Paulius Galaunė

Memorial postal cover issued by Lietuvos paštas 1989

Paulius Galaunė (January 25, 1890 – October 18, 1988) was a Lithuanian art historian and artist. He studied Lithuanian folk art, particularly Lithuanian wood-carving, weaving and mural-painting. Galaunė studied an eclectic range of subjects, including the paintings of the Northern Renaissance, bookplates and early Lithuanian sculpture. At the height of his career, he was one of the most respected academics in Lithuania and his research had gained significant international attention. Galaunė's own artworks were shown internationally during his lifetime. Although Galaunė specialised in painting, examples of his work in many media exist.

Early life

Galaunė was born to a middle-class family in Pagelažiai, a small town near Ukmergė, Vilnius County. As an adolescent, with the encouragement of his family, he became a proficient sketcher and painter. Galaunė also became interested in neuroscience and thus studied at the Institute of Psychoneurology in University of St. Petersburg. Having completed his degree, he studied art in St. Petersburg and Moscow. His studies were interrupted by World War I – he fought in the Imperial Russian Army.

Academic career

Having been discharged from the army in 1917, he worked for the National Museum of Lithuania until 1923, when he took an internship at the Louvre, Paris. In 1924, after briefly working on conservation exhibits at Riga, he returned to working at the National Museum. He became director of the cultural Museum of Vytautas the Great in 1936 and he was also state commissioner of Archaeology from 1930 to 1935. He taught at the University of Lithuania as a Dozent from 1925 to 1940. One of his most important works, Lietuvių liaudies menas was published in 1930, and for his work on the subject of folk art he was awarded the French Legion of Honour in the same year. This reflected his involvement in the French–Lithuanian society. His importance as a scholar was also recognized through his winning the Vytauto Didžiojo award (grade 4) in 1931 the Latvian Order of the Three Stars, and a grade 3 Order of Vasa from the King of Sweden in 1938. During the war he worked in the conservation department of the museum. In the Socialist period, he became active again as a scholar, writing the commentary for six albums of Lithuanian folk art, which were published in 1956. He retired as an academic in 1951, and was awarded the USSR State Prize as a sign of his contribution to the study of Lithuanian art in 1970.

Artistic career

Galaunė's works were exhibited internationally in his lifetime. His works were exhibited across Scandinavia from 1931-1934, and in New York in 1939. After the war, due to the Iron Curtain, his works were generally only exhibited inside Lithuania. He continued painting after his retirement, and designed stamps for Lietuvos paštas. Galaunė painted in a fairly traditional manner, strongly influenced by folk art.

Personal life

Galaunė married Adele Nezabitauskaite, an opera singer who had graduated from music school in Moscow, in 1919. She later had considerable success, and held over twenty title roles. She also later taught at the Conservatory at Kaunas and died in 1962. The apartment the couple shared was converted into the Galaunė Family Museum in 1995, and contains his personal belongings as well as his works. It is part of the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum. After his death in 1988, Lietuvos paštas issued stamps and a first day cover in his honor.