SUTKUS, Antanas - Lietuvos Zmones

"Antanas SUTKUS’s series 'People of Lithuania' is considered one of his most important works. It is a continuing project to document the changing life and people of Lithuania.

Working at the time when Lithuania (as the Lithuanian SSR) was part of the Soviet Union, Antanas SUTKUS focused on black and white portraits of ordinary people in their everyday life
rather than the model citizens and workers promoted by Soviet propaganda.
Antanas SUTKUS had an opportunity to spend time with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in 1965 when they visited Lithuania. One image, taken against the white sand of Nida, is highly regarded as capturing Sartre’s ideas." (publisher's note)

Reviews:
"Antanas SUTKUS is a people, not a things photographer, even though there are always plenty of 'things' that reveal the rough order of life. He is very interested in what we often call a 'daily struggle' - how do those, whom he meets on the way, live.
Antanas SUTKUS never hid behind the camera and the subjects he photographs often look right into the lens. When this happens we become like a sort of witnesses of silent interrogation. And it is paradoxical - we too are interrogated.
Antanas SUTKUS has a rare gift, which only a few other photographers have: he is able to smoothly and naturally blend with environment. Children, young or old people, fellow artists, politicians, city, country...
Often people look like they are waiting for something, or maybe just stopped for a second... It seems that they have stopped because of him, as if to share the moment of openness with this perfect, compassionate stranger." (© William A. EWING)
"A Classicist in the great tradition of 20th-century street photography, Antanas SUTKUS is widely regarded as Lithuania's greatest photographer, Henri CARTIER-BRESSON.
His focus on children will also remind viewers of Helen LEVITT, the crucial difference being one of place. Helen LEVITT captures New York City's grit and melancholy whereas Antanas SUTKUS depicts Lithuania's rural, small-town charm, innocence, and natural beauty.
Starting with the lovely cover portrait, every photograph in the collection is about a child or has a child in it. Of course, the camera loves children. Still, Antanas SUTKUS' photographs of children are not sentimental.
They are, instead, genuinely affecting, and will leave one moved upon first encountering them. Through them, SUTKUS captures everyday life in his beloved Lithuania with clarity of vision and profound empathy." (© Modernrare)

About the photographer, Antanas SUTKUS, (b.1939, in Kluoniškiai, Kaunas):
Antanas SUTKUS studied journalism at Vilnius University (1958 –1964.) He is a renowned Lithuanian photographer and recipient of the Lithuanian National Prize (1983) and Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas.
Antanas SUTKUS was one of the co-founders and a President of the Photography Art Society of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos fotografijos meno draugija).