ANTANAS SUTKUS (LITHUANIAN B.1939) Jean-Paul Sartre in Lithuania, Nida 1965 gelatin silver print 17.5 x 24 cm (6 7/8 x 9 1/2 in.) sold together with another photograph by Antanas Sutkus, depicting the statue of Jean Paul Sartre at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, which was itself composed based on the Sutkus's famous image. signed and dated on verso PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the photographer, by the present owner LOT NOTES Antanas Sutkus stands as one of the most significant photographers to emerge from the Soviet Bloc - a master of black-and-white humanism whose lens captured the soul of Lithuania in quiet, piercing detail. Described as "photography’s Solzhenitsyn", Sutkus refused to conform to the rigid ideological expectations of Soviet art, instead developing a deeply personal, profoundly empathetic documentary style that exposed the truth of everyday life under authoritarianism. Born in 1939 in Lithuania, Sutkus came of age during the Cold War, when photography in the USSR was expected to glorify the state and its ideology. Rather than producing propagandist visions of heroic laborers and perfect collectives, Sutkus turned his camera toward the marginalized, the elderly, the young, and the unidealized - those forgotten by official narratives. His most iconic series, People of Lithuania, launched in 1976 and continued for decades, is a quiet act of defiance: an archive of human vulnerability, dignity, and individuality in a system that sought to erase precisely those qualities.With startling clarity and poetic restraint, Sutkus captured the fleeting moments of rural life, childhood, old age, and solitude. His images are often stark and intimate. Sutkus's nonconformist attitude did not go unnoticed. His works ran afoul of Soviet censors, who accused him of failing to uphold socialist ideals. He was never fully embraced by the official art establishment, yet persisted with quiet defiance, helping to found the Lithuanian Photographers’ Association and mentoring a new generation of independent visual thinkers. His photography became a humanist counter-narrative - a visual literature of dissent. Today, Sutkus is recognized internationally for his profound contributions to documentary photography. His works have been exhibited at institutions such as the Pompidou Centre, the Pushkin Museum, and the Lithuanian National Gallery, and have entered major public and private collections around the world. His photographs are increasingly sought after for their aesthetic purity, historical significance, and emotional power. This photo was captured when Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir visited Soviet Lithuania in 1965 as part of a broader state-organized cultural tour of the Soviet Union. By this time, they had both become increasingly disillusioned with Soviet communism. Sartre, who had once been a vocal supporter of Marxism, had already publicly criticized Stalinism and was known for his complex and often contradictory relationship with leftist politics. During their visit they were accompanied by their interpreter from Moscow, Lena Zonina, who was Sartre's lover, and the young Antanas Sutkus, who was 26 years old at the time. Sartre and his partner, Simone de Beauvoir, had a unique polyamorous relationship where they were both free to have other romantic relationships. While De Beauvoir was aware of Sartre's relationship with Zonina, she reportedly treated her with kindness and respect.