Adolfas Valeška

Adolfas Valeška was a painter, stained glasser, scenographer, organiser of the artistic life, teacher, and art critic. He was born on 15 March 1905 in Kybartai. In 1928 he finished the Kaunas School of Art and J. Vienožinskis’ painting studio and continued his training in Berlin, Rome and Paris. In 1930 he established the Independent Artists’ Society and was its chairman. He was the founder of the Museum of Church Art in Kaunas (1930) and in 1935–1940 was its director. He began to participate in exhibitions in 1930. He collected folk art. In 1940–1944 he was director of Vilnius Art Museum; in 1942–1943 he lectured at the Vilnius Academy of Art. In 1944 he left Lithuania and lectured at the Freiburg School of Applied Art in Germany. In 1950 he took up residence in the US A and in 1951 established an applied art studio in Chicago. He returned to Lithuania in 1993. He died on 11 May 1994 in Kaunas.

Reference: Art album  The World of Landscapes (Volume I), Compiled by: N. Tumėnienė, D. Tarandaitė and J. Semenauskienė. Vilnius, LAWIN, 2010, P. 274.