Portrait of Juozas Tūbelis
Created: 1936.
Material / technique: oil on canvas.
Dimensions: 80.5x68.5 cm.
Signature: J. Vienožinskis (in the top-right corner of the painting).
The portrait of Prime Minister Juozas Tūbelis is subtle both in terms of colour and technique. In this case, the formal relationship between the artist and the person portrayed can be felt. On 1 September 1939, the Tūbelis family was shocked to hear that war had broken out in Europe. Tūbelis died a month later, on 30 September.
Reference: Description of the "Meetings" exhibition. - M. K.Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, Kaunas; "Justinas Vienožinskis. Life, Work, Memory," compiled by Nijolė Šiaučiūnienė. Utena, 2025, p. 41.
Jadvyga and Juozas Tūbelis's acquaintance with Justinas Vienožinskis began more than three decades before the family portraits were painted. Juozas Tūbelis and Justinas Vienožinskis, both originally from the Rokiškis region, had known each other since their years studying at the Mintauja gymnasium. This gymnasium was one of the important centers where the future Lithuanian intelligentsia was educated. Another center of attraction for the Lithuanian intelligentsia was Saint Petersburg. Jadvyga Chodakauskaitė (later Tūbelienė) and Justinas Vienožinskis met in this city. In Petersburg, they belonged to the same circle of friends along with Paulius Galaunė, his wife Adelė Nezabitauskaitė Galaunienė, Kajetonas Sklėrius, and Elena Sklėrienė [Ingrida Jakubavičienė]. "Portrait. Juozas and Jadvyga Tūbeliai", 2020, Tyto alba, p. 215]. This connection naturally extended to interwar Kaunas, where Jadvyga Tūbelienė and Natalija Vienožinskienė, the wife of the painter's brother, became close comrades – both actively participated in organizations caring for the welfare of mothers and children.
The personal connection was accompanied by a complex social context. In 1929, When a student strike broke out at the Kaunas Art School founded by Vienožinskis, the painter was dismissed from his position. At that time, Juozas Tūbelis was leading the government, so his position, expressed through the Ministry of Education, was important in addressing issues related to the art school and its funding. The situation changed only in 1935, when Vienožinskis became the chairman of the newly established Lithuanian Artists' Union and was allowed to return to teach at a school he had founded, where, after setting up another painting studio, Vienožinskis was appointed to lead it.
Alongside social matters lay a paradoxical family context, revealing Vienožinskis's flexible character and diplomatic talent. In one of the letters written to his wife Elena in 1936, Vienožinskis said he would go to Tūbelienė to ask for intercession for his sister Liuda Purėnienė. Purėnienė was the first female lawyer in the Baltic states, a member of the Seimas, an active social democrat, an opponent of the policies pursued by Smetona and Tūbelis, who was exiled to the Rokiškis region for her activities without the right to return to Kaunas. Interestingly, Liuda Vienožinskaitė (Purėnienė) and Jadvyga Chodakauskaitė (Tūbelienė) had the opportunity to meet in their youth, as they were simultaneously studying at the Bestuzhev Higher Women's Courses in Saint Petersburg. Another letter mentions information that the painter's sister was allowed to return to live in Kaunas ["Justinas Vienožinskis. Articles, documents, letters, contemporaries' memoirs" ed. Irena Kostkevičiūtė. Vilnius, "Vaga", 1970, pp. 241-242]. Thus, Vienožinskis painted representative portraits of the head of government and his wife at the same time that his sister often defended opponents of political power in court, even without compensation.
In his paintings, Vienožinskis applied a different strategy of portrait representation. In Juozas Tūbelis's portrait (1936, canvas, oil, 80.5 x 68.5 cm), a restrained schematic composition dominates, highlighting his status and authority as a long-time state politician, Prime Minister, and Governor of the Bank of Lithuania. Meanwhile, Jadvyga Tūbelienė's portrait (1936, canvas, oil, 80.5 x 68.5 cm) shines with elegance, refinement, and aristocracy. More fluid modeling, a softer color palette, and freer composition breathe a warm relationship between the artist and the model, highlighting the subject's independence, education, and social status. Tūbelienė was genuinely interested in art, visited exhibitions, often financially supported younger artists, and helped them obtain scholarships abroad. This was especially important for Vienožinskis, who sought to provide his students with opportunities to become acquainted with the broader context of European art. Vienožinskis was one of the most prominent interwar art educators; among the students he trained were Antanas Samuolis, Antanas Gudaitis, Augustinas Savickas, Viktoras Vizgirda, Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas, and many other artists significant to the development of Lithuanian art. Vienožinskis was also one of the strongest portraitists of his generation. In portraits, the harmony of form and color was important to him; while painting, he sought compositional unity, harmony, and aesthetic satisfaction. The pieces are characterized by muted cool tones, a restrained color palette, and subtle diagonal strokes that provide a sense of softness and atmosphericness, as well as a calm, focused mood filled with melancholy.
The portraits of Jadvyga and Juozas Tūbelis are significant as examples of interwar representative art. Two models of public figure representation are realized in them using different plastic means: Juozas Tūbelis's portrait emphasizes the status of a statesman, while Jadvyga Tūbelienė's emphasizes elegance, individuality, and social role. The life of the Tūbelis family was accompanied not only by state-building efforts but also by an active social and cultural life, friendships with artists, intellectuals, and public figures of the time. Against the contrasting backdrop of personal ties and political circumstances, the portraits of the Tūbelis family created in 1936 are also seen as documents revealing broader contexts of interwar Lithuanian history and culture. (Genovaitė Bartulienė, Head of the Visual Arts Department at the National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum)
Exhibitions: Exhibition of the Fine Arts Collection of Edmundas Armoška "Outcrops of Lithuanian Art 16th–21th Centuries" 2008 July 3 - August 31, Lithuanian Art Museum, Vilnius; Exhibition of the dr. J. Gumbis art collection “Meetings”, 2015 July 3 – September 6, M. K.Čiurlionis National museum of art, Kaunas; The painting has been deposited with the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art since 10.08.2026.
Published: "Outcrops of Lithuanian Art 16th–21th Centuries", Vilnius Exhibition of the Fine Arts Collection of Edmundas Armoška, Vilnius: Lithuanian Art Museum, 2008 Kat. No. III, 157, P. 133; "Kaunas-Vilnius 1918-1945”, The Art collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas. Compilars D. Barcytė, dr. I. Burbaitė. Vilnius, 2021, P. 103; "Portrait. Juozas and Jadvyga Tūbeliai", author Ingrida Jakubavičienė, Vilnius: Tyto alba, 2020; "Justinas Vienožinskis. Life, Work, Memory," compiled by Nijolė Šiaučiūnienė. Utena, 2025, p. 41.
Photographs: A permanent exhibition of the painting at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum, In the historical office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Kaunas.