Composition

Emigrating to the United States gave Pranas Lapė (1921–2010) the opportunity to engage directly with American Abstract Expressionism. He was fascinated with the work of Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and Mark Rothko, an admiration that lasted a lifetime. Lapė spoke passionately about Kline’s smooth flat brushstrokes, and Rothko’s atmospheric vibrating darkness. The distinct and individual relationships these artists had with colour and the two-dimensional picture plane inspired Lapė to pursue his own creative path. The restrained palette of his Composition and other canvases from the 1960s to the 1980s reflects his enduring affinity with the tones of northern nature in the Baltic States and Scandinavia: ochre, grey, black and blue. He later rediscovered these same hues after settling beside the Atlantic Ocean in the state of Maine, where he spent time contemplating the vast waters and rugged coastal cliffs (cf. Aušra Marija Sluckaitė-Jurašienė, ‘Prano kelionė [The Journey of Pranas]. In memoriam Pranui Lapei’, Kultūros barai, 2010, No 2, pp. 46–50).

Text author Laura Petrauskaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album ARTISTS ON THE MOVE (2025). Compiler and text author Laura Petrauskaitė

Emigrating to the United States gave Pranas Lapė (1921–2010) the opportunity to engage directly with American Abstract Expressionism. He was fascinated with the work of Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and Mark Rothko, an admiration that lasted a lifetime. Lapė spoke passionately about Kline’s smooth flat brushstrokes, and Rothko’s atmospheric vibrating darkness. The distinct and individual relationships these artists had with colour and the two-dimensional picture plane inspired Lapė to pursue his own creative path. The restrained palette of his Composition and other canvases from the 1960s to the 1980s reflects his enduring affinity with the tones of northern nature in the Baltic States and Scandinavia: ochre, grey, black and blue. He later rediscovered these same hues after settling beside the Atlantic Ocean in the state of Maine, where he spent time contemplating the vast waters and rugged coastal cliffs (cf. Aušra Marija Sluckaitė-Jurašienė, ‘Prano kelionė [The Journey of Pranas]. In memoriam Pranui Lapei’, Kultūros barai, 2010, No 2, pp. 46–50).

Text author Laura Petrauskaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album ARTISTS ON THE MOVE (2025). Compiler and text author Laura Petrauskaitė