Antanas Jaroševičius

He graduated from the Baron Stieglitz Academy of Art and Design in Saint Petersburg in 1899 and later taught in Orlov and Kazan until 1920.

He refused a position at the University of Lithuania and taught art and crafts at the Giedraičiai Progymnasium until 1935 (the school is now named after him).

He continued his studies of Lithuanian folk art and encouraged his students to keep the traditions alive.

However, in 1893, Jaroševičius defied his parents and enrolled into the Baron Stieglitz Academy of Art and Design in Saint Petersburg.

For the first year, he received some support from his neighbor Petras Vileišis and later had to make his own living by tutoring, painting decorations, and taking other assorted jobs.

His articles were published in Lietuvių laikraštis, Vilniaus žinios, Lietuvos ūkininkas, Viltis, Aušrinė, and others.

In 1927, he designed a monument to Lithuanian soldiers who died in the Battle of Giedraičiai during the Żeligowski's Mutiny in 1920.

In 1939, he published a booklet Dailieji medžio darbeliai (Fine Woodwork) with examples of small folk-inspired projects (e.g. hangers for towels, calendars, or thermometers).

[5] His farm was nationalized by a Soviet kolkhoz leaving the elderly artist with an orchard and a small plot of arable land.

[1] His widow donated his archives to the Lithuanian National Museum of Art which organized exhibitions dedicated to Jaroševičius in 1970 and 1990 and published a catalog of his works in 1990.

He travelled across Lithuania (mainly areas around Šiauliai and Panevėžys) and took photos, made drawings, and otherwise collected samples of Lithuanian folk art.

[6] It was also an important development in changing attitudes about these folk architectural elements – the Catholic clergy considered them of low artistic value and rejected them due to remnants of pagan Lithuanian symbols.

[7] Jaroševičius' drawings became popular and influenced future folk artists who copied designs from his album.

Additionally, he painted watercolor scenes of nature, landscapes, views of traditional Lithuanian dwelings.