Saulė Kisarauskienė
One approved route into Western art circles was participation in international congresses of collectors and creators of exlibris bookplates, and both Vincas and Saulė became keen exlibris artists. All of my examples of their work represent this aspect of their art, which was celebrated in three booklets by the Danish exlibris scholar Klaus Rödel: Nogle Exlibris af Vincas Kisarauskas og lidt om Tradition eller Modernisme i Exlibriskunsten (1970), Vincas Kisarauskas: En moderne litauisk grafiker og hans exlibris (1973), and Exlibris-Portrait 12: Saule Kisarauskiene (1973). All of the exlibris I have by Saulė are etchings with aquatint; those by Vincas include etchings with aquatint, linocuts, and one relief engraving on zinc. The artistic practice of both extends way beyond this discrete area of work - Vincas in particular was a dedicated painter, and also became known as a designer for stage and screen.
I find much to admire in work of both these artists. The work of Vincas is perhaps more austere and intellectual than that of Saulė, which has a livelier sense of emotion. But they are both clearly working in the same area of interest, and playing with the interaction of shape and form in similar ways. Saulė is more concerned with the human figure than Vincas, though when he does include figures they have a wonderful wit, as in his 1970 bookplate for Inge Rödel, created on the occasion of the 13th international Exlibris congress in Budapest. I'll show Saulė's work first; her bookplates are mostly for literary and artistic figures in Lithuania, including the artist Ausra Petrauskaite, the poet Edward Puzdrowski, Saulė's sister Aldona Aleškevičiūtė, the scientific writer Jurgis Tornau, and the artist Antanas Gudaitis.
Saulė Kisarauskienė, Ex libris Ausra Petrauskaite
Etching with aquatint, 1970
Saulė Kisarauskienė, Ex libris Edward Puzdrowski
Etching with aquatint, 1969
Saulė Kisarauskienė, Ex libris Aldona Aleskeviciute
Etching with aquatint, 1969
Saulė Kisarauskienė, Ex libris Jurgis Tornau
Etching with aquatint, 1970
Saulė Kisarauskienė, Ex libris Antanas Gudaitis
Etchng with aquatint, 1970
Saulė Kisarauskienė, Ex libris Inge Rödel
Etching with aquatint, 1970
Vincas Kisarauskas was born in 1934 in the village of Augmėnai, in the Radviliškis district. Saulė Stanislava Aleškevičiūtė was born in 1937 in Kaune. After their marriage, Saulė became Saulė Kisarauskienė, or Saulė Aleškevičiūtė-Kisarauskienė. While both pursued their art with great seriousness, it was perhaps inevitable that the duties of motherhood and the gender bias of the day would mean that it was Vincas who achieved the greater fame and acclaim, but they appear to me to have been a true lifelong artistic union, each enriching their own artistic practice by reference to the other.
Vincas Kisarauskas
The art of Vincas Kisarauskas employs a personal vocabulary of forms, which he combines and reinterprets with wit and skill. This is particularly evident I think in his linocuts, which teeter on the verge of abstraction without ever fully embracing it. What I particularly admire about these is the way Kisarauskas achieves a sense of monumentality within such small-scale works. His block-like figures have real strength and presence.
Vincas Kisarauskas, Ex libris Inge Rödel
Etching with aquatint, 1970
Vincas Kisarauskas, XIII Congres International de l'exlibris 1970
Etching with aquatint, 1970
Vincas Kisarauskas Ex libris Klaus Rödel
Etching with aquatint, 1974
Vincas Kisarauskas, Ex libris Klaus Rödel
Etching with aquatint, 1974
Vincas Kisarauskas, 15. Dail. Julijos Vysniauskienes knygy
Zinc engraving, 1967
Vincas Kisarauskas, Ex libris Mary & Alfonso (Sapnas?)
Linocut, 1971
Vincas Kisarauskas, Ex libris A. Stasiul…
Linocut, 1971
Vincas Kisarauskas, Ex libris Herber Blokland
Linocut, 1971
Vincas Kisarauskas, Ex libris Lars, Inge & Klaus Rödel
Lincocut, 1971
Vincas Kisarauskas, Ex libris Carlo Chiesa (XIV Congres International de l'Ex libris)
Linocut, 1972
Vincas Kisarauskas, Ex libris Inge Rödel (XIV Congres International de l'Ex libris)
Linocut, 1972
Vincas Kisarauskas, Ex libris Vagn Clemmensen
Linocut, 1972
Vincas Kisarauskas, Ex libris Vagn Clemmensen
Linocut, 1973
Vincas Kisarauskas, Ex libris Vagn Clemmensen
Linocut, 1973
There is now an extensive collection of works by Saulė Aleškevičiūtė-Kisarauskienė and Vincas Kisarauskas in the Šiauliai Aušros Museum, whose website has virtual exhibitions of both linocuts by Vincas and monoprints made from carved and painted clay plates by Saulė.