THE LITHUANIAN LOST ART DATABASE
THE LITHUANIAN LOST ART DATABASE
ARTIST DIRECTORY
WORK IN PROGRESS
For a comprehensive list of pre-Second World War Lithuanian Jewish photographers, see The Invisible Magicians.
A
PINCHAS ABRAMOVIČIUS
Abramovich
Born in Mažeikiai in 1909. Studied at the Kaunas Art School in about 1925. Emigrated to Palestine in 1929. Briefly returned to Lithuania to marry Dina Žurevaitė from Biržai on August 28, 1935. Served in the British Army during the Second World War. Passed away in Tel Aviv in 1986.
MOISEY ADELSKI
Adelsky
Sculptor. Born in Vilna/Vilnius on March 2, 1902. Active in 1921.
MOZĖ AIZINAS
Moses Aizin
⛤
Painter. Originally from Utena. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1925 and 1931. Records suggest that he was murdered along with his wife and child in the Kovno Ghetto.
MARK ANTOKOLSKY
Oustanding sculptor, 1840-1902. Born in Vilna. Studied in Russia. Lived and worked in Berlin and Paris. Mr. Antokolsky's Wikipedia page is here.
🟨 NEEMIJA ARBITBLATAS
Painter and sculptor, 1908-1999. Born in Kovno/Kaunas. Passed away in New York. Exhibited and sold work in Lithuania during the interwar period.
🟨 CLARA ARNHEIM
⛤
German Jewish artist. Born in Berlin in 1865. Murdered at the Theresienstadt Ghetto in 1942. The provenance of 13 of the artist's paintings that feature among the collection at the Mykolas Žilinskas Art Gallery in Kaunas is currently under investigation.
DAVID ARONSON
1923-2015. Born in Šiluva. Emigrated to the United States on an unknown date. Associated with the Boston Expressionism movement, Mr. Aronson's Wikipedia page is here.
B
SAMUEL BAK
Born in Vilna/Wilno/Vilnius in 1933. Survived the Vilna Ghetto, a subject that became a major theme of his work. Left Soviet Lithuania thanks to his prewar Polish citizenship. Made Aliyah in 1948. Relocated to the United States in 1993. The Samuel Bak Museum is located inside Vilnius’ Tolerance Centre, a branch of the Vilna Gaon State Museum of Jewish History in Vilnius. Examples of the artist's work can be seen here.
ZOMA BAITLER
Baitleris
Born in the Kovno/Kaunas suburb of Šančiai in 1908. Studied at the Kaunas Art School sometime during the 1920s. Emigrated to Uruguay in 1927. Served as Uruguay's cultural attaché in Israel during 1963 and 1964. Passed away in 1994.
🟥 MAX BAND
Painter, c.1901-1974. Studied in Berlin. Later lived in Paris and the United States. Commissioned to paint a portrait of President Roosevelt in 1934. Work held among the collection at the Vilna Gaon State Museum of Jewish History and, possibly, the Lithuanian National Museum of Art. Provenance unknown/unavailable to the general public. A painting by Max Band is listed on the German Lost Art Database as having been stolen from the German Jewish timber merchant Curt Schueler, who managed to survive the war by escaping to Switzerland with his wife, Hilda, in 1942 with the help of the artist, Franz Heckendorf.
RUDOLF BARANIK
Ruvin
Born Ruvin Baranik on September 10,1920 in the city of Kremenchuk in what’s now Ukraine, nothing is currently known about the early life of the artist who became Rudolf Baranik beyond the fact that he grew up in Anykščiai, and that he left Lithuania on November 2, 1938, destined for a new life in the United States. After serving in the U. S. Army during the Second World War and studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, Baranik and his wife, the artist May Stevens, spent some time living in Paris, where among other things he studied under the legendary French artist, Fernand Léger. Returning in 1951, the Baraniks lived in New York until 1997, when they both moved to New Mexico, where Rudolf Baranik passed away the following year. One of the first artists to openly demonstrate against the war in Vietnam, since his death his distinctly abstract and political work has become increasingly regarded as being some of the most important work of its time and place.
🟥 ZALĖ BEKERIS
⛤
Painter, 1896-c.1941. Born in the tiny settlement of Leckava. Studied in Moscow, as well as at the Kaunas Art School between 1925 and 1930. Depicted everyday Jewish life, especially the lives of the poor. Murdered at the Ninth Fort on an unknown date. Work held among the collections at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art (from where at least one of his paintings was looted by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg), the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art and the Vilna Gaon State Museum of Jewish History. Provenance unknown/unavailable to the general public. The artist's work on LIMIS is here.
