Title

Salkauskas, Henry.

Author

Butler, Roger.

Source

[Not applicable]

Publication date

2000

Type

Biography

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

Henry Salkauskas

Henry Salkauskas was born in Lithuania in 1925. During the German occupation of Lithuania, he studied graphic art at the Meister Schule fur Kunst in Danzig, however he did not complete his studies there as he and his mother were forced to flee Lithuania in 1944, with the threat of Russian occupation. His father had been arrested four years earlier during an attempt by the Russian army to remove Lithuanian patriotism. Salkauskas and his mother settled in Freiburg, Germany, where he studied at the Freiburg University and L'Ecole des Arts et Métiers in Paris from 1946 to 1949, focusing on linocuts and woodblock prints. Salkauskas and his mother migrated to Australia in 1949. They were transferred from the migrant centre at Bonegilla, Victoria, to Canberra, where he worked for a period in a stone quarry. He became involved in the local art community, becoming a member of the Artistic Society of Canberra during that year. His work from these years is characterised by a questioning of his new life in Australia.

In 1951 Salkauskas moved to Sydney where he became an active member of the art community, endeavouring to lift the standing and profile of printmaking in Australia, encouraging participation n international exhibitions and helping to establish the Sydney Printmakers group in 1960. His own work generated much interest. He used a vigorous cutting technique in his linocuts, and his screenprints and watercolours were energetic and gestural. His images revolved around the landscape often incorporating elements from his Lithuanian heritage. Salkauskas died in 1979.

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