Lijana Šatavičiūtė-Natalevičienė (PDF)
https://doi.org/10.53631/DIS/2016.7.6
In 1934 and 1935, traditional Lithuanian and Estonian handicraft fairs were held in supermarkets in American cities. It was one of the brightest interwar cultural events, the most detailed presentation of ethnographic items in the history of independent Lithuania, which drew international attention to our country. The article reconstructs the course of the exhibitions based on material from several files kept at the Lithuanian Central State Archives and compares it with the texts published in the press at the time. The publications in the periodicals highlight the representative aspect of the exhibitions related to the proclamation of our country’s name on an international scale. In contrast, the archive documents reveal even not-so-smooth preparation details of these exhibitions.
The initiator of the exhibitions was Povilas Žadeikis (1887–1957), the Lithuanian diplomat in New York and later in Washington. He cherished the idea of organising exhibitions of national handicrafts from the three Baltic countries in American cities. However, Latvia refused to participate in the event. During the half year, ten traditional Lithuanian and Estonian handicraft exhibitions were organised in supermarkets in larger cities, such as New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Chicago. The main supplier of the Lithuanian exhibits was the Marginiai Company, which had been functioning in Kaunas since 1930. Although successful exhibitions attracted large crowds, they were commercially loss-making due to the duty tax and transportation costs. The article presents the course of this exhibition series, which has been known only fragmentarily in Lithuanian art criticism. The archive documents disclose weaknesses of handicraft production in Lithuania in the 1930s, such as spontaneous planning, neglecting the commercial aspect and a shortage of cheaper items for mass production. The conclusion is drawn that due to the conditions of production and coordination of the handicrafts in interwar Lithuania, craftsmen could not enter the faraway American market with national-style handicraft items of national style and compete with cheaper ethnographic products from other countries. On the other hand, the aspirations and courage of organisers to pave the way to the American continent come as a surprise even today.
Keywords: Povilas Žadeikis, Lithuanian Central State Archives, periodicals, Marginiai Company