Vida Krištolaitytė

(1939)

Biography

V. Krištolaitytė was born in 1939, Kaunas. In 1944 she moved to Germany together with her parents. In 1949 she moved to the USA (Chicago, from 1964 – New York). In 1961 she graduated Art Education from the University of Illinoi. 1961-1964 V. Krištolaitytė studied painting and printmaking in the Chicago Art Institute. 1967 she graduated from the New York Pratt Art Institute. Since 1961 she has been teaching art in various US schools. Since 1962 she participates in exhibitions, in the period 1998-2005 organized solo exhibitions in the USA and Lithuania.

Style

In V. Krištolaitytė‘s artwork strong avant-garde, expressionist and New York school’s influences are felt. During her studies in New York, the artist was a strong admirer of J. Pollock‘s, E. Munch‘s and W. De Kooning‘s work. The artist perfectly mastered figure painting, developed the genres of portraiture, still-life and landscape painting. Already in earlier prints and paintings, as well as in her later works, a strong artistic style is visible. Her works gain persuasiveness through expressive and dynamic brushstrokes, line and colour play, as V. Krištolaitytė says: “I want the wholeness of the drawing. I draw the essence of man, not what I see. I can add three hands or bend the body in half. For me it is expression that is important”. Every V. Krištolaitytė‘s sweeping brushstroke and expressive line helps the figures to come to life, gives them liveliness, expression. Her created world is sensitive and fragile, in which strong inner experiences of the creator are mirrored: the drama of the loss of her native country, restlessness, the search form harmony, themes of transience.