Kazys Varnelis

Kazys Varnelis (February 25, 1917, in Alsėdžiai ) was an abstract painter from Lithuania. He lived and worked in the United States of America for fifty years, between 1949 and 1998. His distinctive painting style demonstrated optical and three-dimensional illusions based on geometric abstractions and minimal forms. His style combined elements of constructivism, minimalism, and op art. Varnelis was also an avid collector of antiques and bibliophile; his collection is now housed at the Kazys Varnelis House-Museum in Vilnius. His son, also named Kazys Varnelis, is a noted architect, art historian, and theorist.

Early career Born in Alsėdžiai in the Samogitia region to a father who was a religious wood sculptor and painter, Varnelis graduated from Institute of Fine Art in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1941. He briefly worked as director of the Museum for Ecclesiastical Art before starting graduate studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 1943. where he settled in Chicago. He became an American citizen in 1957.

Rise to fame Varnelis presented his works at the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1967, 1969, 1971, 1974 during biennial exhibitions by Chicago artists, winning the Vielehr Award in 1969 and 1974. He held one-man shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1970), Milwaukee Art Museum (1974), Corcoran Gallery of Art (1973). In a 1971 article in Canadian art magazine Artscanada Dutch-American art historian Jan van der Marck attributed abstract decorative quality of Varnelis works to the ornaments found on traditional Lithuanian crosses that his father used to make. Van der Marck also attributed structural complexity to the complexities of the Lithuanian language. Later works show elements of deformity borrowed from Surrealism and emphasized realism from Photorealism.

In 1978 he moved to Villa Virginia in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, which he extensively restored and where he had a private gallery for his works and collections.

Return to Lithuania

With Glasnost improving ties between East and West, Varnelis began to visit Lithuania and exhibited his work In the Art Exhibition Palace in Vilnius in 1988. He exhibited his works in Europe throughout the 1990s in the Palace of Art in Budapest (1995), Tampere Art Museum (1996), and the Museum of Modern Art in Riga (1997). The museum was established in a 15th-century building of former Merchants' Guild. The collection includes some 7,000 books and 150 maps, dating from the 16th century. The museum also houses paintings, sculptures, Renaissance furniture, Oriental art, and works by Varnelis. For merits to Lithuania, Varnelis was awarded the Knight Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas (1998) and the Commander Cross of the Order for Merits to Lithuania (2007).

Varnelis died on October 29, 2010, in Vilnius after a long illness.