ANTANAS SUTKUS - PHOTOGRAPHS

Pushkin House and Anya Stonelake/White Space Gallery are proud to present an exhibition by renowned Lithuanian photographer Antanas Sutkus.

Born in 1939, Sutkus studied journalism at Vilnius University between1958 –1964. He was one of the founders of the Lithuanian Society of Photographic Art in 1969, and its chairman from 1980 to 1989. In 1989-1990 and since 1996 he has been the chairman of the Union of the Lithuanian Art Photographers. In 1983 he received the Lithuanian State Premium for Art; in 1997 he was decorated with the Order of the Grand Duke Gediminas of the 4th degree; in 1998 he received the Art Award of the Lithuanian Government. In 2001–2002 he won the Erna & Victor Hasselblad Foundation (Sweden) grant and, in 2003, the National Premium for Art.

Sutkus’s series People of Lithuania is considered one of his most important works. It is a continuing project begun in 1976 to document the changing life and people of Lithuania. Working at the time when Lithuania (as the Lithuanian SSR) was part of the Soviet Union, Sutkus focused on black and white portraits of ordinary people in their everyday life rather than the model citizens and workers promoted by Soviet propaganda. Sutkus had an opportunity to spend time with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in 1965 when they visited Lithuania. One image, taken against the white sand of Nida, is highly regarded as capturing Sartre’s ideas.

This exhibition at Pushkin House celebrates the photographic achievements of Antanas Sutkus including a recent commission for The Photographers Gallery called The World in London.

The World in London is a celebration of Londoners and demonstrates photography’s ability to capture the human form in interesting and distinct ways. The project is organised by The Photographers’ Gallery and forms part of the London 2012 Festival, the finale of the Cultural Olympiad. The Photographers’ Gallery is the largest public gallery in the UK dedicated to photography.