Vladas Drema Lithuanian artist and museum worker, art critic, cultural historian, teacher; Date of Birth: 10.12.1910 Country: Lithuania

Biography of Vladas Dremas

Vladas Dremas was a Lithuanian artist and museum worker, art historian, cultural historian, and educator. He was born into a family of peasant immigrants from the village of Gervyaty, which is now located in Belarus. After being orphaned at a young age, he lived under the care of relatives in his parents' homeland.

At the age of 10, a priest from Gervyaty noticed Dremas' drawings and sent him to Vilnius in 1920. He was placed in a shelter on Buffalo Hill (now Tauras Hill). From 1921, Dremas lived in Vilnius and studied at the Vitas Velykas Lithuanian Gymnasium. Between 1926 and 1931, he attended the art studio of Vitas Kairiukštis. After completing his gymnasium studies in 1931, he continued his education at Stefan Batory University, where he graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in 1936 under the guidance of artist Ludomir Sledzinski.

Dremas was one of the founders of the "Vilnius Group" of artists, which included painters of different nationalities, such as Jews, Lithuanians, and Poles. He taught drawing and sketching in Vilnius schools and gymnasiums. From 1937 to 1938, he furthered his studies in Warsaw. During World War II, he worked at the Belarusian Museum in Vilnius (1941-1944) and began collecting material for the history of the manuscript and printed book of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, with the intention of publishing the work by 1947, the 400th anniversary of the first Lithuanian book. Therefore, Dremas is considered one of the first researchers of the book culture of old Lithuania.

After the war, Dremas served as the director of the Ethnographic Museum (1945-1946) and then as the head of the Department of Fine Arts at the Art Museum (1946-1961). He taught at the Art Institute (1946-1950, 1957-1970) and Vilnius University (1956-1958). From 1970, he worked at the Institute of Monument Conservation. Despite suffering from illness in his later years, he continued his scholarly activities.

In 1992, Dremas was awarded the National Prize of Lithuania in the field of culture and art, as well as honorary doctorates from the Vilnius Academy of Arts and the title of honorary citizen of Vilnius. In 1999, one of the streets in Vilnius was named after Vladas Dremas in the Varkiai Eldership. He participated in exhibitions starting from 1931.

Dremas' artistic style initially leaned towards Cubism and Constructivism but later became more realistic, with a tendency towards generalization and ornamentation. His work often depicted motifs of Vilnius. Among his notable works is the futuristic painting "Vilnius in the Year 2000" (1928). He also worked with watercolors and mainly focused on graphics from the 1930s. He created stylized still lifes using the technique of color linocut and frequently depicted views of the Old Town in his copper engravings. His landscapes were realistic, with meticulous detail and a romantic mood.

From 1936 to 1938, Dremas designed books for Lithuanian poets such as Juozas Kekstas, Ona Micyte, and Albina Zukauskaite, as well as other publications. He was also known for his posters, bookplates, and theater set designs. His works are held in the Lithuanian Art Museum, the M. K. Ciurlionis National Museum, and private collections in Lithuania and Poland.

Starting from 1935, Dremas actively contributed to periodicals. He published over 150 articles on art history and architecture of the late 18th and 19th centuries, as well as methodologies for assessing cultural heritage, in Lithuanian, Polish, Belarusian, and Russian publications. He authored monographs on the architecture of Vilnius and individual architectural monuments, as well as biographical entries for the "Dictionary of Polish Artists" ("Slownik artystow polskich," 6 vols., 1971-1998). He published thirteen books with materials about Vilnius buildings collected from various archives, titled "Vilniaus namai archyvu fonduose" (Vilnius Houses in Archive Funds).