Vienožinskis, Justinas Vinco

Born June 17 (29), 1886, on a farmstead in Mantuachizna, now in the Rokiškis Raion; died July 29, 1960, in Vilnius. Soviet painter, primarily of portraits and landscapes.

Vienožinskis studied at Iukhnevich’s studio in Moscow (1904-05) and at the Kraków Academy of Arts (1909-14) under W. Veis. He participated in the Revolution of 1905-07. In 1919-20, Vienožinskis organized courses in drawing at Vilnius and Kaunas. In 1922 he founded the Kaunas Art School; he was its first director and for many years was a teacher there. During 1923-25 he served as president of the Society of Lithuanian Artists. He was the first president of the Union of Lithuanian Artists (1935-36) and in 1940 began teaching at the Art Institute in Vilnius. In his lyrical and epic canvases, which combine a refined pictorial quality with a decorative use of rhythm and composition, Vienožinskis attempted to reveal the national character of human beings and nature. His works include portraits of E. Vienozinskene (1911, property of the Vienožinskis family) and the writers K. Boruta (1943, Art Museum of the Lithuanian SSR, Vilnius) and A. Vienuolis-Žukauskas (1954, Writers’ Union of the Lithuanian SSR, Vilnius) and a self-portrait (1936, M. K. Ciurlionis Art Museum, Kaunas).