Address: Liepu Str. 33, LT-92145, Klaipėda, Lithuania
Tel.: +370 (46) 410 421, +370 (46) 410 421, +370 (46) 410 412
E-mail: kpgdomsaitis[at]takas.lt 

Exhibition ‘The Art of Australia and Tasmania’

 

Since 18 May, 2002

 

Dr Genovaite Kazokiene, a public and cultural figure of Australian Lithuanians is the most generous of the patrons of the Lithuanian Art Museum, the donor of a collection of 300 works by Australian Lithuanians, and a unique, among neighboring countries, 828 piece collection of art by the nations of Oceania. The exotic collection of primitive art that took over thirty years to build is her great gift to Lithuania, while for us it is a window onto a yet undiscovered and far-away world of art of the ancient tribes of Australia and Oceania, almost unchanged since the Stone Age.

 

Genovaite Budreikaite-Kazokiene was born and raised in Kaunas. The education she received at home and the Aušra Young Ladies Gymnasium instilled in her a strong belief in the ideals of Independent Lithuania. She was among the participants of the uprising on 23 June 1941. In 1944 she was the only one from her family to withdraw to the West. In 1949 she graduated from Tübingen University in Germany. The same year with her husband Vincas Kazokas, a poet, essayist and translator, she immigrated into Australia. Her studies of odontology in Vilnius were not recognized, and she had to study again at University of Sydney. She graduated in 1960, to return to the same university in 1969. This time she majored in visual arts and completed her bachelor studies in 1975, while in 1982 she received her master’s from Sydney University for the study of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis life and art. In 1975 Genovaite Kazokiene stayed in Lithuania for three months and with the artist’s sister V. Karuziene analysed the works of Čiurlionis in the custody of the Kaunas art gallery named after the artist. In 1982, the Culture Board of the Lithuanian Community in the USA granted Genovaite Kazokiene the First Award for the study.

Following her husband’s death in 1984, Genovaite Kazokiene moved to Hobart and entered the University of Tasmania. Six year-study dedicated to Australian-Lithuanian art was concluded in a thesis Lithuanian Artists in Australia in 1950-1990. Genovaite Kazokiene defended her thesis in 1994 and received her doctoral degree. Through her work and interaction with the artists, she considerably expanded the collection of Lithuanian art that she started immediately after her arrival in Australia.

Genovaite Kazokiene became an active member of Lithuanian organisations before even leaving Germany. She turned out one of the most enterprising public figures of Lithuanian community in Australia and a champion of Lithuanian culture. Genovaite and Vincas Kazokas’ home at Bankstone, Australia, was the centre of Lithuanian cultural life in Sydney for the entire three decades. It housed the editorial staff of the publication ‘Mūsų pastoge’ and hosted discussions by the club ‘Plunksna’ as well as folk dance rehearsals.

Genovaite Kazokiene taught Lithuanian school, wrote and directed plays for children, read lectures and organized memorial meetings, contributed to Lithuanian press and hosted the ‘Lithuanian hour’ broadcasted by Sydney radio. She also represented Australia at the Seimas meetings of the World Lithuanians.

Genovaite Kazokiene has put together over 20 exhibitions of Lithuanian artists and founded the Lithuanian Art and Folk Crafts Society in 1985. The V&G Kazokas Art Fund, established in 1988, biannually grants two awards for the best painting and sculpture work on Lithuanian theme. In 1995 Genovaite Kazokiene started another foundation to promote Lithuanian artists. In 2000 she was in charge of the preparation of the most massive event of Australian Lithuanians, Australian-Lithuanians’ Days in Sydney.

Over the years from 1966 till 1999 Dr Kazokiene focused mostly on the collection and study of Australian and Oceanian art and subsequently presented her collection to Lithuania.

In 1997, by the presidential decree, Dr Genovaite Kazokiene was awarded the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas.