MARIJA ŠVAŽIENĖ

Marija Švažienė (Kondrackytė) was born in 1930, August 14, Kaunas. Having started her art studies at the Kaunas Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts, she finished them in Vilnius in 1955. After her studies, M. Švažienė worked for five years at Kaunas “Dailės”(“Art”) combinate, and from 1960 became a freelance artist and actively participated in the art life. Since the beginning of the 1960s, her tapestry works have traveled a lot in Lithuania and abroad in joint exhibitions. She held personal exhibitions: in Vilnius (1970, 1974, 2000, 2005), Panevėžys (1974), Kozenza (Italy, 1978), Klaipėda (2000 – 2019). In 1980 M. Švažienė’s work was awarded the Lithuanian state prize, she received the title of meritorious artist.

More than ten years ago, M. Švažienė started painting. She calls her oil on paper creations mood paintings or journaling. Trees, leaves, bouquets of flowers, peculiar still lifes are painted in restless colorful strokes, night landscapes are bathed in mysterious moonlight. Real motifs are recreated, unusually juxtaposed. The strange lighting adds mystery to the pictures. – Nijolė Žilinskienė