Jurgis Miksevicius’ (1923 – 2014) interest in portraiture was not in physical likeness but to explore the characteristics of the subject’s personality and to extract their character. Commentaries by the artist through recorded conversations with his daughter, Carolyn Leigh, provide intimate insights into Miksevicius’ life, artistic practice, philosophy and specific portraits.
More than 70 selected portraits by this Lithuanian Australian artist, including drawings, caricatures and paintings, illustrate Miksevicius’ lifetime exploration of colour and style to extract the essence of character through his portraits of people who sat for him, those he remembered and those he imagined.
This biographical catalogue provides background information on Miksevicius' early life in Europe, and his family’s exile from Lithuania to Germany in 1941. It tells of his student days studying Art under a curriculum which followed Bauhaus principles at Lehrwerkstätten der bildenden Kunst, Künstlerkolonie Darmstadt [The Training Workshops of the Fine Arts, Darmstadt Artists' Colony (1945 – 1948). The text and selected images follow Miksevicius' immigration to Australia in 1948, where he found his way in the Australian art world and exhibited until the 1960s when he withdrew to focus on his own artistic goals and to become an art teacher with the NSW Department of Education.
Miksevicius never stopped painting, leaving a rich legacy of nearly 70 years' work.
While Jurgis Miksevicius’ oeuvre covers many genres – portraits, landscapes, still life, abstracts, furniture, and murals – this volume provides unique access to the essence of his portraiture.