Paul Mayhew
Fine Art

ARBIT BLATAS (1908-1999)
Tug boats on the Seine



Oil on canvas, size 24" x 29" (60 x 73cms)
Price on application

Arbit Blatas is regarded as the greatest artist and sculptor from Lithuania. He was born in Kaunas and showed early talent. At the age of 18, he moved to Paris to study art at a time when Paris was known as the capital of the Art World. Aged 21, he joined the School of Paris and was friends with Picasso, Vlaminck, Utrillo, Braque, Soutine and Leger. He did portraits of these great figures of the Paris art world as well as painting portraits of Matisse, Dufy, Bonnard and many others. In the 1930s, he exhibited mainly in Paris but also in New York and London. In 1941 he fled from Europe to the USA and became an American citizen. After the war, he divided his life between New York and France and his work was recognised with many exhibitions and awards. His works are now in the collections at the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, the Georges Pompidou Museum in Paris, the Jerusalem Museum, and many other museums. The largest collection of his work was shown in an exhibition of 300 of his works at the Lithuanian National Gallery in 2011.