IPOLITAS UZKURNYS

Zita Zemaityte, Marcelijus Martinaitis: Summary (Ipolitas Uzkurnys / Prepared by M. Martinaitis, Z. Zemaityte. V.: Vaga, 1987. 174 p., iliustr.

Ipolitas Uzkurnys, an artist of inborn talent, rich fantasy, spontaneous temperament and fanatical love for his calling, is one of the most prominent Lithuanian folk sculptors. In addition, poems, short stories and memoirs, written in lively vernacular, flow out of his pen with the same ease with which he handles his chisel.
Indeed, as the saying goes, "The muses do like company". Ipolitas Uzkurnys was born on November 3, 1926, in the village of Pypliai (now Ukmerge Rajonas), the son of a peasant. His artistic inclinations surfaced in his early childhood but remained supressed because of the straightened circumstances. As a young man, I. Uzkurnys experienced the strains of hard physical lab our: he ploughed the land, worked as a mason, builder, and joiner. His eighteenth year found him in the trenches of World War II. After the war I. Uzkurnys settled in Vilnius and worked at various plants and in his own time he carved. In 1965, already in his late thirties, I. Uzkurnys exhibited his sculptures for the first time. And the success and appreciation were immediate. The singing, smiling, and grieving world of his naive young girls, cowboys, and ploughmen, bearing the marks of the artist's temperament and energy, appealed to Lithuanian viewers.

I. Uzkurnys carves sculptures, high reliefs, bas-reliefs, and group compositions for interiors. In addition, he is one of the most original Lithuanian folk monumentalists. Carefully balanced fantasy and earthly facts are characteristic of his works. The subjects of his monumental sculptures are Lithuanian types, often with features of the artist himself. The master's pictorial vocabulary is distinctly his own. Discarding traditional proportions between the parts, he concentrates on the expression of the dominant idea. Says the artist, "I feel when it is time to work ... as if somebody touches my heart, as if somebody whispers to me..." Improvization is an important stage in his work. Starting to carve a new sculpture he barely knows "what the result will be". He submits to the urge of the medium - wood tells him "how it should be". The artist would not bridle his fantasy by sketches or plans: it is his imagination that prompts him how to work. He meditates, "Any work of art is born only once in the subconcious, and if you start at once the result will be what you expected it to be. A sketch will lend artificiality. I do not want to be repetitive".

I. Uzkurnys has enriched Lithuanian folk art with his original interpretations of historical themes. His
group compositions, carved out of a solid piece of oak (among others, Zaigiris and The Kidnapping of Birute), unite legends and historical facts into an impressive saga. These sculptures attest to the artist's ability to combine his numerous personages into an integral whole, with all elements serving the main idea. Such are also his high reliefs Maironis, The Anyksciai Pine Forest, and others. Besides, the latter compositions, which ring as ballads of people's woes and aspirations or as suferer's dreams and longings lived through and originally interpreted by the artist, impress the viewer with the freshness of primordial sincerity. I. Uzkurnys' artistic dinamism manifested itself in 1972 when he was carving three sculptures for the memorial of Ablinga, a village burnt alive by the fascists.

I. Uzkurnys has executed about 700 works, among them 80 monumental sculptures, which are scattered throughout Lithuania - in memorials, parks, and cemeteries. In his tomb monuments I. Uzkurnys has continued the tradition of 18- and 19th-century folk architecture, characterized by wayside shrines (Lithuanian koplytstulpis) and roofed poles (stogastulpis).
Of great importance for the master is living nature whose vitality is embodied in his many works. Flowers, oak leaves, naive birds cover the surfaces of his sculptures or form garlands entwining his monuments.
I. Uzkurnys' works were exhibited in our country and abroad: in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the People's Republic of Poland, the German Democratic Republic, France, Italy, Belgium, Norway, Canada, and elsewhere. After eight hours at the plant, I. Uzkurnys works another eight in his studio. For him, his sculptures are his vocation, his life's essence, meaning and purpose. Asked if he would continue to carve in case nobody cares for his creations, he answers, "Certainly, I shall". Widespread throughout Lithuania, his sculptures have become part of national culture. His words of time and creative work sound as his credo, "Time is like an elusive bird - no one will get back a single day or be rewarded for wasted hours. I do not know what time has in store for me. But I do know that I shall always be guided by the noblest of ideas in my work as an artist".