Povilas Puzinas

Povilas Puzinas, a painter and teacher, was born on 3 August 1907 in Riga. He completed his studies at Riga’s Lithuanian Secondary School in 1920, and the next year entered the drawing school of the Latvian Art Fosterers’ Society and took drawing lessons from K. Miesnieks, L. Liberts and U. Skulme. He studied at the Latvian Academy of Art from 1923 to 1932, first as an external student, and from 1928 as a fulltime student, mostly under Vilhelms Purvitis. He began to participate in exhibitions in 1931. H e moved to Panevėžys in 1937, and between 1938 and 1941 he decorated Panevėžys Cathedral with murals and pictures. He won the prize of the State Savings Funds in 1939. In 1940 he lived in Kaunas and lectured at Kaunas Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts. He returned to Riga in 1943, but he left for Germany after a year. He moved to New York, in the US A, in 1947. From 1949 to 1956 he lived in Los Angeles, and from 1956 to 1961 he taught art in various schools and art studios. He was arts editor of the magazine Lietuvių dienos (Days of Lithuanians) between 1949 and 1957. He died in New York on 23 October 1967.

Reference: Art album "The World of Landscapes" (Volume II). Compiled by N. Tumėnienė. Vilnius, LAWIN, 2013, P. 260.