Faculty Publications

This article explores ways in which the soulfulness of Lithuanian culture, rooted in pagan beliefs and practices, survives most particularly in folk art carvings called rūpintojėlis, the ‘worried man’ associated with the Christian image of the ‘Pensive Christ’ or ‘Man of Sorrows.’ This soulfulness, perceived as inherent in the land, is expressed traditionally through an architecture of natural objects such as trees and in folk carving, especially figures carved in wood. Lithuanian folk art is oriented towards the landscape; the connection of the Lithuanian people to the landscape is fundamentally spiritual and links the souls of the dead with the natural world.  

 

This is collaborative work with Ellen B. Cutler, our Art History colleague. She edited and helped to illustrate the article with her beautiful pictures from Lithuania.