometime in the early 20th century. The colours are singing to me. It’s a pretty muted palette, mostly greys, browns and blues but there’s just enough red and orange to give it a kick. You can really see the hand of the artist in the brushwork. It's neither trying to hide itself nor show off. I can almost smell the paint! There’s a real mix of textures too, from the smooth skin tones to the rougher background areas. Look at the way the artist has used the paint to create a sense of depth and space, like in the top right corner, that yellow ochre section is glowing! Kairiukstis was part of a generation that was really thinking about how to make a modern art for Lithuania, and you can see him here testing out the ideas of cubism and constructivism, the same as artists like Alexandra Exter were exploring at the same time.