Valentinas Antanavičius, an artist and winner of the National Prize, died Culture

V. Antanavičius was born in 1936. May 2 Kušlikiai, Šakiai district.

1956-1962 studied at the then Art Institute in Vilnius. Since 1962 taught at MKČiurlionis Arts Gymnasium, since 1988 and Vilnius Academy of Arts. Since 1964 is a member of the Lithuanian Union of Artists.

Farewell to the deceased at the funeral home “Nutakusi styga” in Vilnius on Monday 17.00-20.00 and Tuesday 12.00-14.00. Mass of St. Peter and Paul Church on Tuesday at 11.00. The urn is taken out on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. Burial at Suderve cemetery in Vilnius.

According to art researcher Raminta Jurėnaitė, V. Antanavičius was perhaps one of the most consistent nonconformists of his generation, and after he started actively creating in the mid-1960s, he was on the outskirts of official artistic life until “perestroika”.

“During the Soviet era, almost exclusively his portraits were shown in larger group exhibitions. The most important part of Antanavičius’s work – compositions of critical political and social metaphors with distinctive iconography – hardly entered exhibitions during this period. “Only in 1986, when he turned fifty, Antanavičius was able to show these works in his personal exhibition, held in the most representative exhibition space in Vilnius – the Art Exhibition Palace,” the art critic wrote.

The artist himself said that he never felt like a big rebel, but looked at his work as a personal decision to do what seemed interesting at the time.

“When you start doing such works, you already know that you won’t be able to show them anywhere publicly. And then, as soon as you make such a decision, you become free”, – said the artist in 2022. after the opening of his last exhibition “The world through the eyes of a vandal” in the “Titanikas” exhibition halls of the Vilnius Academy of Arts.

1998-2000 the artist participated in the activities of the “24” group, became famous for his paintings and assemblages, and also created graphic works and set designs.

V. Antanavičius’s work contains features of expressionism, surrealism, dadaism, pop art and Lithuanian ethnographic art. He himself has stated that he was very fond of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, later René Magritte and other modernist artists, and in his own work he “mixed a cocktail of various influences”.

in 1992 V. Antanavičius was honored with the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize, 2006. he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order “For Merit to Lithuania”.

In one of his last interviews 15min V. Antanavicius said: “My creativity has guided me throughout my life. After all, I had a diploma – that’s my specialty… And where he got married – I don’t know. In Lithuania, there are now about a hundred artists of the same caliber as me, and how many are dead, about whom no one talks and never will… So what remains: to do something while you still can. Having earned a lot during my life, I don’t seem to have much, all that remains is to properly live as much as I’m still allotted”

in 2002 the album presenting the artist’s work “Valentinas Antanavičius” (composed by Valentinas Antanavičius, Eugenijus Karpavičius) was published. In 2011, the book “Life without parade: the artist’s memories and reflections” was published.