Darius and Girėnas

Author: Pundzius Bronius, 1907 - 1959

Created, location: 1933, Kaunas.

Dimensions: 20.5x17x9 cm.

Signature: B Pundzius / Kaunas / 1933.

One of the most popular early works by the sculptor BRONIUS PUNDZIUS (1907–1959) is a composition portraying the Lituanica pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas. Bronze busts of the heroes of Lithuanian aviation, created for the Lithuanian Flying Club, could be purchased for 35 litas, a considerable sum in those days, and people who could not pay the full price were given the possibility to pay by instalments (Jo Leo, ‘A Befitting Commemoration of the Heroes Darius and Girėnas’, Karys,1934, No 42, p. 865). Plaster versions of the composition were cheaper. Both bronze and plaster busts of the pilots could often be found in the homes of interwar intellectuals.