✝

Lithuanian painter, one of the most talented representatives of the younger generation of the 1930s.
His work, which lasted for seven years, left a significant imprint on Lithuanian painting, enriching it with dramatic images. He painted the everyday, unadorned life of a labourer and his environment.

Antanas Samuolis was born in the village of Puišiai in the Raseiniai district, in the family of Vincentas Samulevičius, a labourer travelling around Lithuania. In 1900, the Samulevičius settled in Kaunas, Žaliakalnis, where the family of eight made a meagre living from the occasional earnings of their father, who suffered from jerusalem, and a small kitchen garden. In 1913, Antanas Samuolis graduated from a two-class boys' school and started working. The Samuols did not live in Lithuania for long. After the First World War the family moved to Russia and lived in Moscow until 1918. The future painter attended a special primary school for the children of railway workers. His father worked in a stable and died of tuberculosis in 1917. In 1918, after returning to Lithuania, Samuolis was conscripted into the army, where he served for two years (1919-1921). In 1920, he enrolled in the Kaunas School of Art, studied in Justinas Vienožinskis' painting studio, and took part in the construction of the school's new building.

Due to a lack of funds, Samuolis found it difficult to study - he lacked paint, brushes, and canvases, which he had to often borrow, but his talent was noticed by his fellow students and J. Vienožinskis immediately. When Samuolis got into the higher section of the Kaunas School of Art, he was "at first discouraged and disappointed with his abilities, seeing that his neighbouring students seemed to be more dexterous than him. J. Vienožinskis aptly restored his confidence in time and guided him to follow his own path" - this is how P. Aleksandravičius recounts his memories of Samuolis's studies.

Samuolis took part in the exhibitions of both the Society of Independent Painters and the Ars group, and was given well-deserved recognition by those who professionally understood the specifics of painting's tasks, and who supported the new art movement. As early as 1931, his talent for painting was noticed by V. Cvirka. However, Samuulis was sharply criticised by art snobs, who were hostile to everything that was new and progressive in art. In 1937, Latvian critics noted the artistic expressiveness and national character of Samuolis's works "Landscape", "Self-Portrait", "Drinker".