Marija Rima Tūbelytė-Kuhlmann

Marija Rima Tūbelytė-Kuhlmann (November 2, 1923 – May 3, 2014) was a Lithuanian painter, writer, poet and daughter of Jadvyga Tūbelienė and Juozas Tūbelis.

Her mother invited Petras Kalpokas to give Tūbelytė private drawing lessons which left a lasting impression on her.

[2][3] When she was ten years old, her parents built a house, designed by architect Feliksas Vizbaras [lt], on the uppermost terrace of the Žaliakalnis hillside.

Departing from Lithuania, the family was in close contact with Marija's aunt, Sofija Smetonienė and uncle President Antanas Smetona.

They went to stay with the Smetonas at the Hunters' Heights (Gästeheim Jägerhöhe) at the Schwenzait resort in the Masurian Lakes area of Poland.

Tūbelytė and her mother then went to Berlin from where they flew to Madrid (via Frankfurt am Main, Lyon and Barcelona) and then took a train to Lisbon.

On March 13, Tūbelytė attended the reception of Smetona's arrival in the United States at The Pierre Hotel in New York.

Then he took off his thick glasses, pulled me by the hand, and exclaimed, "What a miracle that Juozas Tūbelis' daughter began painting!

She was inspired by the diverse and stunning landscape of the vast state of Oregon, with its tall dark spruces and cone-shaped mountains.

The successful creative period was crowned in 1963, when she hosted a solo exhibition of her work at the University of Portland.

[10] In 1968 the family moved to Taiwan,[1] as Tūbelytė's husband, Kurt Kuhlmann, being an engineer, worked on various projects around the world.

[12] Tūbelytė wrote letters to the editors of the English-language newspapers in Japan condemning the Soviet occupation of the Baltics, and challenging certain articles that had a pro-Soviet slant.

[13] In 1984, Tūbelytė and her family returned to the United States and settled in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida,[13] where there was a large Lithuanian community.

[13] In 1988, she joined the Sun Tan Gallery, a group of Florida artists, and exhibited several new works each year.

In 2017, her son donated the bulk of his mother's painting collection to the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Gallery in Kaunas.