Kazys Šimonis (25 August 1887 – 5 July 1978) was a famous

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

thumb The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thumb ...

Biography

Kazys Šimonis was born on August 25, 1887 in , near

Kupiškis Kupiškis () is a city in northeastern Lithuania. It is the capital of the Kupiškis district municipality, mainly known for its sculptures and fourth biggest water reservoir in Lithuania. Kupiškis is located on the Lėvuo and Kupa rivers. The ...

, northern Lithuania. He studied organ, was also interested in history and ethnography. In 1909–1911, he went to work for his brother in the United States. In 1911, he returned to Lithuania, and was called up for military service in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

. He painted and studied episodically: with

Tadas Daugirdas Tadeusz Dowgird (; February 27, 1852 – October 29, 1919, in Kaunas, Lithuania) was a Polish-Lithuanian painter and archaeologist, nobleman of the Łabędź coat of arms. His father Mikołaj Dowgird was an engineer building a railway linking M ...

(1908–1910), with local painters while serving in the army in

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

(1911–1917), Fedosejevo evening drawing courses (1917–1918) in Saint Petersburg. In 1919, he settled in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

and actively participated in the Lithuanian cultural life. In 1919–1924, he taught drawing and penmanship at Kaunas Aušra high school and teacher training courses. In 1920–1921, he attended the private art school of Adomas Varnas. In 1923, he studied art in Berlin. In 1923–1924, he taught drawing at teacher courses organized by Juozas Damijonaitis. In 1926, he received a two-year grant to study in Paris from the Ministry of Education. In 1934–1945, he worked at the

Kaunas School of Art Kaunas School of Arts ( lt, Kauno meno mokykla) was a public art school, which operated from 1922 to 1940 in Kaunas, Lithuania. At the time, it was the only operating art school in Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Rep ...

(since 1941, Kaunas Applied and Decorative Art Institute) as the library manager. In 1945–1950, he was director of the museum of the Kaunas Applied and Decorative Arts Institute. In 1951–1959, he worked as a technician at the architecture department of

Kaunas Polytechnic Institute Kaunas University of Technology (abbreviated as KTU, ) is a public research university located in Kaunas, Lithuania. Established in 1922, KTU has been one of the top centers of Lithuanian science education. According to Lithuanian National Univ ...

. He died at the age of 91, and was buried in

Petrašiūnai Cemetery Petrašiūnai Cemetery ( lt, Petrašiūnų kapinės) is Lithuania's premiere last resting place formally designated for graves of people influential in national history, politics, arts, and science. Location Petrašiūnai Cemetery is located abo ...

in Kaunas.

Awards

* 1962: Honored Artist of the Lithuanian SSR * 1972: People's Artistof the Lithuanian SSR

Works

Šimonis created about 2,000 works of art –

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

s, portraits, fantasy paintings, as well as ex-libris,

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...

s, proposals for postage stamps, decorative panels in

Birštonas Birštonas () is a balneological resort and a spa town in Lithuania situated south of Kaunas on the right bank of the Nemunas River. Birštonas received its city rights 1529, and was appointed a city in 1966. The city is the administrative c ...

(1938). He collected and painted folk art, architectural monuments. His individual exhibitions were held in 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1949, 1958, 1967, 1972, 1977 in Kaunas, 1925 in Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago, 1926 in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, 1927 in Klaipėda and Paris, 1968 and 1975 in Vilnius. He published his memoirs ''Gyvenimo nuotrupos'' (Fragments of Life) in 1959. He developed his own interpretation of the prevailing artistic movements:

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

, rayonism. In the early creative period, Šimonis was influenced by

M. K. Čiurlionis ( ; ; pl. ; ; 1512, from Middle French , literally "my lord") is an honorific title that was used to refer to or address the eldest living brother of the king in the French royal court. It has now become the customary French title of respect ...

. Later, when he learned of the Western European art, he was significantly influenced by German expressionist and Bauhaus school of art, and especially by Lyonel Feininger and his beams of light that were stylized, falling in many different directions, and forming fantastic images. When he lived in France, he was influenced by

primitivism Primitivism is a mode of aesthetic idealization that either emulates or aspires to recreate a "primitive" experience. It is also defined as a philosophical doctrine that considers "primitive" peoples as nobler than civilized peoples and was an o ...

. His mature creative period started in mid 1920s and lasted the end of 1930s. During this period, his works exhibit the growing tendency to divide things and space into geometric segments. The artist paid particular attention to light which divided geometric segments into small crystals. After World War II, his creativity started to fade and he returned to earlier themes. Sadness and recollections start appearing in his stylized fantasy works. During this period, he created more realistic landscapes and scenes of nature. He was criticized for imitation. Notable works: "Foliage" (1923), "Towers" (1928), "Fantasy", "Thirst" (1926), "Forest Fire", "Princess", "Composition", "Lights" (1926), "In Fog" (1927), "Fantasy Landscape" (1930), "Candles" (1931), "Living Stones" (1935), "Landscape with Wayside Shrine", "Girl with Flowers" (1936), "Into The Space" (1958), "Breaking Morning" (1968). He also painted portraits of actors Ona Rymaitė,

Unė Babickaitė Unė Babickaitė-Graičiūnienė (born Uršulė Babickaitė also known as Une Baye; 19 April 1897 – 1 August 1961) was a Lithuanian actress and theater director. During World War I, she attended the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. After the war, ...

, Teofilija Vaičiūnienė, writers

Vydūnas Wilhelm Storost, artistic name Vilius Storostas-Vydūnas (22 March 1868 – 20 February 1953), mostly known as Vydūnas, was a Prussian-Lithuanian teacher, poet, humanist, philosopher and Lithuanian writer, a leader of the Prussian Lithuani ...

, Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas,

Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius Vincas Mickevičius (pl. ''Wincenty Mickiewicz'', October 19, 1882 – July 17, 1954), better known by his pen name Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius, was a Lithuanian writer, poet, novelist, playwright and philologist. He is also known as Vincas Krė ...

, Juozas Tysliava,

Liudas Gira Liudas Gira (27 August 1884 in Vilnius – 1 July 1946 in Vilnius) was a Lithuanian poet, writer, and literary critic. His is noted for his early poetry, which resembles traditional Lithuanian folk songs. Gira was active in cultural and political ...

Kazys Binkis Kazys Binkis (16 November 1893 – 27 April 1942) was a Lithuanian poet, journalist, and playwright. Biography Kazys Binkis was born on 16 November 1893 in the village of Gudeliai in Biržai District Municipality. He attended primary school at ...

, historian Simonas Daukantas, artist

, and others.

References

*''This article was initially translated from the Lithuanian Wikipedia.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Simonis, Kaz 1887 births 1978 deaths People from Kupiškis District Municipality People from Vilkomirsky Uyezd 20th-century Lithuanian painters Burials at Petrašiūnai Cemetery

Biography

Awards

Works

See also

References