Okas Evald Karlovich

Evald Karlovich Okas (1915–2011) was a Soviet painter and graphic artist, People's Artist of the USSR, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, and Honorary Academician of the Florence Academy of Fine Arts. From 1938 to 1941, he studied at the Higher Art School in Tallinn under I. Greenberg. Since 1944, he taught at the Art Institute of the Estonian SSR. He was an author of thematic compositions, industrial landscapes, portraits, monumental paintings, and decorative arts, as well as illustrations for Estonian epics and literature. He was a laureate of the State Prizes of the Estonian SSR, the prize of the 4th International Graphic Art Exhibition in Ljubljana (1961), the Silver Medal of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1962), and the M. B. Grekov Silver Medal (1973). He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.