Lily Klee laiškai: Pirmojo pasaulinio karo atodangos
Letters from Lily Klee: exposures of The World War I

Summary/Abstract: This article presents an archival source on Western European modern art – letters written by Lily Klee in the years of the World War I to the artist Marianne Werefkin to Switzerland, which are currently preserved at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library in Vilnius. The letters reflect the life in Munich under war conditions and the shifts in the public mood from patriotic euphoria to painful experiences, desperation and the wish to escape the war reality. The author analyses the following aspects of the relationship of art to war: artistic life during the war, the attitude of artists to war, its effect on their creative work and artistic activity. Torpid as it was at the beginning of the war, Munich’s artistic life revived around 1916 when exhibitions were held and concerts and performances given again. Attention in the letters is focused on the artists belonging to the famous pre-war German expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter and on their destinies. The author highlights the escapist attitude of the Der Blaue Reiter artists to war and post-war reality, dissociation from it and turning towards creation, the spiritual world, and theosophy – the views that formed before World War I. The article reveals the active participation of the modern art master Paul Klee in creative activity in the years of war, his rise and recognition.

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