Povilas Puzinas

(1907 - 1967)

Biography

Povilas Puzinas was born in 1907 in Riga. In 1921-1923 he studied at the School of Art of Cultural Art Society. In 1932 he graduated from Latvian Academy of Art (Valteris Purvytis studio of landscape painting). In 1937-1939 he worked as a teacher in high school for boys in Panevežys and in Kaunas Institute of Applied and Decorative Art. He created frescoes and paintings for the Cathedral in Panevežys, paintings for Panevežys Marian Novitiate Chapel and Smilgiai Church. During the German occupation he participated in the activities of Lithuanian resistance fighters. In 1944 he was arrested and imprisoned in the Riga prison. In November, 1944 he emigrated to Germany, lived in Berlin, Kempten, Ulm, and from 1947 settled in New York, USA. In 1956 - 1958 he worked as a teacher in Cattan-Rose Art School in New York, later on – in schools of Art League of Long Island and Jackson Heights Art Club. In Long Island he has opened a private art studio. He was an art editor of “Lietuvių dienos”.
He creator still lifes, portraits, figurative, thematic compositions, landscapes. His works are characterized by reflections of biographical experiences, expressiveness, Nordic palette. In 6-7 decade he participated in exhibitions in USA cities, organized exhibitions, won numerous awards both in pre-war Lithuania and Latvia and the United States: award of Latvian State Museum, first prize in Darius and Girėnas Portrait Contest, honorary gold medal of Unified American Artists (1967), first prize in the exhibition in New York (1969). Exhibitions were held in Riga, Vilnius, Kaunas and many cities of USA. An album of his works was published in 1975 in New York.
The author died in 1967. New York.

Style

Povilas Puzinas was a very human and sensitive personality. He loved animals and nature. The artist had a profound ear for music. In his youth, he was restless, choosing between studies of art and music. He loved to paint, while listening to good music. His paintings reflect the world of the romantic sentiments to the past, which is incarnated in forgotten places: rural paths, old huts and fishing boats. We often see in his paintings fishermen, marine landscapes. In his figurative compositions we observe an attempt to express the pain of his generation, the suffering related to the destinies of people scattered by the war.