Pranas Gailius

(1928 - 2015)

Biography

Pranas Gailius was born in Lithuania in 1928. His peaceful childhood was followed by an adolescence full of the turmoil of the Second World War. In 1946 he came to Strasbourg and became interested in fine arts, the phase where, he felt, his creativity could find the most natural outlet for expression. Since 1950 Pranas Gailius has been living in Paris where he was a student of Fernand Lėger and also studied lithography at the Ėcole National des Beaux Arts. Pranas Gailius matured artistically in Paris and was strongly affected by the prevalent artistic and philosophical tendencies. At present he considers himself a member of the new movement "la nouvelle Figuration".
Pranas Gailius is a prolific painter and has had an impressive number of exhibits in France, Germany, and the United States. His paintings have been exhibited at the Galerie du Haut-Pave (1955), Galerie La Voute (Marcel-Lenoir) 1957, Galerie Bellechasse (1958, 1959 and I960), Galerie Le Soleil dans la Tėte (1962), and Galerie Dumay 1963), all in Paris. Prints were exhibited at the Salon des Illustrateurs du Liyre 1963, Galerie La Nouvelle Gravure (1963) and Bibliotheque Nationale, Cabinet des Estampes "Gravure contemporaine" (1963) in Paris; also at the Litauische Graphik (1963) in Freiburg. His watercolors have been exhibited at the Galerie Le Soleil dans la Tėte (1959) in Paris; at an exhibition sponsored by the Institut fuer Auslandbeziehungen and shown in Stuttgart, Muenich, Berlin, Erlangen, Bielefeld, Kircheim-Bad Oeyhausen (1960-1061) in Germany; and at the Galerie Dumay 1962 in Paris. Recently, in November of 1963, he had his first exhibit (oils, prints, and watercolors) in the United States, at the Čiurlionis Art Gallery in Chicago. The numerous showings of Pranas' works were favorably greeted by art critics, who have had much to say about his work.

Style

Pranas Gailius's methods of work are versatile. He is equally strong in oil painting, water colours, and graphics where his finesse, love for detail and composition is outstanding.
His birthplace was a small town and his childhood was spent dose to nature. These early experiences are reflected in his later creative work, where visual elements of nature are presented with deep inner sensitivity.