The Reception of Art Theories by Jean-Marie Guyau in Lithuanian Press in the Beginning of the 20th Century. The Case of Sofija Ciurlioniene-Kymantaite

The article reviews the reception of aesthetic ideas of Jean-Marie Guyau (1854-1888) in the Lithuanian press at the beginning of the 20th century. Guyau's ideas of the sociological role of art were well known in the East-Central Europe at the end of the 19th century. The first one to reflect on Guyau's Art from a Sociological Point of View" ("L'art au point de vue sociologique", 1889) in public discourse was Sofija Ciurlioniene-Kymantaite, one of the most prominent modern romanticists" in ethnical Lithuanian culture. Her statements in "The Meaning of Art in the Life" (1913) are examined here in comparison with the French thinker's ideas. A few years later Guyau was quoted by Ignas Jurkunas (Ignas Seinius, 1889-1959), a representative of the next generation, that are referred to as romantic modernists". Finally, in a more systematic manner, Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas (1893-1967) in 1920-1922 reflected on Guyau's Contemporary Aesthetic Problems" ("Les problemes de l'Esthetique contemporaine."