Leonas Katinas

Leonas Katinas (1907–1984). L. Katinas, a student of A. Gudaitis, was one of the first brave artists to begin to revive the bright spectrum of contrasting colours and the scenic abstracted view. At the beginning of his career, he was influenced by the art of the Ars painters, who laid down the fundamentals for Lithuanian Expressionism. But the war and the period of Socialist Realism held back his artistic progress towards Abstract Expressionism. Between 1941 and 1945, he was an actor with the Šiauliai Drama Theatre, but he later resumed painting.

Reference: Art album "The World of Landscapes" (Volume II). Compiled by N. Tumėnienė. Vilnius, LAWIN, 2013, P. 136.

In the 1960s, Leonas Katinas painted a view of the Old Town from the footbridge over the Vilnia in Užupis, showing the green banks of the river, a hill with brick houses, and St Casimir’s Church with its magnificent dome. There is a steep road among the trees called Kūdrų (Pond) Street, which had been called Ežero (Lake) Street (in Polish Jeziorna) before the war. This and the neighbouring Žuvų (Fish) and Safjaniki (or Tymo) streets made up the Jewish quarter of Safjaniki by the River Vilnia, which was destroyed during the Second World War. There is no sign of the old quarter in Katinas’ brisk and sketchy townscape; it has been replaced by green meadows, and the riverside is overgrown with trees.

Reference: Art album "Vilnius. Topophilia" (Volume I). Compiled by L. Laučkaitė. Vilnius, LAWIN, 2014, P. 272.