Urbanavičiūtė Sofija

Sofija Urbonavičiūtė – Subačiuvienė (1915 – 1980)

Painter and graphic artist. She lived in Vilnius since 1918. She studied at the Vytautas Magnus Gymnasium, studied painting at the Faculty of Arts of Vilnius Stephen Batory University under Prof. L. Slendzinskis, and continued her studies in Paris at the State School of Decorative and Applied Arts, in the studio of Paul Colin. In 1939 she left for Kaunas. She worked as a costume and scenery designer at the State Theatre. In the same year she was invited to Vilnius to teach drawing at the 1st and 5th grade boys’ gymnasiums. Since 1943 she has been the head of the photo laboratory of the Institution for the Protection of Cultural Monuments. Since 1947 she has worked as a lecturer at the Vilnius State Institute of Art. She painted in a free, realistic manner, and also expressed herself in the field of graphics. In 1994, the first posthumous exhibition of S. Urbonavičiūtė-Subačiuvienė’s photographs of Vilnius during the interwar period took place.