The sculptor gave the soul to the stone

We talked with Gediminas Albinovich Jokubonis in his workshop, located almost in the very center of Vilnius. But the city noise did not reach here, there was an atmosphere of concentration and silence, which always accompanies the work of a great artist.

Everyone knows the monuments of Jokubonis in Lithuania, and the republic is justly proud of it. Today G. Jokubonis is a recognized master, people’s artist of the USSR, professor, one of the leading Soviet sculptors.

The path to becoming Jokubonis as a master seems straightforward and clear, creative take-off is swift. He became the laureate of the highest prize - Lenin - after creating a monument to the victims of fascism in the village of Pirchupis. It was a brilliant, innovative work of a young sculptor who was then 30 years old, in fact the second independent work after graduation.

Success was logical. It reflected the integrity of the character of Jokubonis, his giftedness, a mature understanding of the tasks of art, professional skill. In this success was a great merit of his teachers, their wisdom, their experience.

I believe, says Jokubonis, that the teacher gives the student much more not during the educational process, but primarily an example of his own creativity.

I studied under the famous Lithuanian sculptor J. Mykonas. He was a talented man of great culture, who had a significant impact not only on our generation, but also on contemporary Lithuanian art in general. One of those who created the Lithuanian Soviet school of sculpture after the Great Patriotic War. He was brilliantly educated. In Kaunas he studied painting, mural, mosaic, in Paris - sculpture; studied with the French masters of the Maillol school. A huge influence on the work of Mykonas had Lithuanian folk art, which he knew well.

During the classes, Mikenas spoke sparingly, rarely corrected, but the little that was told to him meant a lot, because he was supported by his work. However, he never imposed his opinions. On the contrary, he helped the students to show their own imagination, individual talent in every possible way.

Each artist, in my opinion, has his own idea of the ideal image. Let’s take a high example - the classic work of Renaissance masters. For all their versatility, we can determine the ideal of a person who this or that artist sought to express. For Michelangelo - this is a strong, strong-willed, courageous character. In the prophets, David, slaves and Sibyls, the great sculptor embodied his vision of the ideal man. Leonardo da Vinci has a different ideal - a clear, harmonious, perfect personality.

So it is today. Each artist has a main theme of creativity. If we talk about my ideal, then this man is outwardly restrained, quiet, but in him one can feel firmness, will, moral truth. If I may say so, this is an image of silent, calm greatness.

I have never been attracted to super-complex themes, compositions with a large number of characters. I take a little. It is interesting to take a closer look at a person, to understand and embody his characteristic image. Means of expression are also always laconic. I do not claim that this principle of work is better than others, but it is closest to me.

These creative principles were clearly manifested in the first independent work of Jokubonis - “Chairman of the collective farm”. The sculpture was intended for the exhibition, it does not yet have that chiseled generalization of the form that will come later in the following monumental works. But it gives a vivid idea of the ideal that the sculptor seeks to embody.

In a calm, confident step of the chairman, in all his discreet and simple appearance, strong-willed face, a decisive, persistent character is easily guessed. This is a true land owner, a confident builder of the future.

The work on the image of the collective farm chairman prepared the sculptor to a large extent to create a monument in Pirchupis.

The name of this Lithuanian village responds with pain in the heart of every Soviet person. Here in 1944, the Nazis carried out brutal reprisals against civilians. Pirchupis is located 40 kilometers from Vilnius in the area of forests, where the partisan movement was especially strong. Once the punitive detachment of the Nazis, not finding the partisans, all of its inhuman anger was expelled on civilians - women, children, the elderly. They were driven into the sheds and burned. 119 people were killed, among them - 67 children.

After the Victory, the government of the Lithuanian SSR decided to perpetuate the memory of the victims of Pirchupis. A competition was announced for the best project of a monumental monument. Jokubonis, among many Lithuanian artists and architects, took part in it and received the first prize.

Here is how he characterized his plan then: “The figure is the main accent of the monument. The figure was solved calmly, statically, decoratively, in a national character, with deep internal dynamics expressing national pain, hatred, protest and faith in a newly reviving life. ” In the process, the idea deepened, the ideological content of the sculpture was more fully revealed. And today, after 20 years, this monument is a wonderful work of Soviet art in terms of expressiveness and modest modesty.

… It appears imperceptibly among a typical Lithuanian landscape and seems organically merged with the road, surrounding fields and copses. A Lithuanian peasant woman stands in deep thought. Does she mourn her children, does she grieve for her neighbors and for all those who died for a just cause? The most sublime and holy feelings of love for the Motherland are sharply awakened by the image of the majestic mother, at the same time mournful and life-affirming.

When you come closer, involuntarily all the attention is drawn to the woman’s face. How deep the pain in her eyes! One hand grips the shawl firmly under the chin, the other handkerchief, with which the woman wiped away her tears. And yet, not only sadness gives birth to this image. Mother cries out for revenge. Proudly and calmly she brings suffering, her share. And in this strength, human resilience - a sure guarantee of a future life, which will be reborn in the ashes.

In the sculpture of “Mother of Pirchupis” I tried to show the beauty of a person, to reveal the idea that death brought by fascism and torment cannot break a person and his readiness to protect peace, tranquility, happiness, says Jokubonis. Many times I heard the question: who was the prototype of my heroines? There were even curious cases. After the Lenin Prize was awarded to me in one of the newspapers, for example, it was written that I made the Pirchupis Mother with my mother, who lived in Pirchupis and was the only survivor.

This, of course, is fiction. People like to specify, and their desire to see a real face behind an artistic image is quite understandable. However, Mother Pirchupis did not have a specific prototype. I searched a lot before settling on this option. The first sketch, for example, depicted an obelisk in the form of a charred broken-off pipe. But I was dissatisfied with him and began to look for another solution - the tragic silhouette of a mother woman.

