Kalpokas was born on 31 March 1880 in the village of Miškinė, near
Kvetkai, in the
Kovno Governorate of the
Russian Empire (in the
Biržai district of present-day
Lithuania). From 1890 to 1895, he attended the
Gymnasium of Jelgava,
Latvia. He was expelled when he drew a teacher's cartoon on a stove. In 1898, Kalpokas moved to
Odessa where he spent two years as an art student. In 1890 (?), he received a bronze medal for his
still life painting. In 1892, the first exhibition of Kalpokas' drawings was organized in
Riga. Kalpokas continued his studies of arts in
Munich. He studied under guidance of
Anton Ažbe and
Wilhelm von Debschitz. Kalpokas attended Heimann Academy and the
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Between 1909 and 1920, Kalpokas traveled around Europe: Switzerland, Hungary, Italy. In 1914, he attempted to organize a large one-man exhibition in Germany, but more than 120 of his paintings were lost due to World War I. After he returned to Lithuania, Kalpokas began teaching. First lecturing at drawing courses, established by
Justinas Vienožinskis, he later taught at
Kaunas Art School. In 1928, Kalpokas held a large personal exhibition in
Kaunas. In 1930, he published a textbook on painting techniques and in 1945 became a professor. == Works ==