Vytautas O. Virkau

Vytautas has left us; the acorns he has planted remain ever green

The Lithuanian community in Chicago, as well as his compatriots in Lithuania knew him as a unique and individualistic painter, with art exhibits across the USA and Europe, and also through his love of botany. During his lifetime, he planted many trees. One of his most prominent projects, begun more than thirty years ago, has been the planting of acorns from Stelmužės ąžuolas. At 1500-2000 years old, the Stelmužė oak is the oldest oak tree in Lithuania, and one of the oldest in Europe. Seedlings from this grand oak have now grown into trees in Chicago and the surrounding vicinity, near Lithuanian centers, including the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, and in Lemont and Marquette Park.

Vytautas has on many occasions remarked that, had he remained in Lithuania, he would have become a biologist. However, having found himself far from his birthplace, he chose a different path: art studies.

At the close of World War II, V. Virkau and his parents fled Lithuania and for a while lived in Munich, where he finished high school in 1949. After a few years, the Virkau family emigrated to the USA. Vytautas studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1955 and a Master of Fine Arts in 1956, specializing in painting and graphics.

Vytautas taught art at the YMCA of Metro Chicago from 1954 to 1964, and from 1961 to 1985 was a professor of art at George Williams College. From 1986 through 1995, he was a professor and the chair of the art school at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. He refined his talents at the Lorado Taft Midway Studios during 1966-1969. From 1970 onwards, he was the arts editor and graphic designer for the Lithuanian quarterly journal Metmenys.

Vytautas O. Virkau was a prolific designer of bookplates, creating more than 400 ex-libris. The first of these was created in 1970, on the occasion of a large donation of books from the Lithuanian-American community to the University of Vilnius on the occasion of it's 400 anniversary. He has designed and illustrated more than 50 books. He exhibited in many international ex-libris exhibitions, including the 7th thru 10th International Biennial Exhibition of Modern Ex-Libris in Poland, and the 15th through 17th International Ex-libris Congress. He has mounted solo exhibitions in Chicago, Los Angeles, Trenton, and Ottawa, and in Lithuania, in Pakroujis, Šiauliai, Kaunas, Biržai, Radviliškis and Panevėžys. He has been awarded medals at the 7th, 8th and 10th International Biennial Exhibition, among many other prizes and awards.

In these last years, V. Virkau was no longer painting, but remained very busy. He was translating all of the letters and correspondence of the famous Lithuanian literary scientist and essayist Algirdas Greimas, in preparation for a forthcoming book about Greimas organized by Thomas Broden.

Santara-Šviesa

Links

• Ode to Walden Pond - The Art of Vytautas O. Virkau LITUANUS LITHUANIAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Volume 54, No 1 - Spring 2008 (mirror)
• THE ART OF VYTAUTAS O. VIRKAU LITUANUS LITHUANIAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Volume 10, No.3-4 - Fall and Winter 1964
• Vytautas Osvaldas Virkau Ex Libris Stasys Pilka (We Are Such Stuff as Dreams Are) 1975
• LITHUANIAN BOOKPLATES LITUANUS LITHUANIAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Volume 26, No. 4 - Winter 1980
• Vytautas O. Virkau Frederikshavn Kunstmuseum & Exlibrissamling.
• Collection of Bookplates by Vytautas O. Virkau Yale University Library Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library Special Collections
• Vytautas O. Virkau Ex libris Numismaticis and page two.
• Vytautas O. Virkau (USA) Exlibris Artshop
• Virkau Osvaldas Vytautas Radviliškio rajono viešoji biblioteka.
• Chicago Review Spring 1957 Issue 11:01 Contributor — Vytautas O. Virkau,Thomas Mann, Richard Tyler, Philip Roth, Donald Hall, John Logan, Leonard Nathan, Isabella Gardner, Victor Contoski, Robert S. Sward, Peter Miller, George Lee, June Leef, Walter Toman, Frank London Brown, Jay Pell, Cosmo Campoli, Malcolm De Chazal, Irving Rosenthal, Elder Olson, Richard Tyler, Robert Baker, D.R. Anderson, Barbara Graymont, Garry Fullerton
• Vytautas Virkau Papers, approximately 1966-approximately 2003 Consists mainly of correspondence, exhibition materials, ex libris examples, and periodicals relating to bookplates. The Newberry Chicago Independent Research Library. Modern Wing MS Virkau
• Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Vytautas Virkau Papers. This is an alternate record of the material held at Newberry Library. Recorded as: Unprocessed. 2 boxes of material consisting of correspondence, 1970s-1995; material relating to exhibitions, 1966-2003; clippings; and material relating to Virkau’s work as a bookplate designer.
• Gintautas Vezys Bookplate Collection Collection of over 4,700 bookplates, primarily by Lithuanian artists.
• Yale University Arts Library - Collection of Bookplates by Vytautas O. Virkau The collection contains 121 bookplate specimens designed by Vytautas O. Virkau, including ex-libris for both individual and institutional patrons.
• Vytautas O. Virkau. 19 litografiske exlibris. – Buch gebraucht kaufen See also: Vytautas O. Virkau 19 litografiske exlibris by V. E. Vengris. See also: Amazon.com listing.
• book by Astride Ivaska, illustrated by Vytautas O. Virkau.
• Bookplates (Ex Libris), Bay Leaf Books, ABAA, eList 22 - January 2018 (mirror) Pages 18, 19 and 20 are all bookplates from V.O.Virkau.
• PAINTING AND GRAPHIC ART EXHIBITION OF LITHUANIAN EMIGRANTS FROM V.ŽUKAS PERSONAL COLLECTION
• Vitauts O. Virkaus (Vvtautas O. Virkau), dz. 1930. g. illustrācijas Jona Meka dzejoļu krājumam Ziedu valoda.
• Dar vienas žvilgsnis į lietuvius grafikus Šiauliai plius
• Card catalog Kortelių vaizdų katalogas ir kartotekos - Lietuvos Nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo Biblioteka

