Dailininkė ir fotografė Sofija Urbonavičiūtė-Subačiuvienė

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Dailininkė; Fotografija; Fotografė; Jano Bulhako studija; Sofija Urbonavičiūtė-Subačiuvienė; Stepono Batoro universitetas (Stephen Báthory University in Vilnius); Painter; Painting; Photographer; Photography; Sofija Urbonavičiūtė-Subačiuvienė; Stephan Batory University.

ENThe painter and photographer Sofija Urbonavičiūtė-Subačiuvienė (1915-1980) was probably the only Lithuanian woman to graduate in arts from Vilnius Stephen Bathory University (in 1938). In addition to art, she also attended the photographic studio of the famous Vilnius photographer Jan Bułhak and was his assistant. In 1933-1939 she was known as a photographer who made artistic portrait photographs of Vilnius people of culture. In 1938-1939 she continued art studies in Paris. With the onset of World War II she came back to Lithuania and worked as a teacher of drawing in a gymnasium. In 1943 Urbonavičiūtė was appointed as Head of the Division of Photography at the Cultural Monuments Protection Authority. In 1944 her lens recorded the Old Town of Vilnius devastated by the war - streets and individual houses. This represents factual material of great value. (Luckily, part of the negatives survived and is held at the National Museum of Lithuania.) During the Soviet period (1947-1951) Urbonavičiūtė worked at Vilnius State Art Institute and was fired in 1951. The same year she was dismissed from the Artists Union of the Lithuanian SSR. The artist’s life was not favourable for developing creative abilities, and the circumstances surrounding her ruined her personality. Little is known about Urbonavičiūtė’s work and the fate of her works is not clear. [From the publication]