Eighteen years after the Polish edition of the album Adomas Varnas. Lithuanian Crosses¹ Lithuania finally published a valuable scientific work presenting the complete collection of Adomas Varnas’s photographs of Lithuanian crosses. The publication is accompanied by an introduction based on extensive research of source materials available in Lithuanian museums, archives and private collections.

        The book ‘Lietuvos kryždirbystės vaizdai: Adomo Varno negatyvų kolekcjia. Sudarytoja Skaidrė Urbonienė’. Lietuvos nacionalinis muziejus 2023 (Images of Lithuanian Cross-Crafting: a collection of negatives by Adam Varnas. Compiled by Skaidrė Urbonienė. Lithuanian National Museum 2023), was published as part of a project by the Lithuanian National Museum dedicated to the release of photographic documentation as a valuable resource for researching Lithuanian history and culture. 

        This book contains the complete collection of known photographic material of Lithuanian folk crosses taken by Adomas Varnas and his collaborators in the first three decades of the 20th century. The material is held in the archives of the Lithuanian National Museum in Vilnius and the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum in Kaunas.

        The publication contains negatives taken between 1921 and 1925, as well as earlier ones from 1901–1902, 1906–1907, 1910–1911, 1912, 1913–1914 and 1916–1917, before the author started compiling his collection².

        Material for publication was selected from the negatives, which were verified, organised and described. Of the 1.988 negatives available in the collections of the two museums, 1.968 were chosen for publication. Sixteen negatives were considered lost and are missing from the publication. It also does not include duplicates of the same motif³.

        The authors took great care to organise the collection of negatives, as well as the primary and secondary sources available for them. This publication uses the original records of the photographed objects, which have been organised and partially corrected. It is particularly important that the locations of some of the objects have been corrected. Varnas’s notes often contained inaccurate information about the administrative affiliation of the towns in which the photographed crosses were located. This is most likely because Varnas collected this data from the local community without verifying it, or because the boundaries of municipalities and counties at that time did not coincide with those of today. Additionally, the book draws on all available documents from both galleries, where negatives, inventory lists, purchase agreements, notes, catalogues, and other materials are stored.

        The book is divided into two parts. The first part contains an academic introduction, which was prepared by Dr Skaidrė Urbonienė from the Lithuanian National Museum in Vilnius, along with museologists from the two museums where the negatives are located. This introduction is based on the available archival materials.

        The book opens with an introduction by Dr Skaidrė Urbonienė entitled ‘The carved cross is one of a kind in our entire pyramid (Adomas Varnas)’, followed by contributions from the participating authors: Žydrė Petrauskaitė ’The history of Adomas Varnas’s collection of negatives’, Monika Gineikienė ‘Collection of Adam Varnas’s negatives at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art’, Vitalija Jočytė ‘Collection of Adam Varnas’s negatives at the National Museum of Lithuania’.

        The introduction to the publication, written by Dr Urbonienė, uses a quote from the introduction to Varnas’s 1926 album as its title. The author focuses on Varnas himself, writing about his motivation for creating a collection of Lithuanian crosses within the context of Lithuanian culture.

       Concerned by the disappearance of unique folk crosses and shrines, the artist photographed them to preserve their image for future generations. The author quotes the artist’s own statements on this subject, which were published in the Lithuanian press before the War.

        Urbonienė provides a general overview of Lithuanian crosses as a cultural and religious phenomenon, which was recognised by the UNESCO Committee in 2001 as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. She lists the types and kinds of objects found in Lithuania and the occasions and places at which crosses were erected. She also discusses which of these are featured in the Varnas collection of photographs. She explains how Varnas created metrics for the objects he photographed, as well as how the authors worked with the archival material he had collected. As a specialist in Lithuanian religious folk sculpture⁴, Urbonienė briefly discusses the sacred sculptures depicted in photographs from the Varnas collection. At the same time, she draws attention to how objects in the collection are classified according to the ethnographic regions of Lithuania, in the context of Varnas’s expeditions to the Lithuanian provinces throughout history⁵.

       In the introduction to the publication, the text by Žydrė Petrauskaitė, ’The history of Adomas Varnas’s collection of negatives’, is particularly interesting and valuable. The author has analysed archival materials, the collection of negatives itself and all previous publications on the subject in meticulous detail. Her text fills in many important informations that have been glossed over in other publications. The author provides detailed information about the sources she used for her work. She discusses the history of the Lithuanian cross collection in the context of Varnas’s biography, his expeditions, his collaboration with other ethnographers and photographers, and the exhibitions at which the crosses were presented. She devotes a lot of attention to the history of the creation of the 1926 album of Lithuanian crosses. She also lists the authors whose photographs were included in Varnas’s collection of negatives: Balys Buračas (1907-1972), Jonas Balys (1909-2011), Rimtas Kalpokas (1908-1999), Kornelija Moncevičaitė, Pranas Mašiotas (1863-1940), Pranas Būdvydis (1900-1975), Kazys Šimonis (1887-1978). She also acknowledges those authors whose photographs are featured in the collection, including E. Kubilius (three negatives), A. Grudzinskis (two negatives) and the professional photographer Juozas Barisa, who is referenced in the source documents.

        The articles concerning the collection at the National Museum in Vilnius and the M. K. Čiurlionis Museum are detailed reports based entirely on museum documentation and providing a final summary inventory. The chapter ‘Collection of negatives of Adomas Varnas’ at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum’ mentions copy no. 512 of the Polish edition of Varnas’s album, which I donated in 2006 to Osvaldas Daugelis, the general director of the museum at the time⁶.

        This publication does not contain any analytical texts on art history, the history and theory of photography, or ethnography in its introduction. This thoroughly researched museum project provides valuable details on the history and condition of the negative collection, and can be used for scientific research.

        The second part of the book, entitled ‘Catalog’, contains photographs from the collection, which are divided into the four ethnographic regions of Lithuania: Aukštaitija, Dzūkija (Dainava), Suvalkija (Sūduva) and Samogitia (Žemaitija). This traditional approach to presenting Lithuanian small architecture was previously employed by Kontrimas, among others (see footnote). The presentation of crosses in Varnas’s photographs is related to the fact that, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries when these objects were created, there were visible differences in the style and ornamentation of the crosses.