Title

RATAS, Vaclovas

Author

Butler, Roger.

Source

[Not applicable]

Publication date

2001

Type

Biography

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

 

Vaclovas Ratas

Vaclovas Ratas was born in Lithuania in 1 910. He attended the School of Art in Kaunus, Lithuania and after graduating in 1935, travelled to Italy to continue study His work was exhibited in several international exhibitions in Europe and the USA. His work for the International Exhibition in Paris earned him a Diploma of Honour in 1937. Ratas returned to Lithuania in 1938 where he spent seven years as an art conservator in Kaunus before taking up a position as Principal of a School of Art in Augsburg, Germany in 1945. He remained there until 1949 when he came to Perth as a ‘displaced person’. During his Perth years Ratas’ abiding interests were the Australian landscape, the native flora and fauna and Aboriginal art. In 1954 he moved to Sydney where he lived until his death in 1973.

Ratas, whose work is recognised internationally, is principally remembered as a graphic artist with strong traditional techniques who embraced experimentation with new materials and methods. He highly valued mythology and legend and was attracted to these qualities in Aboriginal art, experimenting with Aboriginal themes and using many Aboriginal symbols in his early work in Australia. He favoured linear compositions that were detailed and deliberate and yet had a spontaneity, elegance and simplicity.

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