LEONAS URBONAS (1925 - 2000)

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Leonas Urbonas was an award-winning Lithuanian abstract artist. As a refugee of WWII in Germany, he took up studies at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Stuttgart. He emigrated to Australia in 1948 and was accepted into the Contemporary Arts Society of Australia. In 1961, he held his first one man show at the Macquarie Gallery in Sydney. His abstract surrealist oils drew wide acclaim from art critics and his reputation as one of the leading artists in Australia was firmly established. His work featured regularly at the Sulman, Archibald, Blake, Royal Easter Show & Mosman art prizes, before being lured to the United States, where he exhibited to great acclaim alongside Picasso, Dali and Rivera in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. His works feature in several important International collections; actor Vincent Price owned 12 of his pieces.