The art of Stasys Ušinskas bears significance to the development of the 20^th century Lithuanian culture as he stands out as the brightest Modernist that sought the synthesis of modern and traditional classical shapes in all spheres of art he embarked on, that is, painting, monumental fine arts, scenography and film-making.

Unfortunately, in the thirties Ušinskas was often blamed for innovation, modernist approach, constructive pastiche etc. Even H.Kairiūkštytė-Jacinienė, the supporter of this creative approach, claimed that he was not ‘a painter in the true sense of the word'. Such stance stemmed from the fact that, under the influence of his avant-gardist teachers F. Leger and A.Ekster, the artist sought the new paths contradicting to the ARS painting concept prevailing at the time and in its essence closer to the Lithuanian pictorial and emotional traditions. Even his friends called Ušinskas ‘colour-blind’ because of his rational structure of compositions, ornamental painting of very few local colours (up to four colours apart from white and black). However, today when we glance to Ušinskas’ art from a temporal perspective, we give great value to the novelty of his ideas, the expansion of our art horizons, and the capacity to match modern thinking with the spiritual experience residing in the European cultural heritage.

Nijolė Tumėnienė