JUOZAS LEVINSONAS BENARI
Benaris
Artist, theatre director, costume designer, 1890–1976. Work held among the collections at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas and the Aušros Museum in Šiauliai. Provenance unknown/unavailable to the general public. The artist's work on LIMIS is here.
EVA BERKOVIČAITĖ
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1923 and 1925.
MEJERIS BERKOVIČIUS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1922 and 1923.
JOKŪBAS BERLINAS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1932 and 1933.
BORUCHAS BIALOLOCKIS
Believed to have studied at the Kaunas Institute of Applied Arts, the name of the Kaunas Art School during the first Soviet occupation.
SARA BINŪNAITĖ
Born in Panevėžys in 1922. Originally studied medicine before studying industrial design at the Kaunas Institute of Applied Arts, the name of the Kaunas Art School during the first Soviet occupation. Last recorded as living at Prieplaukos kr. 1 in Kaunas on January 12, 1941.
ARBIT BLATAS
1908-1999. The artist's work on LIMIS is here.
ISAKAS BLIUMBERGAS
Believed to have studied at the Kaunas Institute of Applied Arts, the name of the Kaunas Art School during the first Soviet occupation.
ABRAHAM BLOCH
Blokh
Sculptor. Born in Lipnishki in today's Belarus in 1866. Active in Wilno/Vilnius in 1921.
YULI BLUMBER
Feiga Blumberg-Kopman, Feyga Bliumbergaitė
Artist and Expressionist painter. Born in Kovno/Kaunas in 1894. Passed away in New York in 1964. A copy of Yuli's/Feiga's Lithuanian internal passport is here.
YAKOV BORUCHOVAS
Borukhov
Born in 1913. Recorded as having been a painter and stage designer when he was evacuated from Kaunas to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic ahead of the German invasion in June 1941.
C
🟥 MARC CHAGALL
Looted all over Europe. A currently unidentified painting by the Vitebsk-born artist Marc Chagall is recorded as having been looted from YIVOin about 1942.
LEJBA CHAJETAS
Chajet
Born in 1920. Recorded as having been a prisoner in the Vilna Ghetto on May 27, 1942.
IZAOKAS CHVEIDONAS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1924 and 1928.
BENCION CUKIERMAN
Ben Zion Zuckerman
Painter and engraver. Born in Vilna/Vilnius, 1890-1944. Studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The artist's Wikipedia page (in Polish) is here.
RAFAEL CHWOLES
Raphael, Raphaël, Rafaelis Chvòlesas
Born in Vilna/Wilno/Vilnius in 1913. Survived the war in Soviet Russia. Emigrated to Poland in 1959. Passed away in Paris in 2002. Miscellaneous examples of his work can be seen on LIMIS here.
D
LIZA DAICHES
⛤
Puppet theatre artist. Born in 1914. Also created book covers, illustrations and other works, including several pieces for the Yiddish poet and member of the Paper Brigade, Shmerke Kaczerginski. Continued working in the Vilna Ghetto, from where she was deported first to Estonia during its liquidation in September 1943, and then to Germany where she was murdered in 1944.
YANKEL DUKSZTULSKI
Duksztulsky, Yakov
⛤
Born in Vilna/Vilnius on June 4, 1899. Active in 1925. Mr. Duksztulski, who may have also worked as an actor, was deported from the Vilna Ghetto in 1943, and was subsequently murdered at an unrecorded concentration camp in Estonia.
E
ŠEINA EFRONAITĖ
Graphic artist, 1909-1983. Work held among the collections at the Vilna Gaon State Museum of Jewish History and the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.
MOWSZA ELKES
Sculptor. Born in Vilna/Vilnius in 1881. Active in 1927.
CILĖ EPŠTEINAITĖ
Tsile Epshtein
⛤
Born in Aukštadvaris in about 1903. The first Jewish woman to graduate from the Kaunas Art School (in 1923). Taught drawing during the interwar period. Murdered in the Kovno Ghetto.
ŽYDAITĖ ETINGAITĖ
Mentioned on the Biržai Regional Museum website, complete with an example of her work, which is presumably owned by the institution. No other records appear to exist. The word Žydaitė is used colloquially to describe a Jewish girl or woman, and isn't a first name.
F
🟥 CHAIM MEYER FAINSTEIN
Chaimas Mejeris Fainšteinas
⛤
1911-1942. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1927 and 1933. Work held among the collections at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art (from where it was was also looted by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg), the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art and the Vilna Gaon State Museum of Jewish History. Provenance unknown/unavailable to the general public. The artist's work on LIMIS is here.
ŠIELIS FAKTOROVSKIS
Born in Kalvarija in about 1911. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1929 and 1934.
