Krištopaitis Adolis Jonas

(1925-2000)

Adolis Krištopaitis was born in 1925 in Balanėliai village, Vaškų rural municipality, Biržai county. In 1948 he entered the Kaunas Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts, where he studied fresco and mosaic until 1951. When the institute moved to Vilnius, Adolis Krištopaitis remained in Kaunas and began working as a draftsman at the Polytechnic Institute. On the recommendation of J. Šileika, he joined the Artists’ Union, and in 1954, together with the artist E. Jakutytė, he organized his first exhibition of work. Krištopaitis’ work was clearly different from other artists in its style, tendency towards abstract modernist thinking, based on an individual worldview and outlook. The turn towards obvious modernism occurred at the end of the 1960s. In 1968 Adolis Krištopaitis created the abstract composition “Controversy”, and in 1968-1969, at the Białowieża plein air painting festival, he painted “Forest I”, abstracted to the point of being a sign, for which he won a prize. For his bold, innovative searches, the artist was repeatedly called a “formalist”, and Soviet censorship did not allow his works to participate in exhibitions.

There are three significant areas in Adolis Krištopaitis’ work: abstracted landscapes, abstract compositions and portraits. The artist considered portraiture to be a particularly important genre and was endowed with psychological insight and talent, as he captured an entire gallery of the faces of his friends, colleagues, collaborators, and people who deserved respect from society, creating a true chronicle of souls and characters. His talent and meticulous work marked and restored museum exhibits. Brought to new life, they will delight museum visitors for a long time to come. Buried in Kaunas, Petrašiūnai Pantheon.