LEONARDAS KAZOKAS "FACES AND PLACES"

The exhibition "Faces and Places" by Leonardas Kazokas (1905–1981), dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the artist's birth.

The anniversary exhibition of Leonardas Kazokas "Faces and Places" features his works dating back to the 1920s and 1930s, his early, as well as mature, artistic efforts. The most important features of the plastic expression of Kazokas were the compositional harmony and the ability to strike the right balance, whereas landscapes and portraits felt the closest to his heart.

Another important stage of the development of the painter was related to his journeys around a number of Western European countries. In 1934–1938, he visited France, Belgium, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Great Britain, Königsberg lands (i.e., East Prussia) in Germany, Latvia, and Estonia. While travelling, he was painting a lot. Among his journey works, we witness landscapes of Southern France, bursting with sunshine and open spaces, Italian cities and villages in all kinds of clear and simultaneously lush and bright colors, and the enchanting sea of the Northern countries. The harshness of their climate, the peculiar interplay of the light and shadows, the distant horizons, and the conditions of life of the local fishermen were transferred into the landscapes. The works created in the journeys highlight that the strokes of the artist were liberated, that bright colors are predominant, the views are sensualized and brimming with life. One of the key merits of Kazokas to Lithuanian painting is that he introduced the motif of foreign landscapes in an innocent and natural way, while organically responding to the norms of expression of the new traditionalism and philosophy. Throughout his entire artistic life, Leonardas Kazokas remained faithful to painting and attentive in his observation to reality. On top of that, he was always denoted by moderation. 

In addition to landscapes, another important area of the creative activity of Leonardas Kazokas is his portraits. It was here that the creative liberty was left to the background, whereas the social characteristics of the depicted individual are revealed through the environment and the nature of the portrayed person’s professional activity. Attention is devoted to the psychological state of the individual, their character traits and temperament.

Leonardas Kazokas can be singled out as the author of portraits, pictures focusing on shapes, and still-lifes; however, his key contribution to Lithuanian painting is the intimate, chamber-style landscapes which artfully reveal the spirit of some locality and the mood of nature. These pictures serve as proof of a sensitive artist who was a master of using the color.