Leonardas Sauka, ŠEPETYS REPETYS, 1965
He took upon one of the classic tasks – depicting the world’s cosmic structure. As he put it himself, he confronted the world and witnessed it. Even when he was drawing for kids, the author gave them fundamental meanings using systemic illustrations. His work can be recognised for its capacity and pretty unique modernity that combines folk art forms with an abstract flow.
He graduated from the Faculty of Graphic Arts at Vilnius Art Academy in 1950, and from then on an artist Birutė Žilytė was his partner in life and creation until the very end of his life. Together, they created a 50-meter long fresco at the “Pušelė” [Little Pine Tree] sanatorium – it was one of the most original architectural works of the 1970s, included into the list of protected art monuments. Steponavičius illustrated books by Kazys Boruta, Vincas Krėvė, Kostas Kubilinskas, and the illustrations for the latter’s book “Varlė karalienė” [Queen Frog] were awarded the gold medal in an international book exhibition in Leipzig. Whereas the illustrations for Cvirka’s book “Nemuno šalies pasakos” [the Tales of Nemunas country] needed almost ten years to complete, and the author received a national prize for it in 1990.
