On April 29 at 17:30, the National Museum of Lithuania (NML) invites you to the Jonas Šliūpas Museum (Vytauto g. 23A, Palanga), where the exhibition “Marija Švažienė: Tapestries and Paintings” will open. The exhibition will introduce the artist whose work changed the direction of Lithuanian textiles. It will also bring together two works whose history spanned decades for the first time.

A Breakthrough in Modernism That Changed the Language of Textiles

Marija Kondrackytė-Švažienė (born 1930) is one of the creators whose works marked a turning point. Already in 1970, the artist’s first tapestry, “Plaštakės,” (“Moths)” was innovative, “liberating the tapestry from the wall” and giving it a new spatial dimension. The work became not only a technical but also an ideological breakthrough – it combines movement and statics, plane and space.

M. Švažienė’s Innovative work since the 1970s has earned her international recognition: her works have been exhibited in Europe and are valued alongside those of the most famous textile creators. In 2024, the artist’s “Dekoratyvinis globelenas” (“Decorative Tapestry”) was exhibited at the Pompidou Center in Paris and, with the help of art patrons Danguole and Viktoras Butkas, became part of the Pompidou Center’s collections.

The exhibition at the NML Jonas Šliūpas Museum will present 12 tapestries and 8 paintings, which allow us to get a feel for M. Švažienė’s creative path – from early, bold forms to later, delicate works full of color nuances, in which textiles almost resemble painting.

Palanga, Jonas Švažas, Gaetano Giuffrè

M. Švažienė’s works are not presented in Palanga by chance. The artist’s connection with this city is deep and personal. Her first encounter with the sea in her youth became a strong impulse, which later constantly returned in her work. The artist often came to Palanga to draw inspiration, create and relax.

An important part of her work discussed in the exhibition is the dialogue with her husband, the painter Jonas Švažas. Living and working together, they constantly exchanged ideas, discussed, and encouraged each other. Common themes emerged in their work: space, the city, abstract structures. This dialogue was not explicit, but felt – in the colors, composition, and inner tension of the works.

The exhibition reveals the fascinating story of the Swiss composer Gaetano Giuffrè. Inspired by M. Švažienė’s “Spatial Tapestry”, he created a rhapsody for two pianos, but the artist only learned about the work two decades later. At the exhibition, this music will be performed for the first time alongside the restored M. Švažienė work that inspired it.

The exhibition “Marija Švažienė: Tapestries and Painting” opens on April 29 at 17:30 at the Jonas Šliūpas Museum faculty of the National Museum of Lithuania (Vytauto St. 23A, Palanga). The exhibition is organized by the National Museum of Lithuania. Curator – Andželika Baroti (“Baroti” Gallery), author of the exhibition texts – Dr. Dalia Karatajienė. The exhibition features works from the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, the private collection of the Marija and Saulius Švažas family, and the private collection of Valdas Gaurelis.