I did not use any model at work, although, of course, I visited Pirchupis. Here, on the anniversary of the tragedy, women gathered and mourned the dead. Crying for the dead goes back to a peculiar folklore genre - lamentations. The types of women, their clothes are imprinted in my memory.

I was also often asked: did I proceed from the principles of Lithuanian wooden sculpture, did I feel the influence of folk art traditions? You can answer: yes and no.

There is no direct borrowing. The connection of professional art with folk art should be internal, deep. These are the roots of our art, which cannot be avoided. The “Mother of Pirchupis” has features that are related to the traditions of the Lithuanian roadside monument, the figure is frontal, the monument is located on the road, its stingy shape is laconic.

If we analyze the forms specifically, then they are fundamentally different from the works of folk artists.

I recall such a case. When I was making the monument, two friends came into my workshop: one art critic, a serious scientist, the other an artist. They looked at the work that was not finished yet and said: “Well, you feel the connection with folk art. Well thought up. But don’t do your eyes; only draw lines, no more. ” But I did not listen to the advice.

I recalled this to the fact that even in our professional environment, the connection with folk traditions is not always correctly understood. If the artist includes Lithuanian wooden sculpture in the composition of a still life, for example, and such things were very fashionable, this does not mean that the author proceeds from the principles of folk art. External, external features of the primitive are not needed. They are organic for a folk craftsman who looked and felt in a special way, often created intuitively. But if you have a high professional art school behind you - you will make eyes, not cut through dashes.

Almost 20 years have passed since the creation of the monument in Pirchupis. For Jokubonis they were filled with hard work. Most of all - in the field of portraiture. He has always been interested and is interested in Man with a capital letter, an outstanding personality, outstanding. His heroes do not live in a chamber, small world, but a single fate with the people, the Motherland. Therefore, it is so organic and natural for the artist to address a crucial topic - the creation of the image of V. I. Lenin.

The monument, now erected in Moscow at the Ilyich outpost, was originally intended for a natural, intimate environment. I portrayed Vladimir Ilyich in moments of rest, walking in the garden. So he stopped for a moment, thought about something important…

Work on the Leninist image spiritually enriched Jokubonis, made it possible to better understand the legendary time of the first years of the October Revolution.

The heroes of many of the sculptor’s works are famous Lithuanian poets, writers, artists. In 1974, he created a monument to the poet Mironi-su, installed in the central square of Kaunas, then a portrait sculpture of Čiurlionis for Kaunas. And today, in the workshop of G. Jokubonis, work is underway on a new monument to the poet Adam Mickiewicz.

Although Mickiewicz wrote in Polish, we consider him not only a Polish poet, but also a Lithuanian one, says Jokubonis. A poet was born near Vilnius, in Belarus, studied in Vilnius, worked as a teacher in the Kaunas gymnasium. All his creative, conscious life is connected with Lithuania. Miscavige lived the second half of his life in Paris, but there he wrote only one poem - the illustrious Pan Tadeusz. It expresses all the homesickness, and it begins with the words:

Dear Fatherland, Lithuania! You are as health, He cherishes you as your own blood,
Who has lost you. Torn by a foreign land, I sing and cry, I am only about you alone.

Adam Mickiewicz created several monuments in Poland, in France, many sculptural portraits, medals. The author of the Paris monument to the poet is the famous French sculptor Bourdelle, who showed Miscavige as a pilgrim, a wanderer walking with a stick. In general, he was often called an exile, a pilgrim. But for us, Adam Mickiewicz will always be not an exile, but a native poet. He sang Lithuania, its history and people with such soulful force that touches today.

I want to make a monument to the young Miscavige, to create a romantic image, to match the era in which he lived.

Every new work of G. Jokubonis is waiting for everyone. And more than any other artists, his students. For several years, Gediminas Albinovich is a professor at the Vilnius Art Institute. His workshop was completed by sculptors, who today largely determine the level of Lithuanian art. And as a teacher, mentor G. Jokubonis is proud of the success of his students.

The most valuable thing in today’s art of the young is versatility, originality, says Jokubonis. The young are looking for their ideal, a path in art, a hero. They strive to master different techniques, different materials - one loves wood, the other works more readily in bronze, stone; Feel free to combine materials, looking for new forms. Interesting works were shown at the recent youth exhibition of the Baltic republics. True, I can not say that in the art of the young, everything is smooth and cloudless. They are different. And sometimes they bring not only joy.

What could be worse than a commercial view of art? And some young people are too in a hurry to like, try to create works for the sake of fashion, not very high taste - salon, sweet. I am sure those sculptors who quickly adapt only to demand will soon disappear as artists. Unfortunately, there are still many so-called secondary works. Sometimes they are well-quoted - they do not bother anyone, they do no harm to anyone. But they don’t do any good, but quietly bring harm. Indeed, by their will, people cease to be interested in art, because it loses its relevance.

Art is an area where only a few are approved. There remains a very small percentage of work with a quality mark. Screenings are likely to be consistent in every area of human activity, where talent and work are the main condition for growth. Indeed, in nature it is the same: how many seeds fall into the earth - and how many of them germinate.

Real art requires self-denial. If the artist did not dare to take on some feat in creativity, if he believes that creativity is nothing more than daily ordinary work, do not expect real returns from such a creator. An artist should always be set up so that it is today that the highest tension of forces is required to create something extraordinary.

That is how G. A. Jokubonis himself works. Therefore, his works touch and excite us, talk about the best in Man, about our wonderful contemporary.