On October 7, 2024, at The Valdas Adamkus Presidential Library-Museum, an evening was held in memory of painter and graphic artist Vytautas Ignas, along with a screening of a filmed interview by director Arvydas Reneckis. The film’s author, Arvydas Reneckis, and curator Laima Apanavičienė participated in the event. The evening was moderated by Prof. Dr. Dalia Kuizinienė, a researcher at Vytautas Magnus University’s Lithuanian Emigration Institute and a literary scholar.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of renowned painter and graphic artist Vytautas Ignas (formerly Ignatavičius until 1958, 1924–2009). The artist, who mostly worked in the U.S., in the state of Connecticut, sent an exhibition of his most valuable works to Vilnius in 1971, which he donated to the Lithuanian Art Museum. Later, he enriched Lithuania’s museums once again, donating a valuable collection: 30 works to the Lithuanian Art Museum, 295 pieces to the M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum, as well as works to the Samogitian Art Museum in Plungė, the Žemaičiai ‘Alka’ Museum, the Archdiocese of Kaunas, and the Telšiai Seminary.

Film director Arvydas Reneckis, who resides in Chicago, has amassed a large archive of documentary material. The author shared part of this collection—a filmed interview—with Vytautas Ignas’ admirers in Lithuania.

Photographs by Andrėja Taranda.