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Collection

Henry Šalkauskas

(Australia 06 May 1925–01 Sep 1979)

Title
Black harbour
Year
1961
Media category
Print
Materials used
linocut, printed in black ink on ivory wove paper
Edition
8/20
Dimensions

51.6 x 36.8cm blockmark; 64.1 x 49.3cm sheet

Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r., pencil "Henry Salkauskas ... 1961".
Credit
Gift of the artist 1962
Accession number
DA12.1962
Location
Not on display
Further information

Henry Salkauskas was born in Lithuania. During the Second World War he studied graphic art at the Meister Schule für Kunst in Danzig. He fled with his mother to West Germany in 1944, eventually settling in Freiburg. He studied at the Freiburg University and L'Ecole des Arts et Métiers 1946-49, where he studied drawing and 'graphic art', concentrating on relief prints, especially linocuts. In May 1949 he migrated with his mother to Australia and settled in Canberra. He befriended Hector Gilliland, who nominated him for membership of the Artists' Society of Canberra, with which he exhibited five linocuts in 1950. In March 1951 he moved to Sydney and joined the Contemporary Art Society. He remained committed to printmaking in the 1950s and actively promoted it, organising the 'First Australia-wide graphic art exhibition' by the Society in 1960 with fellow Lithuanian-born artist Eva Kubbos and support from the Lithuanian community, and exhibited two monotypes. In 1957 he was elected President of the Society, and the following year, after attending a lecture by Jim Hays on screenprinting, began to make screenprints. He was a foundation member of the Sydney Printmakers group in 1961 (with Kubbos, Vaclovas Ratas and critic Laurie Thomas their first president). Their aim was to encourage and promote prints and printmaking in Sydney. Salkauskas stopped making prints in 1965, turning to painting in watercolour and gouache.

Hendrik Kolenberg and Anne Ryan, 'Australian prints from the Gallery's collection', AGNSW, 1998

Bibliography (2)

Hendrik Kolenberg and Anne Ryan, Australian prints from the Gallery's collection 1998, Sydney, 1998, 86, 87 (illus.). cat.no. 72

Anne Ryan (Curator), Sydney prints: 45 years of the Sydney Printmakers 2006, Sydney, 2006. List of works.

Exhibition history (2)

Australian prints from the Gallery's collection (1998-1999), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Nov 1998–07 Feb 1999

Sydney Prints: 45 years of the Sydney Printmakers: