Stasys Krasauskas' "Portrait of a Man" (1960s) captures a pivotal moment of psychological conflict. A man with one eye open, and the other closed, creates an unsettling duality that speaks to the divided self. Created during the Khrushchev Thaw, when Soviet artists were navigating between public conformity and private truth, this work manifests the psychological complexity of living under surveillance while seeking inner freedom. The timing of this piece coincided with Krasauskas's tenure at the Lithuanian SSR Art Institute in Vilnius, where he was developing the stark graphic vocabulary that would define his most powerful work.
The composition revolves around a man who has turned his back to the wind and the world, yet cannot fully retreat. Wind-blown hair sweeps across his face like a veil or shroud of protection and suffocation. This natural force, rendered in Krasauskas's characteristic flowing lines, fragments and obscures the facial features, yet the single watching eye remains alert, vigilant. The interplay between concealment and revelation becomes particularly poignant around the closed eye, where strands of hair create a web of psychological turbulence. The beard, rendered in decisive, anchoring strokes, provides the only solid ground in this storm of uncertainty.
The technical mastery lies in Krasauskas's ability to load each line with multiple meanings. His background in printmaking taught him that every mark must earn its place, and here each stroke simultaneously defines physical form while excavating psychological depth. The drawing appears both immediate and inevitable - as if these few decisive lines could not have been placed any other way to reveal this truth. The stark contrast between the delicate, wind-whipped strands of hair and the more firmly etched features of the face creates a visual tension that mirrors the subject's internal conflict.
Stasys Krasauskas's journey from champion athlete to master printmaker mirrors the psychological transformation evident in this work - from physical to metaphysical concerns. His vision earned widespread recognition, with over 30 solo exhibitions across major cultural centers including Moscow, Krakow, Sofia, Belgrade, and Magdeburg. His achievements, including the USSR State Prize (1976), the Lithuanian SSR State Prize (1965), and the title of People's Artist of the Lithuanian SSR (1977). Posthumous retrospectives in Vilnius (1979, 1984) and Chicago (1979), and his iconic "Youth" image is on his grave at Antakalnis cemetery in Vilnius.
