The National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum in Kaunas is hosting the launch of "Maestro Stasys Ušinskas," a new bilingual monograph on the Lithuanian artist, on Friday, October 16, 2026, at 4 p.m. The event takes place at the museum's building on V. Putvinskio Street and is free to attend.
Published in Lithuanian and English by Artseria, the publishing house of the Lithuanian Artists' Association, the book surveys the creative legacy of the Pakruojis-born artist across a wide range of media: painting, stained glass, glass art, work for the theatre, marionettes, drawings and illustrations. It also traces the main stages of his life and career. The volume was compiled by the art historian Ramutė Rachlevičiūtė, and according to the museum it brings together researchers from different fields to show how broad his artistic world was.
Rachlevičiūtė describes the difficulty of grasping Ušinskas as a whole. In her account, stained-glass artists regarded him as the father of modern Lithuanian stained glass without looking closely at his stage design, while theatre artists and scholars knew his extensive scenography but not his glass. Animators, she adds, did not see him as an innovator in film at all, thinking of him only as a figure of puppet theatre.
Members of the team behind the book will take part in the launch: Rimantas Driežis, Dr. Asta Giniūnienė, Associate Professor Žydrūnas Mirinavičius, Dr. Ramutė Rachlevičiūtė, Dr. Helmutas Šabasevičius, Dr. Nijolė Tumėnienė and Ramunė Januševičiūtė. They will be joined by the artist's daughter, Rasa Ušinskaitė, and granddaughter, Liepa Ušinskaitė, by Saulius Margis, mayor of the Pakruojis district, and by Dr. Vaida Ragėnaitė, director of the publishing house and leader of the project.
