Telesforo Kulakausko talento įrodymai, arba ką nauja galima rasti tarpukario Lietuvos knygų lentynose
Proofs of Telesforas Kulakauskas’ talent, or some news from the interwar Lithuanian bookshelf

Summary/Abstract: Book illustration as a specific source of the 20th century art studies is recognized in Lithuanian art history, although such works of graphic art as posters, advertisings, periodicals and book design are still considered as second rank art works. As a consequence, this part of graphic art heritage is not yet regarded as a full-value source for art history.The role of several Lithuanian artists of the 1920s and 1930s is discussed by analysing the work in book design and illustration. The work of Telesforas Kulakauskas deserves particular interest. Works of Jonas Juozas Burba and Jonas Steponavičius whose names are hardly known to art-lovers are highlighted as benchmarks of the new esthetical standards and tendencies. In this way it becomes evident that a more detailed analysis of graphic design could contribute to and upgrade considerations regarding the character of Lithuanian interwar artistic culture, ways of modernisation of art and everyday life, as well as the spread of Neoclassicism and Regionalism.Based on not yet analysed and non-catalogued works of the above-mentioned authors, involvement of a new group of artefacts into discourse of art history is shown to allow a specified and updated approach to history of modern style. On the one hand, in book and journal design avantgarde manifested itself in the most radical way. On the other hand, the turn to Neoclassicism and Regionalism in the early 1930s is obvious in this field.Applied graphic art commissions are shown to be a valuable source of information on the relations between the artist and the customer. The study offers also a series of new arguments regarding the artists’ social and professional status in interwar Lithuania.

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