Antanas Kazakauskas, the Maker of Collages and Creative Book ‘Clothing’ in the 1960s-70s

Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis

Abstract

The paper introduces the book design by Antanas Kazakauskas (1937–2019), specifically his work from the widely unresearched period of the 1960s–70s. The paper aims to contextually analyse the compositional principles of the book ‘clothes’ (dust covers, covers) and other constructional elements designed by Kazakauskas and determine the author’s stylistic codes. The research has been largely inspired by my personal acquaintance with the author, the interviews I carried out during 2013–2018, and the access to his personal archive with his original graphic design sketches and home library with the magazines he subscribed during the soviet times. It was his book covers, dust cover cut outs and unfolded lapels which I found tidily laid out in the few drawers of his personal archive that suggested the metaphor of ‘book clothes’.