The Forgotten Works of Juozas Zikaras: Medals, Badges, and Sports Prizes

Abstract

Much has been written about the work of the sculptor Juozas Zikaras (1881–1944), but not all his works are known so far. There is also a lack of information on the dating of his works. This article addresses only a small area of Zikaras’s work: medals, medallions, badges, and sports prizes. The main focus is on the unknown facts of the sculptor’s work. The circumstances of the creation of medals, some of the medallions, and their dating are specified: medals of the Decade of Lithuania’s Independence (1928), the medal of the Forerunners of the Army (1940), plaques of President Antanas Smetona (1933), medallions of Kipras Petrauskas and Juozas Tūbelis, etc. For the first time, facts are presented about the sculptor’s yet unknown activity as a badge designer. The article also introduces the sculptor’s works intended as awards to athletes: ‘Žirgai’ (Horses, 1933), ‘Krepšininkas’ (A Basketballer, 1943).