Švėgžda Algimantas

Algimantas Švėgžda (April 22, 1941 in Kelmė – July 4, 1996 in Berlin) – Lithuanian painter, graphic artist. He lived in the village of Plaučiškės, studied at the Rozalimas school. In 1967 he graduated from the Vilnius Art Institute. Immediately after graduating from the institute, he managed to revive the Young Artists’ Association in the Artists’ Union of the LSSR, which he headed in 1969-1976.

Unexpectedly falling ill with a serious illness, the young and promising artist left for the West. A transplant operation performed in Berlin gave the artist hope to live, and since 1982 he lived in East Germany. In 1988 he became a member of the German Artists’ Union, and in 1991-1994 he taught a drawing and pastel course at the Schwalenberg Summer Academy.

Son of violinist Martynas Švėgžda von Beker. He worked in the fields of painting and graphic arts. In 1976, his first works were awarded the All-Union Komsomol Prize.

He painted figurative compositions, still lifes, portraits, landscapes, created graphic works, watercolors, pastels, and illustrated books. While living abroad, he created cycles: “The Search for Wisdom” (1980-1984), “Conversations with Things and People” (1984), “For Tibetan Shepherds” (1991), “Autumn Meditations” (1993), “Winter Meditations or Three Winter Months”, “Letter to My Grandmother”, “My Spells”, “Rugelis”, “Wasps’ Nests”, illustrations for M. Martinaitis’s “Cuckoo Ballads”, numerous chamber-type biographical compositions, pastels from his travels around Europe.

In 1991, he donated 44 of his works to the National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum, and later donated 224 of his works to Kaunas. In 1999, after the artist’s death, another 22 works were transferred to the city.