Jonas Mekas

Garbės daktaras / Honorary Doctor (Suteiktas vardas 1997-10-30)

Émigré artist Jonas Mekas was one of the most prominent filmmakers and promoters of avant-garde cinema, a poet, film critic, laureate of the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts, and a recipient of the Grand Cross of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. In 1997, he was awarded VMU Honorary Doctorate regalia.

Jonas Mekas was born on 24 December 1922 in Semeniškiai, Papilys district. In 1943, he graduated from Biržai Gymnasium. While still a student, he edited the newspaper “Naujosios Biržų žinios” (The New Biržai News) and from 1943 to 1944, the underground newspaper “Panevėžio apygardos balsas” (The Voice of the Panevėžys District). For a time, he attended the Juozas Miltinis Theatre Studio. In 1944, Mekas and his brother Adolfas had to flee Lithuania. They were interned for eight months in a labour camp in Elmshorn, Germany. Between 1946 and 1947, he studied philosophy and literature at the University of Mainz. In 1946 in Wiesbaden, together with Leonas Lėtas, Algirdas Landsbergis, and his brother Adolfas, he began publishing the avant-garde magazine “Žvilgsniai” (Glances), which produced four issues until 1948. In 1949, he emigrated to the USA. That same year, after acquiring his first film camera, he began filming events from his life and developed an interest in avant-garde cinema. He associated and worked with figures such as Jurgis Mačiūnas, Andy Warhol, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Salvador Dali. While working in New York factories, he and his brother devoted their free time to creative pursuits – filming the cultural life of expatriates, learning the art of filmmaking, and organising avant-garde film festivals. From 1954, he published and edited the bimonthly film magazine “Film Culture”; from 1955 to 1957, he edited the monthly film newspaper “Intro Bulletin,” and from 1958, the “Movie Journal” section of the “Village Voice” magazine. His articles on cinema appeared in publications such as “Cinemages,” “Films in Review,” “Film Book,” and “Cinema.” He also taught at various film art institutes. In 1962, he co-founded the Filmmakers’ Cooperative, and in 1964, The Filmmakers’ Cinematheque, where he served as director until 1970. In the same year, he established the Anthology Film Archives in New York – one of the world’s largest repositories of avant-garde cinema. In 2008, he became a member of the Austrian Arts Committee.

During his early literary career, Jonas Mekas, together with his brother Adolfas, wrote three books of fairy tales: “Trys broliai ir kitos pasakos” (Three Brothers and Other Tales, 1946), “Iš pasakų krašto” (From the Land of Fairy Tales, 1947), and “Knyga apie karalius ir žmones” (A Book About Kings and People, 1947). His writing style, characterised by a cinematic narrative approach, is evident in his poetry collection “Semeniškių idilės” (Idylls of Semeniškiai, 1948, 1997). His later works, starting with the poetry collection “Gėlių kalbėjimas” (Flower Talk, 1961) and ending with “Žodžiai ir raidės” (Words and Letters, 2007), are fragmented, kaleidoscopic, and impressionistic, influenced by Eastern aesthetics and placing significant importance on every word, syllable, intonation, and the pauses between words. His diaries and essay books “I Had Nowhere to Go” (1991), “Laiškai iš niekur” (Letters from Nowhere, 1996, 1997), and “Žmogus be vietos: Nervuoti dienoraščiai” (A Man Without a Place: Nervous Diaries, 2000), as well as the dream book “Mano naktys” (My Night Life, 2007), contain expressive psychoanalysis and reflections on existence. Mekas also compiled a collection of conversations and letters titled “Trys draugai: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Jurgis Mačiūnas” (Three Friends: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, George Mačiūnas, 1998).

In his films, Jonas Mekas expresses a protest against art that portrays dramatic and significant events, aiming instead to show people in their everyday lives, reveal their feelings and emotions, and exalt insignificant life moments. His style is characterised by improvisational composition, incorporating short clips during filming and editing. He was one of the first in the world to develop the diary genre of documentary film with works such as “Lost, Lost, Lost” (filmed between 1949 and 1963, released in 1976), “Paradise Not Yet Lost” (1977), and “Imperfect 3-Image Films” (1995), which feature events, situations, images, cities, seasons, and friends. He created films with his brother Adolfas, including “Guns of the Trees” (1962), “Diaries, Notes, and Sketches, also known as Walden” (filmed between 1964 and 1969, released in 1969), and “Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania” (filmed between 1971 and 1972, released in 1972), and filmed “The Brig” at the Living Theatre in New York, directed by Judith Malina and Julian Beck (1964, awarded the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival). He created over 160 avant-garde films, such as “Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol” (filmed between 1965 and 1982, released in 1990), “Happy Birthday to John Lennon” (1996), “Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Mačiūnas” (1992), and “Birth of a Nation” (1997). One of his more recent works is the nearly 5-hour long film “Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR” (2008), made up of various footage from television newscasts.

Mekas’s creative output and activities have had a profound impact on the development of avant-garde cinema worldwide. In 2007, the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center was established in Vilnius.

Based on information provided by VMU Library.