Vytautas Mackevičius

Vytautas Mackevičius, a painter and teacher, was born in Šiauliai on 14 January 1911. He attended Šiauliai Teacher Training College between 1923 and 1928, and studied at Kaunas School of Art under P. Kalpokas and V . Didžiokas from 1928 to 1935. He studied in Guérin’s studio in Paris in 1938 and 1939, and began to participate in exhibitions. Between 1945 and 1990 he was a lecturer and professor (from 1954) at the State Art Institute of Lithuania. H e headed the Painting Department, and was dean and rector of the institute. I n 1970 he won the Lithuanian State Award. His early landscapes and still lifes are distinguished by their scenic atmosphere and plein-air painting principles. His postwar paintings are illustrative, with greyish colouring, and his portraits are academic and official. I n the 1960s, he resumed the pictoriality and flamboyant colouring, the manifestations of Expressionism, the romantic mood and the decorativeness of his interwar painting. There are works by him in the collections of the Lithuanian Art M useum, the M. K. Č iurlionis National Art Museum, and in private collections. Mackevičius died on 11 July 1991 in Vilnius.

Reference: Art album "The World of Landscapes" (Volume II). Compiled by N. Tumėnienė. Vilnius, LAWIN, 2013, P. 247.