🟥 MAX FARBMANN
Sculptor, 1886-1950. Lived in Vienna before emigrating to Palestine in 1933. It's noted in at least one source that several examples of his work disappeared during the Holocaust.
SHOLOM FEIGENZON
Šolomas Feigenzonas, Šlioma
⛤
Born in Panevėžys in 1881. Taught drawing at the city's Javnė Jewish high school. Murdered in 1941. Copies of several of his drawings are held among the collection at the Vilna Gaon State Museum of Jewish History in Vilnius. The originals are believed to be in the possession of a family member.
EUGENIJA FRYDMANAITĖ
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1939 and 1940.
G
IDA GALANTAITĖ
Born in Kovno/Kaunas in 1906. Studied at the Kaunas Art School. between 1929 and 1936 (also written 1934 in some sources). Survived the Kovno Ghetto. Passed away in 1973. The artist's work on LIMIS is here.
MAX LIEBA GINSBURG
Maksas Leiba Ginsburgas, Motelis
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1925 and 1929.
ILJA GINTSBERG
Elias Ginzberg, Ginsberg
Sculptor, 1859-1939. Born in Grodno. Lived and worked in Vilna. Knew, and made work depicting, Tchaikovsky.
ERVINAS GIRŠAS
Born in Białystok on April 4, 1899. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1923 and 1932. Last recorded as living at Gedimino g. 8 in Kaunas on January 12, 1941. A copy of Mr. Giršas' internal passport can be seen here.
CHAIMAS GLAZAS
Believed to have studied at the Kaunas Institute of Applied Arts, the name of the Kaunas Art School during the first Soviet occupation.
RUVIN GOLDBERG
Born in about 1878. Is known to have worked as an artist at the Modern photography studio in Kaunas, where he produced the intricate backgrounds for their amazing multiple portraits. Lived at Ožeškienės g. 19 (today’s Ožeškienės g. 27). Several surviving examples of Mr. Goldberg's work can be seen here. The artist generally signed hs work R. Goldberg.
🟨 N. GOLDBERGAITĖ
Two drawings by this otherwise unknown woman are held among the collection at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius.
RAKHMIEL GOLDIN
Born in Vilna/Vilnius in 1888. Active in 1922.
ABRAHAM GOLUBCZYK
Golubchik
Born in Brest in today’s Belarus in 1887. Registered as living in Wilno/Vilnius with his actress wife, Sima, and the couple’s daughter, Khana, in 1923. Mr. Golubczyk and his family planned to emigrate to Argentina.
SARAH GORCHEIN
Sara Goršenaitė
Born in Švenčionys in about 1897. Known to have been working as a nurse at the Jewish hospital in Panevėžys in 1920. Studied at the Kaunas Art School. Research suggests that Ms. Gorchein was the sister of the photographer and artist Isaak Goršeinas (↓). A painting that may have been produced by the artist is featured among the collection at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas.
MOSES GORFINKEL
Born in Vilna/Vilnius on April 13, 1901. Active in 1922.
MAŠA GRINBERGAITĖ
Segal
Born in Rietavas on January 16, 1922. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1939 and 1940. Survived the Šiauliai Ghetto. Recorded as having entered Stutthof on July 25, 1944, and appears to have still been alive (as Masha Segal) in Israel in 1979.
MAKSAS GRINBERGAS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School in 1929.
MEJERIS GRINBERGAS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1921 and 1923.
LEIBA GRIUŠTEINAS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1923 and 1929.
DEBORA GRIZAITĖ-ŠAUSIENĖ
Deborah, Dvora
Surviving records suggest that the artist was born in Rokiškis in 1915, and that she studied at the Kaunas Institute of Applied Arts, the name of the Kaunas Art School during the first Soviet occupation. She also appears in a document that states she was evacuated to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic ahead of the German invasion in June 1941.
🟨 ADASA GUREVIČ-GRODZKA
Hadasa Gurevičiūtė
⛤
Painter and graphic artist from Vilna/Vilnius. Born in 1911. Murdered at Ponar/Paneriai in 1943. One of her paintings can be found among the collection at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas. Two more appear to be held among the collection at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius. A selection of the artist's work on LIMIS can be seen here.
JOSÉ GURVICH
Painter, ceramic artist, musician. Born Zusmanas Gurvičius in Jieznas in 1927. Emigrated to Uruguay with the rest of his family at the age of five. Passed away in 1974. A museum celebrating his life and work is located in Montevideo.
GIRŠAS GURVIČIUS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1931 and 1932.
