Background
He was born November 18, 1881 in the village of Paliūkai near Panevėžys in Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire).
He was born November 18, 1881 in the village of Paliūkai near Panevėžys in Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire).
Between 1904 and 1906 he studied fine arts at the Vilnius-based Lev Trutnev Drawing School, as well as classes given by Józef Montwiłł. In 1910, after three years in Saint St. Petersburg, he was accepted to the Imperial Academy of Arts, from where he graduated in 1915, already after the outbreak of World War I. Shortly before finishing his diploma work he was drafted into the Russian army.
He is considered to be one of the first professional Lithuanian sculptors. Surpassing many of his fellow art students, Zikaras in 1907 went to Saint St. Petersburg to continue his studies at the Drawing School of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. However, he was not dispatched to the front and instead was able to receive a silver award of his alma mater the following year.
Demobilized, he remained in Russia and taught drawing at various schools to make a living.
In 1918 he returned to Panevėžys, where he started working in a secondary school and pedagogical seminary. In 1929 he moved to Kaunas, where he started heading the studio of sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts.
He held that post until the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940. He continued to give classes of drawing during the German occupation and after the second Soviet occupation he was proposed a professor"s seat at the academy.
The sons emigrated to the Western countries after World World War World War II One, Teisutis, became an acclaimed sculptor in Melbourne, Australia.
The daughter, Alytė, remained in Lithuania and continued to live in her family"s house in Kaunas. Thanks to her efforts a lot of Zikaras" works survived the Soviet occupation. In 1959 she established a small exhibition in her father"s workshop.
Executing her will, the whole family house was turned into a museum in 2000.
Another museum dedicated to Zikaras is located in the house where Zikaras spent his childhood. This house was turned into a museum in 1972.
