Dimitriadis Constantinos

Initially a pupil of Georgios Vroutos at the School of Arts, he went on to study at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere and the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1904, after a short spell in Munich. He returned to Greece after 26 years in 1930, having led a successful international career with numerous distinctions and workshop teaching in Paris and London. During the same year, he was appointed professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts and in 1936 elected member of the Academy of Athens.

His work has been shown in group exhibitions and Paris salons, such as the Salon des Artistes Francais and the Salon d’Automne, the Greek Artists’ Exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris, the Venice Biennale (1936) as well as the Panhellenic exhibition in (1938).

His long sojourn in the French capital and his familiarity with European art, especially Rodin’s work, played a decisive role in shaping his own style. The French sculptor’s influence can be seen both in his choice of subject matter and in his treatment. The backbone of Dimitriadis’s work is the human figure, elevated into an allegorical symbol. His use of the human anatomy as an expressive means of fundamental importance, his accentuation of movement through the contrast of light and shadow, his endeavour to arrest the fleeting instant, his adoption of fragmentary forms, are all features that reveal how Dimitriadis adopted the spirit of Rodin’s art, which informs particularly his free compositions. In monuments, however, and above all in busts, a realistic approach prevails.