ANA GURVIČIŪTĖ
Ona
⛤
Born in 1921. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1939 and 1940. Murdered in 1944. Work held among the collection at the Vilna Gaon State Museum of Jewish History in Vilnius. A copy of Ana's internal passport can be seen here. The artist's work on LIMIS is here.
MAUSHA GURWICZ
Gurvich
Born in Šiauliai in 1892. It's currently not entirely clear whether Mr. Gurwicz was an artist or an 'artiste'. Whatever he was, he was definitely in Wilno/Vilnius on October 15, 1926.
I
TEVEL INDICHAS
Indikh
Born in about 1862. Rakhil Indichienė's (↓) husband. Recorded as being an artist in Pakruojis in 1920.
RAKHIL INDICHIENĖ
Indikh
Born in about 1872. Tevel Indichas's (↑) wife. Recorded as being an artist in Pakruojis in 1920.
J
JOŠUA JAŠPANAS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1923 and 1925.
ABRAOMAS JASVONIS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School in 1928.
ISAKAS JOFĖ
Izaokas Joffė
Brother of Rachilė Jofė-Kacienė (↓). Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1924 and 1928.
RACHILĖ JOFĖ-KACIENĖ
Born in Dvinsk/Daugavpils on October 13, 1914. Sister of Isakas Jofė (↑). Studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture & Architecture. A copy of Rachilė 's internal passport is here.
BEREL JOFFE
Yoffe, Ioffe
Born in Moscow in 1920. Recorded as having been a 'portratist' in Kaunas in 1938.
AKIM JOSIM
Akimas Josimas
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1922 and 1928.
CILĖ JURKAITĖ
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1925 and 1926.
K
DAVID KAGAN
Dovydas Kaganas, Alter
Painter. A contemporary of Max Band (↑). Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1922 and 1923. Known to have held a solo exhibition in Berlin in 1924.
🟨 LEIZERIS KAGANAS
Lazar Kagan
⛤
Portraitist/caricaturist. Born in Seda in 1910. Vanished after moving to Denmark in about 1939. Studied at (and dropped out of) the Kaunas Art School between 1928 and 1929. May have been murdered along with his wife (Doris?) in Riga. Four of his original drawings are held among the collection at the Alka Museum of Samogitian History in Telšiai. Other drawings by the artist are held among the collections at the Maironis Museum of Lithuanian Literature and the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art. Provenance unknown/unavailable to the general public. A copy of the artist's internal passport can be seen here. The artist's work on LIMIS is here.
NOTEL KAMIN
Sculptor. Born in Vilna/Vilnius in 1895. Active in 1921.
BENJAMIN KAN
Kanas
Born in Skuodas on December 2, 1912. Recorded as having been a painter and sculptor in Šiauliai in 1936.
🟨 ANN KAPLAN
Kaplanienė, Rejzer, Reizer
A painting by Ann Kaplan née Reizer, who was born in Vilna/Vilnius in 1906 and who's known to have been active in the city in 1928, is held among the collection at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius (LNDM G 2326).
🟥 ELIJAS KAPLANAS
Kicelis. Kivelis
⛤
Painter, 1912-1941? Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1931 and 1938. Work held among the collection at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art (from where it was also looted by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg). Provenance unknown/unavailable to the general public. An example of the artist's work on LIMIS is here.
MAUSHA KAPLANAS
Kaplan
Born in what's now Belarus in about 1866. Recorded as living and working as an artist in Merkinė in 1921.
DOVYDAS KAPULSKIS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1939 and 1940.
JOKŪBAS KAZLAUSKAS
Jacob, Jacques Koslowsky
Painter. Born in Pakuonis in 1904. Passed away in Spain in 1993. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1920 and 1924.
LIBA KENSKAITĖ-ŠALTUPERIENĖ
Born in Kovno/Kaunas in 1901. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1926 and 1932. A photograph featuring Liba (seated third from the right with the dark wavy hair) with a group of artists and fellow art students is here. A copy of Liba's internal passport is here.
MEYER MIRON KODKINE
Kodkin
⛤
Born in Vilna/Vilnius in 1887. Murdered in France in 1940. The fates of the artist's wife, Bertha, a singer, and the couple's son, Alexander, remain unknown.
MIKHEL KOPELOWICZ
Kopelovich
Sculptor. Born in Vilna/Vilnius on April 13, 1908. Active in 1929. Believed to have emigrated to the United States at around the same time.
🟨 NATAN KORZEŃ
⛤
Painter, 1895-1941. Originally from Płock. Studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Fled to Wilno/Vilnius in September 1939. Murdered at Ponar/Paneriai.
GDALIJA KREINGELIS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1928 and 1934.
ABEL KRESIN
Sculptor. Born in Vilna/Vilnius in 1886. Active in 1924.
LAZAR KRESTIN
Painter. Born in Kovno/Kaunas in 1868. Passed away in Vienna in 1938.
🟨 RACHILĖ KRUKAITĖ
Born in Liepāja in Latvia on October 11, 1925. Grew up in Klaipėda. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1939 and 1940. Imprisoned in a currently unknown ghetto during the Second World War, from where it’s written she escaped. Made Aliyah from the Soviet Union in 1972. Later lived in London, and passed away in Berlin, where her family originally came from, in 1999. Several of her works are believed to be held among the collection at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.
ISSAI KULVIANSKI
Isaja Kulvianskis
Born in Jonava in 1892. Passed away in London in 1970.
IZAOKAS KUPERIS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1921 and 1923.
L
PINKHUS LAKS
Sculptor. Born in Lubartów, Poland, on July 20, 1896. Active in Wilno/Vilnius in 1931.
HIRSH LEIBOVICH
Hiršas Leibovičius
Self-taught graphic artist and engraver, c.1700-c.1770.
DOVYDAS LEIBZONAS
Graphic artist. Born in Kaunas in 1936. Survived the Kovno Ghetto. Too young to have had his work looted during the war.
RAFAILAS LEVINAS
Rafal Lewin
Nothing currently known. A single painting of the Vilna Shulhoyf that's credited with having been painted by him is recorded on LIMIS as having been produced in about 1925. The painting is listed as being part of the collection at the Lithuanian National Museum (inventory number LNM T 57).
ISAAC LEVITAN
1860-1900. Landscape painter. Born in Kybartai. His Wikipedia page is here.
ABRAHAM LEWIN
Levin
Born in Vilna in 1898. Active in 1926.
JACQUES LIPCHITZ
Chaim Jacob Lipchitz, Žakas Lipšicas
Renowned Cubist sculptor. Born in Druskininkai in 1891. Passed away in Italy in 1973.
JAKOVAS LIPŠICAS
⛤
Born 1903. Murdered at Dachau in 1945. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1923 and 1929. Some of his work was buried in the Kovno Ghetto, and was later dug up by his wife. Has a stolperstein in Kaunas.
🟥 ESTHER LURIE
Estera Lurjė, Ester Lurje
Born in Riga in 1913. Attended classes at the Kaunas Art School between 1939 and 1940. Survived the Kovno Ghetto. Passed away in Israel in 1998. Records show that her work was looted from the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg in 1941. In a series of letters she wrote to the British High Commissioner in Palestine immediately after the war, she also mentions a collection of 200 pen-and-ink drawings that she made during the time that she was a prisoner in the Kovno Ghetto, and that she subsequently buried shortly before its liquidation in July 1944. In the last known letter (details to follow), she writes, 'I have recently been informed that the collection of my drawings has been found and is now in the hands of a Mr. Ephraim Gutman (a Jew) of Visiuskio g-ve 66, Kaunas, Lithuania (Soviet Union).' What Mr. Gutman did with the pictures remains another mystery. Other examples of her work are held among the collections of several Lithuanian museums, although it's currently not always clear which of them were created before 1941, and which are copies that she reproduced after the war. See also The Invisible Magicians.
🟨 GITEL LURIE
Lurjytė, Lurye
⛤
Esther Lurie's (↑) cousin, Gitel, who was born in Biržai in 1909, and who was murdered on an unknown date at the Ninth Fort, was also an artist. Not much is currently known about her, despite the fact that she was among the participants at the first exhibition of Lithuanian women‘s art in Kaunas in 1937.
M
MOSHE MAIMON
Painter, 1860-1924. Born in Vilkaviškis. Passed away in St. Petersburg, or Leningrad as it was known at the time. His work was mostly concerned with biblical/Jewish themes. An early giant.
EMMANUEL MANÉ-KATZ
Emanuelis Mane–Kacas
Painter, 1894-1962. Work taken to the ill-fated Jewish museum in 1944.
LEIBA MARAMAS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School in 1925.
CHAIMAS LEVAS MERGOŠILSKIS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1933 and 1939. Work taken to Vilnius' ill-fated Jewish museum in 1944.
BORUCH MICHELSON
Borucas Michelsonas
A surviving Biržai Jewish community document from 1904 records the fact that the acclaimed Biržai photographer Boruch Michelson (c.1871-1939) was also a painter. Further research points to a very strong possibility that Mr. Michelson graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts as a young man.
BENCION MICHTOM
⛤
Born in 1909. Murdered at Ponar/Paneriai in June 1941. Work held among the collections at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art and the Vilna Gaon State Museum of Jewish History. Provenance mostly unknown/unavailable to the general public. Litvak World/Dr. Aistė Niūnkaitė Račiūnienė writes in a 2018 overview of Jewish artefacts that are held in the archives at the Vilna Gaon State Museum of Jewish History in Vilnius, [a] 'sketch of the Great Synagogue’s schulhof [sic] created by Michtom, survived the war together with a large number of his drawings and watercolors that were hidden in the [Vilna] ghetto.' An example of the artist's work on LIMIS is here.
IZAOKAS MIRBACHAS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1937 and 1940.
🟨 JACQUES MISSENE
Jokūbas Mesenbliumas, Yokub Mezennlium
Born in Vilna/Vilnius in 1894. Married the artist Mariam Karnovski (born 1903) in Kaunas on June 1, 1925. Moved to Paris at around the same time. One painting is known to be held among the collection at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas. Provenance unknown/unavailable to the general public. Returned to Lithuania in 1932. Passed away the following year.
O
🟨 UMA OLKIENICKI
Fania Olkienicka-Lerer
⛤
Born in 1899. Painter, grahic artist, theatre designer and member of the Paper Brigade. Studied in Germany, probably in Munich. Head of both the YIVO museum and its theatre archive. Among the artist's many achievements, Uma designed the original YIVO logo in about 1929. Imprisoned in the Vilna Ghetto. Murdered at Majdanek in 1943 or 1944. The wife of YIVO staff member Moyshe Lerer.
P
MAKSAS PALMANAS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1928 and 1929.
ZVI AVRAHAM PALUKST
⛤
Painter. Born and murdered in Rietavas.
DEBORAH PAPP
Debora
⛤
Born Deborah Szwarc/Schwartz in Vilna/Vilnius on September 7, 1900. Married Dr. Leon Papp in Wilno/Vilnius on December 18, 1923. Although she was known to have been active as an artist in 1928, the May 27, 1942 Vilna Ghetto census records Deborah as living at the Kalis forced labour camp in Vilnius, where she was working as a nurse and living with her nine-year-old daughter, Ariana. All of the Jewish prisoners living at the camp are believed to have been murdered at Ponar/Paneriai on July 3, 1944, 10 days before the city was liberated by the Red Army.
YUDEL PEN
Yehuda Pen, Yuri Pen, Yury Moiseevich
Born in Novo-Aleksandrovsk (today’s Zarasai) in 1854, Yudel Pen’s reputation as an artist in his own right has been somewhat eclipsed by the fact that he taught a young Marc Chagall at the art school he ran in Vitebsk in about during the first decade of th 20th century, an institution whose other claim to fame is that it's believed to have been the first Jewish art school to open in the Pale of Settlement. Murdered with an axe by a suspected NKVD operative during the height of Stalin's Great Purge in 1937, most of the artist's estimated 800 completed paintings are said to have 'vanished' during the Second World War when Vitebsk was occupied by the Germans, although quite a few somehow managed to survive, and are now in the possession of museums in the city of his death and Minsk.
🟨 ČERNĖ PERCIKOVIČIŪTĖ
Cherne Percikovichiute
⛤
Painter. Born in Kovno/Kaunas in 1911 or 1912. Participated in numerous international exhibitions. Murdered in the Kovno Ghetto in about 1942. Work held among the collections at the Vilna Gaon State Museum of Jewish History and the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art. Provenance unknown/unavailable to the general public. Has a stolperstein in Kaunas at Miško g. 1. The artist's work on LIMIS is here.
ARONAS PERELIS
⛤
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1933 and 1938. Murdered in Alytus in 1941.
DEBORA PERELSONAITĖ
Perelson
Born in Kovno/Kaunas in 1897. Recorded as being an artist in Kaunas in 1921. A copy of her internal passport is here.
RIVA PORTNOJ
Born in 1903. Recorded as having been a sculptor in the Vilna Ghetto census, May 27, 1942.
DINA PORTNOVAITĖ
Partnovaitė, Partnov
Artist and pianist. Born in Kaunas in 1924. Passed away in Vilnius in 1989. Survived the war after escaping to Soviet Russia in June 1941. Work held among the collections at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, the Vilna Gaon State Museum of Jewish History and the MO Museum.
ARKADIJUS PRESAS
Ariel Presas, Pres, Arcady Press
Artist and photographer. Born in 1912. A collection of his paintings from 1923, and several of his glass plate negatives from an unknown period are held among the collection at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas where evidence suggests he worked as an official employee.
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MOSHE ROSENTHAL
Mošė Rozentãlis, Mauša
1922-2008. Born in Marijampolė. Passed away in Tel Aviv.
ISRAEL ROTBLIUM
Rotbliumas
Born in Łódź in 1894. Recorded as being an artist in Kaunas in 1938. A copy of his internal passport is here.
SAMUEL ROTHBORT
Born in Vilkaviškis in 1882. Passed away in New York in 1971. An active Bundist for a while, the self-taught artist emigrated to the United States in 1904. Mr. Rothbort’s great-granddaughter is the artist Molly Crabapple.
KHAYA PERELĖ ROZENAITĖ
Rozen
Born in Kovno/Kaunas in 1897. Recorded as being an artist in Kaunas in 1928. A copy of her internal passport is here.
LIUBA ROZENBERGAITĖ
Rozenberg
Born in Kiev/Kyiv in about 1897. Recorded as being an artist in Kaunas in 1921. A copy of her internal passport is here.
GIRŠAS ROZENKRANCAS
Hirsh Rozenkrants
Born in Kovno/Kaunas in 1903. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1923 and 1932.
NATAN RUCHOVIČIŪS
Rukhovich
Born in Lida in 1893. Recorded as being an artist in Kaunas in 1920. A copy of his internal passport is here.
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ISAKAS ŠAKOVAS
Believed to have studied at the Kaunas Institute of Applied Arts, the name of the Kaunas Art School during the first Soviet occupation.
BORIS SCHATZ
Born in Varniai in 1866. Passed away in the United States in 1932. Founder of the Bezalel movement. Mr. Shatz's Wikipedia page is here.
🟥 LASAR SEGALL
Painter, engraver and sculptor. Born in Vilna/Vilnius in 1891. Moved to Germany when he was 15, where he studied first in Berlin, and later in Dresden, where he was actively involved in the Dresdner Sezession movement along with Otto Dix, Conrad Felixmüller and others. Moved to permanently to Brazil in 1923 and became a Brazilian citizen. His work was despised by the Nazis. Almost 50 of his Paintings were removed from German museums and galleries, of which 11 were put on display at the infamous Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich in 1937. Most of his looted German work remains missing.
SAMUELIS NACHUMAS ŠEINKERIS
Shmuel Nakhman Sheynker
Born in Kovno/Kaunas in 1910. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1929 and 1938.
ABRAOMAS ŠERENZONAS
Listed in one source as coming from Panevėžys. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1925 and 1929.
🟨 JOKŪBAS ŠERAS
Jakob Sher, Jakubas
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Painter, 1890-1944. Deported from the Vilna Ghetto during its liquidation in September 1943. Murdered on an unknown date at the Vaivara concentration camp in Estonia. A stolperstein in his memory is located close to the place of his last known (voluntary) address in Vilnius at today's Pelesos g. 47. One of his paintings is held among the collection at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, from where his work was also looted by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg in 1941. Provenance mostly unknown/unavailable to the general public. Litvak World/Dr. Aistė Niūnkaitė Račiūnienė writes in a 2018 overview of Jewish artefacts that are held in the archives at the Vilna Gaon State Museum of Jewish History in Vilnius, 'He actively participated in the ghetto’s cultural life: made drawings and paintings as well as exhibited his works in exhibitions organized in the ghetto.' The artist's work on LIMIS is here.
VULF SIDELSKIS
Sidelsk
Born in 1894. Recorded as being an artist in Panevėžys in 1923.
KOPEL SIMELOVITZ
Simelovich
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Born in Šeduva in 1900. During his family’s forced exile during the First World War, the young artist lived in Vitebsk, where among other things he studied under the tutelage of Yehuda Pen. After returning to his birthplace after 1918 (the date is unclear), Mr. Simelovitz taught art in his hometown before emigrating to Palestine in 1924 and becoming a photographer. Unable to adapt to the climate, he moved again to London and became involved in the egg business. He then moved to Ghent, and became a full-time artist in about 1932. Becoming a Belgian citizen in 1939, the last few years of his life are typical of most Jews living in Europe at the time. In 1943, the artist made one last journey to Auschwitz, where he was subsequently murdered.
ABELIS ŠLIOMAVIČIUS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1924 and 1928.
ZELMONAS ŠLIOSBERGAS
Zelmanas
It's not currently clear whether Mr. Šliosbergas studied at the Kaunas Institute of Applied Arts, the name of the Kaunas Art School during the first Soviet occupation, or at the Kaunas Art School in 1929.
IZAOKAS SLUCKIS
Itsik, Slutski
Painter. Born in Vilna/Vilnius on February 1, 1904. Married and living in Kazlų Rūda in 1921. Studied at the Kaunas Art School in 1925.
GERŠONAS ŠNEIDERIS
Believed to have studied at the Kaunas Institute of Applied Arts, the name of the Kaunas Art School during the first Soviet occupation.
SIMONAS SOFERIS
Believed to have studied at the Kaunas Institute of Applied Arts, the name of the Kaunas Art School during the first Soviet occupation.
CHAÏM SOUTINE
1893–1943. Expressionist painter. Born in what's now Belarus. Studied in Vilna. Lived in Paris, where he died after unsuccessful surgery on a perforated ulcer.
ABRAM STAMLER
Sculptor. Born in about 1853. Recorded as havng been a sculptor in Kaunas, where he was living at Šiaulių g. 50, in 1923.
IUDEL STAMLER
Shtamler
Sculptor. Born in Vilna/Vilnius in about 1890. Active in Kaunas in 1920.
NACHANA STRAŽAITĖ-STRAŠŪNIENĖ
Born in Vilkaviškis in 1908. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1923 and 1925.
🟨 ALEKSANDRAS ŠTURMANAS
1869-1944. Work held among the collections at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art and the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art. Provenance unknown/unavailable to the general public.
🟥 RACHELĖ SUCKEVER
Roza, Suckever-Ušajeva, Uszajer
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Born in what's now Belarus on a disputed date sometime between 1904 an 1909. Moved to Vilna/Wilno/Vilnius in 1922. Member of the Vilna Society of Jewish Artists and Jung Vilne. Married a 33-year-old baker by the name of Kalman Uszajer in Wilno/VIlnius on February 20, 1936. Deported from the Vilna Ghetto during its liquidation, and subsequently murdered at Treblinka in 1943. The Vilna Gaon State Museum of Jewish History holds at least two paintings by the artist that are said to have been produced in the Vilna Ghetto in 1942. Her work was looted from what's now the Lithuanian National Museum of Art by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg. Provenance unknown/unavailable to the general public. The artist's work on LIMIS is here.
KHONON ŠULMANAS
Shulman
Born in Vilna in 1891. Recorded as being an artist in Kaunas in 1927. Boris Šulmanas' (↓) father.
BORIS ŠULMANAS
Shulman
Born in Vilna in 1919. Khonon Šulmanas' (↑) son. Recorded as being an artist in Kaunas in 1937.
ARTHUR SZIK
Szyk
Caricaturist, 1894-1951. Said to have had his work rescued by Abraham Sutzkever.
T
NISSON TREGIER
Treger
Sculptor. Born in Vilna/Vilnius in about 1904. Active in 1921.
MOSES TSESLER
Moisey Leyba, Cesleris
Born in Kovno/Kaunas in 1908. Listed his profession as sculptor in his 1934 internal passport.
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ABRAOMAS VEISAS
Believed to have studied at the Kaunas Institute of Applied Arts, the name of the Kaunas Art School during the first Soviet occupation.
IZAOKAS VIDUČINSKAS
Studied at the Kaunas Art School in 1930.
SAMUELIS VINIKAS
Believed to have studied at the Kaunas Institute of Applied Arts, the name of the Kaunas Art School during the first Soviet occupation.
AZARIJUS VOLOCKIS
Azary, Volotsky
Believed to have studied at both the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lithuania and the Kaunas Art School, the latter during 1928, the Kovno/Kaunas-born artist and doctor Azarijus Volockis was barely 30 years old when he died from appendicitis on December 28, 1931.
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🟨 SHOLOM ZELMANOVICH
Šolomas Zelmanovičius
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Painter, writer and adventurer. Born in Vilna/Vilnius in about 1899. Moved to Kaunas in about 1920. Studied at the Kaunas Art School between 1922 and 1923. Recorded as having been an assistant scenographer at the Kaunas State Theatre in 1930, several examples of Mr. Zelmanovich’s work are believed to be held among the collection at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas, where one of his paintings was also mentioned in a wartime document in connection with Nazi looting. Lived with his Vilna-born wife, Brocha née Libskind (born November 8, 1919), at Kriščiukaičio g. 1 in Vilijampolė, close to the future site of the Kovno Ghetto, where it’s believed the couple were murdered in 1941.
WILLIAM ZORACH
Zerach, Finkelstein
Sculptor, painter, printmaker, writer. Born Zorach Gorfinkel in Jurbarkas/Yurburg in 1889, William Zorach emigrated to the United States with his family when he was still a small boy. His status as a true Lithuanian Jewish artist is therefore debatable. One source states that his work was shown in Paris in 1908.
KHAYA HELEN ZWEJGEL
Zveygel
Sculptor. Born in Jasło, Poland, on February 28, 1898. Active in Wilno/Vilnius in 1932. Believed to have studied in Belgium.