Vytautas O. Virkau Memorial Archive

Portrait Photographs

• Photographs of V.O. Virkau, mostly, and a few of his wife Irena Virkau, and one of his farmhouse in Wausaukee, Wisconsin. The photos span all decades, from a high-school graduation photo, to photos as a student at the Art Institute; photos in Wisconsin, and teaching in George Williams College.

Paintings and Artwork

• Photographs of his paintings, found in his home, at the time of his death. These were quickly photographed, and are of low-quality. However, they were shot with and without flash, and given such image pairs, it should be possible to reconstruct reasonable quality images. I hope. Includes photos of verso.
• Artist's photo proofs (full size). Photos of fourteen paintings, taken by Vytas himself in Sept 2007. Most of these later appeared in the 2008 issue of Lituanus (see below).
• Copy of images from Lituanus-2008. These are just copies of images of his paintings that previously appeared in the 2008 issue of Lituanus. These are low-resolution but possibly color-adjusted(?). See the original raw images above.
• Stage Set designs. Theatrical stage set (opera, play) designs from the 1950's and early 1960's, including photos and several programs.
• Etchings. Misc unsorted etchings, (unsigned proofs and duplicates) from the 1950's.
• Small watercolors and ink designs and sketches. Mostly 1950-1951. Also a literary mailing. Unsorted.
• Large paintings (on canvas), in the M.K. Čiurlionis Museum collection. These are the artworks that the museum currently holds; these are mostly his earlier works, from the 1950's and early 1960's, before his botanical style came to full flower. (These are low-resolution photos. The colors look OK, but the resolution is never more than 2K x 2K. Some appear to be out-of-focus.)
• Works on paper, in the M.K. Čiurlionis Museum collection. These include paintings, watercolors, drawings, rough drafts and several book illustrations in the museum collection. (These are low-resolution photos. The colors look OK, but the resolution is never more than 2K x 2K. Some appear to be out-of-focus.)
• Small drawings, 1956-1964. High resolution scans (tiff files). No index created yet. Currently in Chicago, awaiting disposition.
• Catalog of the contents of the scans directory. This includes published biographies, newspaper press clippings, covers of opera programs, and the small drawings mentioned above.

Diary

• Vytautas O. Virkau, diary, 1944-1952. In Lithuanian.
• (The first 5-10 pages have been translated to English, will post "real soon now".)

Genealogy

• Extensive collection of genealogical research. Twenty six documents examining the genealogy of nine families, extending back almost 500 years. This includes the following families: Armalis, Burnevičius (Burnevicius, Burniewicz), Gielgud, Jasinksis, Oertelis (von Oertel), Landsburg, Romer, Šemeta (Semeta, Szemioth), Sirjatavičius (Sirjatavicius, Syriatowicz). Includes memoirs for the 19th century von Oertel family, the parition of the Šemeta estate by Salomeja Šemetiene Landsbergiene, and memoirs of Vanda Virkau-Sirjatavičiute (my grandmother). Assorted notes about various family Coat of Arms.

Library

• The library of Irena and Vytas Virkau. Well, mostly Irena's books. Irena loved poetry. Irena loved books.