Self-portrait By Vytautas Kasiulis (1918-1995) - Paris School

Self-portrait by Vytautas KASIULIS (1918-1995) Vytautas Kasiulis is a Lithuanian figurative painter of the School of Paris. He is one of the most famous Lithuanian artists who went into exile in Paris after the annexation of their country by the USSR. Residing in Kaunas, Vytautas Kasiulis participated in several group exhibitions there from 1942; he held his first solo exhibition at the Vytautas Magnus Museum of Culture in 1943. The following year, he left for Germany, where he taught at the School of Fine Arts in Freiburg im Breisgau, and held several solo exhibitions in Kiel, Bad Siegelberg, Hamburg and Freiburg. He arrived in Paris in 1948, his first exhibition was organized at the Raymond Duncan Gallery in 1949. From 1954, his works were also exhibited outside France, notably in Berlin, Copenhagen, Geneva, Stockholm, Cleveland, New York, Toronto. He also participated in several fairs including the Salon des Indépendants. From December 2009 to February 2010, a retrospective entitled Les Jardins du Paradis de Vytautas Kasiulis presented more than 150 works by the painter (including a large number lent by his widow Bronė Kasiulienė) at the Lithuanian Art Museum in Vilnius. Bronė Kasiulienė wished to offer her collection on this occasion if a Vytautas Kasiulis museum were created. The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec has an engraving by this artist. In May and June 2010, the works of five Lithuanian-born artists living in Paris, Arbit Blatas, Vytautas Kasiulis, Antanas Moncys, Pranas Gailius and Zibuntas Miksys were exhibited at the Zilinskas Gallery in Kaunas. In 2013, the Vytautas Kasiulis Art Museum opened in Vilnius.