Four Figures

Teisutis (Joe) Zikaras graduated from the School of Fine and Applied Arts in Kanaus, Lithuania in 1943, with a Diploma in Sculpture. From 1946-48 he taught drawings and sculpture at the Ecole des Arts et Metiers in Frieburg, Germany, before emigrating to Australia as a ‘displaced person’ in 1949. By 1952 he was working as a sculptor, including assisting with the carving of the Melbourne War Memorial. From 1958-78 he taught drawing and sculpture at RMIT. In 1960 he was a foundation member of the influential ‘Centre Five’ group of sculptors (with Inge King, Clifford Last and Lenton Parr, among others), which exhibited at the AGNSW in 1965. His work was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Victoria in 2009, and is held in the collections of the NGA, NGV, TMAG and other public collections in Australia and Lithuania.

‘Zikaras’ drawings and other works on paper provide, in some important respects, a better understanding of his character and emotions than his sculptures’ . Ken Scarlett, Teisutis Zikaras, sculptures and drawings McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, 10 May – 19 July 2009.

Zikaras’ prints provide a link between his work in sculpture and Lithuanian graphic and folk art traditions, including peasant wood carving and relief printmaking. He drew upon traditional Lithuanian motifs with a modern sensibility and marked expressiveness.