Švažas Jonas

J. Švažas was born on August 5, 1925 in Urvikiai village, Mažeikiai district. In 1953, he graduated from the Vilnius State Institute of Art. From 1953 to 1976, he was a lecturer and associate professor at the same institute. In 1975, he was awarded the title of Honored Artist; Laureate of the State Prize. From 1954 to 1976, he participated in art exhibitions in Lithuania, other republics of the USSR, and foreign countries. In 1966, “Wall” exhibited at the Young Painters’ Exhibition almost caused a political scandal. This work – a parable about the experience of a closed society – was made using a new collage technique in Lithuania. In his later work, the artist greatly expanded the possibilities of collage, and this technique became almost a typical way of his artistic thinking. At the beginning of the 1960s, the colorist direction of Lithuanian painting was finally formed. He died on December 14, 1976 in Vilnius.

Personal exhibitions:

1963 – Vilnius, 1965 – Vilnius Art Museum, 1970 – Riga Art Museum, as well as the Art Foundation salon in Vilnius.

Posthumous personal exhibitions:

1977 – Art Exhibition Hall, Vilnius, 1978 – Art Exhibition Hall Kuznetskij most, Moscow, 1980 – Sweden – Skelleftea, Kiruna, Piteå, Sandviken, 1980 – 1981 in Austria (Vienna, Salzburg, etc.). Group exhibitions: 1957, 1965 – anniversary art exhibitions in Vilnius, 1959, 1962, 1974 – portrait exhibitions in Vilnius, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1968 – republican art exhibitions in Vilnius, 1972, 1975 – Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian painting exhibitions in Vilnius, 1972 – exhibition “Our Sea” in Vilnius, 1975 – exhibition “Our Village” in Vilnius, 1976 – landscape exhibition “Friendship” in Vilnius, 1976 – exhibition “Glory to Work” in Vilnius.

Since 1966, J. Švažas’s works have been exhibited in Paris, London, New York, Tokyo, Montreal, as well as in Poland, Yugoslavia, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary.