He studied painting, first in Zante and then at the St Luca Academy in Rome. When he returned to Greece, he taught painting in Zante, Corfu and Smyrna. In 1875, he participated in the “Olympia” exhibition. A man of many interests, he spoke English and Italian, wrote poetry and copied works by great masters. He also made aquarelles, featuring scenes, poses and costumes of the refugees and fighters from the Greek mainland who sought shelter in the Ionian Islands during this period.
Iatras as a painter belongs to the Ionian School. He was mainly engaged in portraiture, seeking to idealize his figures, his work contributing to the stylistic changes happening in the latter half of the 19th century in the Ionian Islands.
Son of Ioannis Kantounis, doctor, poet and writer, he trained under Ioannis Korais and, most likely, Nikolaos Koutouzis who, according to tradition, expelled him from his studio out of jealousy. In any case, he always called himself an autodidact as can be seen in an inscription on his selfportrait (National Gallery). The influence of Koutouzis is obvious both in his work and in his private life since, following Koutouzis’ example, he was ordained into the priesthood in 1788 at the church of the Evangelistria in Zakynthos. Later, as a member of the revolutionary Filiki Etaireia (“Friendly Society”) he worked for the Greek Revolution and from May to October 1821 was exiled on the island of Kyras af to Dia, near Cephalonia, where he painted The Last Supper .
His work is made up of religious compositions and portraits. The religious part included paintings in the churches of Ayioi Pantes, Ayioi Apostoloi, Our Lady of Tsourouflis, Ayia Paraskevi, the Hodegetria and Chrysopigi on Zakynthos, which have not survived. In the Zakynthos Museum there are various paintings from the church of the Virgin Pikridiotissa, Ayioi Anargyroi, Ayios Georgios of Kypriana, Episkopiani, Ayios Andreas of Avouris, Ayios Antonios of Andritsis and others, while other paintings can still be found in their original locations at the main church of the Monastery of the Virgin Platytera on Corfu and the church of Ayia Aikaterini of Sina in Zakynthos. For the rendering of these compositions he used the work of Koutouzis as his model as well as the works of the Italians and Flemish which were in wide circulation as prints during that period in the Ionian islands. His portraits were also influenced by Koutouzis, and taken together these two can be considered the founders of secular painting, portraiture in particular.
In 1934 he enrolled at the Athens School of Fine Arts where he studied painting under Umvertos Argyros and Konstantinos Parthenis while during the period 1938-1939 he took engraving lessons at the workshop of Yannis Kefallinos.
His artistic activity includes the organization of solo exhibitions, in both painting and engraving, and taking part in Panhellenies and group exhibitions in Greece and abroad, as well as the exhibitions of the Junction group.
His painting includes still lifes, objects, landscapes, portraits and interiors which are painted mainly in water colors and egg tempera, aspiring to convey through these mediums an “intimate” atmosphere, something forgotten. On a more limited scale, he is also involved with engraving which includes among its subjects those inspired by the Greek Resistance during World War II; he is further known for his book illustrations.
He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1957-1961) under Yannis Moralis and the Paris School of Fine Arts (1961-1962).
He has presented his work in many solo and group exhibitions in Greece and abroad, among them the Alexandria Biennale of 1974.
In his painting he has remained faithful to realistic, practically photographic depiction; initially involved with images of ordinary life, he has gradually introduced still life and interiors, but the human figure is always present. His compositions, enhanced with a multitude of supplementary elements which show the influence of ancient Greek vase painting, Byzantine art and Flemish painting, are characterized by exceptionally detailed description, two-dimensional perspective, a rendering reminiscent of a set and an atmosphere best described as otherworldly and theatrical.
A self-taught painter, he has been involved with many thematic approaches, such as landscape, the nude, still life and erotic scenes, which he renders figuratively; he initially adhered to impressionistic models but later turned to expressionistic ones. Living near the Thessaloniki Railway Station, he has made the train and the surrounding space the center of his painting; it is his most characteristic motif and comes back again and again throughout his career.
He started to exhibit in 1959 and since then has presented his work in many solo, Panhellenies and group shows, while in 1987 a retrospective was held at the Vafopouleio Cultural Center in Thessaloniki.
He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1953-1957) under Yannis Moralis and Spyros Papaloukas. During the period 1961-1964, on a scholarship from the State Scholarship Service, he continued his studies in Paris, where he attended lessons in set design at the Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs under Labisse and J.L. Barreau and interior decorating at the Metiers d’Arts.
From 1964 to 1972 he was head of the studio of Interior Decoration at the Athens Technological Institute while in 1975 he was elected professor at the School of Fine Arts. In 1978, with the assistance of the Municipality, he founded with his wife Harikleia a painting school in Chalkida.
Throughout his artistic career he has been very active in the exhibition field, including numerous participations in group and international exhibitions as well as many solo shows in Greece and abroad. Among his most important participations are those at the Biennales of Alexandria in 1958 and 1966, Youth in Paris 1960, Sao Paolo in 1966 and Venice in 1972. In 1961 he presented his first solo exhibition at the Zygos gallery and since then there have been a number of outstanding retrospectives: 1989 at the Pieridis Gallery, the Vellideio Foundation and the Eirmos gallery of Thessaloniki, 1992 at the Chateau Cenonceau in France, 1995 the National Gallery and 1998 the Millegarden Museum of Stockholm while it was the Cultural Capital of Europe.
In addition to painting he has been extensively involved with set design, working in cooperation with the State Theater of Northern Greece, the Art Theater, and the Greek Ballet of Rallou Manou, as well as many important Greek troupes. He has also decorated hotels, factories and bank branches in Greece and abroad with wall paintings. In the framework of his broader interest in art he has written various theoretical texts, published in 1989 in a book entitled Μη μιλάς πολύ για τέχνη (Don’t Talk Too Much About Art).
His painting, anthropocentric by and large, is characterized by a strongly drawn line and pure and powerful color. Starting off with photorealism, he subsequently was influenced by abstraction and ended with an expressionistic form, while a large part of his work shows a marked tendency toward social criticism.
He first studied drawing in Cairo. In 1955 he settled in Paris where he studied architecture and interior decoration at the Ecole Sup²rierure d’ Art Moderne (1955-1957) and painting at the Grande Chaumiere and Notre Dame des Champs Academies (1957-1963). In 1970 on a D.A.A.D. scholarship he went to Berlin where he taught at Schiller College from 1971 to 1973. From 1973 to 1982 he also taught at the Ecole Normale Superieure de l’ Enseignement Technique in France. The French state has awarded him the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and the Delmas Prize of the Institut de France.
He started to exhibit in 1958 and this now includes appearances in Parisian Salons and group exhibitons in Greece and abroad, among which are the Paris Biennale of 1963 and the Brussels Europalia of 1982. In 1967 he presented his first environment in Sweden and in 1996 retrospectives of his work were held in the Alexandria Museum of Fine Arts and the Hanager Arts Center in Cairo.
He started out following abstract expressionism and then moved on to photokinetic art, environments and happenings. His compositions are defined by his acquaintance with the Egyptian, Arabic and Greek world from which he has borrowed elements of writing and symbols, which he often combines with road signs, creating a personal and special art based on signs. His work also includes compositions combining painting and sculpture, as well as environments and groups which he has done with architects, writers and musicians.
Marios Prassinos was born in 1916 in Istanbul but grew up and studied in Paris, where he moved with his family after the expulsion of ethnic Greeks from Turkey in 1922. In 1932, he enrolled at the Ecole des Langues Orientales and had his first painting lessons with Clement Serveau. Two years later he began to study at the Faculte des Lettres in Paris. Both he and his sister, Gisele, who had just published articles in magazines such as “Documents 34” and “Minotaure”, were part of the broader circle of the surrealists. Characteristic of his work is his involvement with the theatre, his production of book illustrations and covers, his ongoing interest in transcending the threshold between knowledge and intuition, between the physical and the metaphysical world, and his approach to painting as writing. These are the main directions in his work, which also reflect the topics he investigated, from his earlier work, consisting of portraits and self-portraits already in a surrealistic direction, to the introversion of his renderings of the natural landscape, after he moved to Eygalieres, in the South of France.
He had his first solo exhibition in 1938 at the art gallery of Pierre Vorms, who had discovered the artist at the Salon des Surindependants. During the same year, he married Yolande Borelly. During the War began his collaboration with N.R.F. Editions (Gallimard). He met Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre whose Le Mur he illustrated with colour prints. In cooperation with Raymond Queneau, in 1946 he published L’instant fatal, illustrated with his prints, and during the following year designed the costumes for Paul Claudel’s Tobie et Sara, produced by Jean Vilar at the Avignon Festival.
He worked with Vilar again in 1954, designing the sets and costumes for Macbeth. In 1951, he made his first tapestries and bought a house at Eygalieres where he lived until his death. He was a French citizen since 1949.
In 1953, he illustrated Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven with woodcuts and etchings. In 1955 he had his first solo exhibition at the Galerie de France, followed by a number of exhibitions in the same venue. When, in the late 1950s, he traveled to Greece, he had already begun to study the genre of landscape.
In the 1960s and 1970s, he had exhibitions in France and other countries. He also continued to work for books (in 1973, Editions Gallimard published his book Les Pretextats) and for the theatre (in 1969, he designed the sets and costumes for Iannis Xenakis’s ballet “Eonta”). He was decorated as a Chevalier of Arts and Letters and a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. In 1980, he exhibited at the Grand Palais his series “Paysages Turcs” (on which he had worked from the early 1970s) and “Shrouds”. In the following years, retrospective exhibitions of his work were held in France and Greece; one year after his death, in 1986, 11 large-scale paintings went on permanent display in the Notre Dame de Pitie chapel.
He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts at the Nikolaos Lytras workshop (1920-1926). From 1930 to 1935 he continued his studies in Paris at the Grande Chaumiare Academy and the Louvre, while at the same time taking engraving lessons at Dimitris Galanis’ studio. His artistic education was completed with the study of the great painters in the museums of France, England, Spain, Italy, Austria and America.
Having started to exhibit in 1926, he presented his work in solo, group, Panhellenies and international exhibitions of painting and engraving, such as the 1st Biennale of Engraving at Cracow in 1966, the Annual Engraving Salon in Ancona in 1966 (gold medal for Greece) and 1968 and the Alexandria Biennale in 1957. He also took part in Parisian Salons and in the exhibitions of the Art Group, of which he was a founding member. In 1980 his work was presented in a retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery and in 1983 at the Vafopouleio Cultural Center in Thessaloniki.
In Paris in 1934 he published an album with 21 woodcuts from Mt. Athos, with a preface by the well-known Byzantinologist Charles Deal. In the framework of his broader artistic creation, he was also involved with the illustration of literary magazines, the religious painting of churches and the painting of portable icons. He moreover published articles on art and did radio programs while from 1951 to 1969 he taught drawing at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, where he had settled in 1935.
His painting, which includes landscapes and portraits, still lifes and genre scenes, mythological subjects and religious representations, is characterized by a personal style and combines elements derived from the teachings of his professors, the works of Maleas and Papaloukas, the painting of the early Renaissance and Byzantine art and, finally, modern movements.
He studied Law and Political Science at the University of Thessaloniki. From 1936 to 1944 he took painting lessons from Polykleitos Rengos while later he was taught modern methods for the use of various materials by Roy Moyer and engraving techniques by Georges Perret.
He taught set design and costume making at private theater and cinema schools and when the State Theater of Northern Greece was founded he began to work for it as a set designer and costume maker. At the same time he worked with private theaters in Thessaloniki and Athens. Starting in 1971, he served as professor of freehand drawing and director of the School of Visual Arts at the Technical University of Thessaloniki. In the context of this broader artistic activity, he published texts on art in newspapers and magazines and was the artistic commentator for the National Radio Station, a member of the critical committee of the Cinematic Festival of Thessaloniki (1965 and 1973) and President of the Association of Artists in the Visual Arts of Northern Greece.
In 1950 he had his first solo show in Thessaloniki, while in 1985 the Vafopouleio Cultural Center had a retrospective exhibition of his work. He also took part in group and international exhibitions, such as the Alexandria Biennale of 1976. For his artistic contribution he was honored with four awards by the Municipality of Thessaloniki (1956-1959) and with first prize in the competition held by the Ionian and Commercial Banks in 1960.
Starting out with figurative painting, including landscapes, still lifes, nudes and scenes from everyday life, he gradually turned toward abstract expressionism, and was influenced by pop art after that; the final stage of his work is marked by a combination of figurative and abstract elements rendered expressionistically.
He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1955-1961) under Yannis Moralis and, for a year, took lessons in icon painting at the School’s applied arts workshop. In 1972, on a grant from the Ford Foundation, he travelled to New York, Chicago, London and Milan to familiarize himself with what was then current in modern art. The same year he organized his first solo exhibition at the Hilton gallery, having already started to exhibit in 1962. He has also presented his work in solo and group exhibitions in Greece and abroad, among which are the Sao Paolo Biennale of 1981, the Brussels Europalia in 1982 and the Engraving Biennale at Baden-Baden in 1983.
He was a founding member of the League of Modern Art and a member of the Group for Communication and Education in Art and participated on the editorial committee of the Greek magazine Σπείρα. Also interested in art on a theoretical level, he has published articles in newspapers and magazines, a selection of which appeared in 1992 in a book entitled, Περιθώρια-αναφορές σε προβλήματα του εικαστικού χώρου (Margins-References to Problems of Visual Space). Since 1965 he has taught drawing and color at the Architectural School of the National Technical University.
In his painting, which is figurative but at the same time moves on a transcendental level, and outside a series of idealized female portraits and another one with horses, he usually produces landscapes, deserted and silent in which, on a white background, rocks, pieces of wood and ruins are the dominant elements, alluding to the passage of time, deterioration and abandonment.
A student of Yannis Moralis at the Athens School of Fine Arts, where he studied from 1956 to 1960, he continued with studies in lithography in Paris (1960-1963), on a scholarship from the French government. In the following years he took to dividing his time between the Greek and French capitals. His first solo exibition, which was presented in 1960, at Gallery A23 in Athens, was followed by a whole series of presentations in Greece and abroad, in cities such as Paris, Munich, Hamburg, Milan, Zurich, Stockholm, London and Tokyo. Among his appearances in international exhibitions are included the Biennales of Sao Paolo (1971), Venice (1972), and Graphics at Baden-Baden (1958). In addition to painting and engraving he has been involved with book illustration, applied arts, the writing of texts and set design; indeed, he has worked with the National Theater (1975, 1976, 1978).
Ancient Greek vase painting, the Byzantine and folk traditions, the painting of Theophilos and various types of modern art are all to be found at the basis of Fassianos’ artistic creation, which through clear and uniform color, free and skilled draughtsmanship, a “childlike” feeling, and sensitivity of rendering, result in highly personal formations. His work is dominated by the human figure – characteristic are the figures of the bicyclist and the smoker, which crop up again and again – while to a more limited extent he is also involved wih other subjects, such as still life.
A child of Greek immigrants, he took night lessons at the School of American Artists in New York (1936-1940). In 1943 he had his first solo show at the Wakefield bookstore and gallery. During the years immediately following, important American museums and modern art centers began to acquire his works. In 1947 he exhibited with other innovative artists, such as Still, Reinhardt and Newman at the Betty Parsons Gallery and had a solo exhibition at the same gallery. In 1948-1949 he travelled to France, Italy and Greece. In 1950, along with seventeen other avant garde artists among which were Rothko, Pollock and De Kooning, he signed a letter of protest denouncing the conservative criteria used for the mounting of an exhibition of modern American painting at the Metropolitan Museum of New York. At the same time he was interested in Far Eastern philosophy as well as Japanese art and calligraphy. A little later, in 1954, he created his first Color Fields . In 1958/1959 works of his were included in the important exhibition “Modern American Painting” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which signalled the rise to prominence of abstract expressionism, and during the same period he began his association with the Andre Emmerich Gallery which lasted until 1970. In 1963 he painted the first works of the series Sun-Boxes and in 1966 taught as a visiting professor at the Columbia University. In 1970 he started the series Infinity Fields and began to divide his time between New York and Lefkada, where his family was from. In 1972 he presented his monochromatic works at the Marlborough gallery in New York and two years later had his first solo exhibition in Greece, at the Art gallery of Athens. In 1975 he donated forty five of his works to the National Gallery in Athens. Large retrospective exhibitions of his works have been organized at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington (1958), the Knoedler Gallery in Zurich (1984) and the National Gallery in Athens (1997).
A leading figure in abstract expressionism internationally, throughout his life he consistently moved ahead in the visual arts – from his biomorphic paintings (1945-1949) and his abstract and calligraphic works (1949- 1955) to the three large series he created from 1954 to 1993 – producing a spiritual work noted for its existential and ontological content.
He expressed an interest in art at early age and in 1929 started his studies at the School of Fine Arts in the studios of Konstantinos Parthenis and Umvertos Argyros. He graduated in 1936 and the following year left with his close friend Yannis Moralis for Rome. With a scholarship from Prince Nikolaos, which he won in 1939, he continued his studies in Paris but the outbreak of World War II forced him to return to Greece.
Having started to exhibit in 1936, and participating in the group exhibition at the Venice Biennale, in 1948 he presented his first solo show while taking part in the exhibitions of the groups Free Artists, Art Group and Junction, of which he was a founding member, as well as in Panhellenies and international exhibitions, such as the Biennales of Venice in 1964 and Sao Paolo in 1957. After his death his work was presented in various exhibitions and in 1991 at a large retrospective at the National Gallery.
In the context of his broader artistic activity he was also involved with set design, making sets and costumes for Karolos’ Koun’s Art Theater, the Greek Ballet of Rallou Manou, and the State Theater of Northern Greece as well as the presentations of ancient drama at Epidaurus and Herod Atticus Theater. Another aspect of his creativity can be seen in his involvement with portable frescoes and wall painting, which he started in 1949 and includes the decoration of the ceremonial hall and the student room of the Panteion University, the Mousouris Theater and the Theotokopoulos Club in Herakleio, a tourist hotel in Sparta, the tourist pavilion in Mycenae and so on. He also worked for the Greek magazine Νέα Εστία illustrating stories, while having made a serious study of ancient Greek art, he published articles concerned with the harmonious chiselling of the works and the creation of the Kouros. In 1964 he was elected professor at the School of Fine Arts. In 1986, shortly after his death, his book Η περιπέτεια της γραμμής στην Τέχνη (The Adventure of the Line in Art) was published and contains theoretical texts related to his experiences and his experiments in art.
In his painting, characterized by a spareness of style, a holdover from his brief service in abstraction, and by a lack of numerous and intense colors, the dominant motif from the very beginning was the fleshy, naked female figure, rendered without perspective and accompanied by the three Greek trees, the fig, olive and pomegranate. On a more limited scale he was also involved with still life and landscape and experimented with painting on stones.
Cypriot in origin, he lived in Larnaca until the age of twelve. He studied Law and Political Science at the University of Athens while he was a self-taught painter though he had shown an inclination for it from his boyhood. In 1947 he started his career in the diplomatic service, from which he resigned in 1959 when he was elected Professor of Painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts. He remained in this position till 1982. During the period 1950-1952, working as a diplomatic employee in Paris, he had the chance to study modern art trends.
He began to exhibit in 1948 with the artistic group “Armos” (Junction), of which he was a founding member. He has also organized many solo shows and taken part in group exhibitions in Greece and abroad, among which are the Biennales of Sao Paolo in 1955 and 1957, where he was awarded honorable mention, Alexandria in 1961 and Venice in 1966. In 1986 his work was presented in a retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery.
From time to time he has been involved with stage design, while in the context of his broader intellectual interests he has published literary texts in magazines and published a collection of stories called Mirrors (1947).
Experimenting with oil and tempera, water color and encaustic, he paints landscapes, still lifes, portraits and dressed or nude female figures; expressionistic in nature his work is characterized by heavy distortion and powerful color combinations.
A student of Georgios Jakovides at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1900- 1907) he then studied at the Munich Academy under Ludwig von Lofftz and in Paris at the Desire Lucas studio. He returned to Greece in 1913. He exhibited with the Art Group (1919, 1930, 1931, 1933).
Thematically his work is primarily focused on scenes of everyday life, still lifes, portraits and landscapes, which are distinguished for their deep inwardness and melancholy, while during the last years of his creative life he was involved with religious subjects. One of the best painters of the first half of the 20th century he developed both impressionist and expressionist elements.
He studied at the School of Fine Arts (1928-1934) under Dimitrios Biskinis, Dimitrios Geraniotis, Spyros Vikatos, Georgios Jakovides, Thomas Thomopoulos, Yannis Kefallinos and Konstantinos Parthenis. At the same time he spent four years (1930-1934) in the workshop of Fotis Kontoglou who initiated him into Byzantine painting and music.
In 1935 he travelled to Constantinople and Smyrna and then went to Paris where he learned the art of copperplate. In the French capital he studied at first hand the painting of the Renaissance, Impressionism and the work of Theophilos from the Teriade collection. He also met Matisse, Laurens and Giacometti. In 1936 he returned to Greece and two years later organized his first solo show at the Th. Alexopoulos business in Athens. This was followed by many solo shows among which were retrospectives in 1952 at the British Council, 1966 at the Astor gallery and 1981 at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki while in 1980 a solo show was organized at the Grand Palais. His exhibition activity also included appearances at the exhibitions of the “Armos” (Junction) group, of which he was a founding member, Panhellenies and international exhibitions such as the Biennales of Alexandria in 1955 and Venice in 1958.
He started his professional involvement with set design in 1928 and this was to make up an important part of his artistic creation and includes cooperative undertakings with the National Theater, the State Opera, Karolos Koun’s Art Theater, the Ancient Theater at Epidaurus, Covent Garden in London, the Dallas Civic Opera of Texas, the Theatre National Populaire of Paris and Teatro Olympico in Vincenza. He also worked with important Greek and foreign artists such as Maria Callas, Katina Paxinou, Alexis Minotis, Michael Kakoyannis, Jules Dassin and Franco Zeffirelli. During the period 1960-1962, moreover, he taught stage design at the Doxiadis School. He was also involved with book illustration while in the context of his broader interest in art, he wrote texts and reviews which were later published in books.
In 1967, because of political developments in Greece, he went back to Paris and returned home once and for all in 1980. Two years later he launched the “Tsarouchis Foundation” housed in the artist’s house in Maroussi and containing both his works and those of other artists.
One of the most important representatives of the “Thirties Generation”, Tsarouchis embodied in his work the ideal of “Greekness”. With a multiplicity of influences from Hellenistic and Byzantine art, the art of the Renaissance and more modern times, the work of Matisse, Theophilos and Kontoglou as well as the figures of the Karaghiozis shadow puppets, he created a unique personal style and depicted landscapes, still lifes, nudes and allegorical scenes. But his interest was primarily focused on the human figure, creating isolated portraits, as well as scenes with sailors and soldiers, which make up a characteristic part of his work.
A retrospestive exhibition of his work was inaugurated in December 2009 in the Benaki Museum.
In 1874 she settled with her family in Constantinople where she studied at the Zappeion Girls’ School. After graduation she worked as a teacher for a year but her inclination for painting led her in 1895 to Munich where she studied at private schools and trained under Nikolaos Vokos, Georgios Ιakovidιs, Nikolaos Gyzis, Paul Nauen, Anton Azbe, Walter Thor and Fer. In 1898 she returned to Constantinople but then went back to Munich again where she remained until 1900. After her definitive return she continued to travel in various European cities and in 1907 on a trip to Egypt, she married the journalist Nikolaos Karavias. Living in Alexandria for thirty years, she developed substantial artistic activity and founded an Artistic School which she ran herself. In the war of 1912-1913, she followed the campaigns of the Greek army at first hand keeping a diary and sketching various impressions which she published in 1936 in a book entitled Εντυπώσεις από τον πόλεμο του 1912-1913. Μακεδονία-Ήπειρος (Impressions from the War of 1912-1913. Macedonia-Epirus). She also followed the Asia Minor campaign and the operations on the Albanian front, depicting the soldier’s life, the landscapes and monuments. For her work and activity she was awarded the silver medal of the Athens Academy in 1945 and the Cross of the Order of Beneficence in 1954.
Beginning her exhibition activity in 1898, she presented her work at a multitude of solo and group shows in Greece and abroad, among which were those at the Society of Art Devotees, the Parnassos Hall, and the International Exhibitions of Paris in 1900, Constantinople in 1901 and 1902, Athens in 1903, Cairo in 1909 and Rome in 1911, as well as the Venice Biennale of 1934.
In her work, which covers nearly all subjects — portraits, landscapes, still lifes and genre scenes — and is characterized by faultless draughtsmanship, balanced composition and sensitivity in the rendering of the colors, she originally stuck to the conservative rules of the Academy but later adopted the doctrines of impressionism and plein air painting. She was also involved with the illustration of literary texts and designed the lottery tickets for the support of the Greek National Fleet.
He took his first painting lessons in Chania at a young age. In 1927 he went to Rome where he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, until 1931, the final three years on a scholarship from Eleftherios Venizelos. After a brief stay in Greece he left for Paris from which he returned in 1933. He settled in Athens and later, in order to study Byzantine art, travelled to Mt. Athos.
A leading member of the Spirit-Level group and a member of the Art Group as well, he presented his work at their exhibitions, at Panhellenies and other group exhibitions in Greece and abroad. In 1938, in cooperation with Panos Spanoudis, he began to publish the twice monthly Greek newspaper Τέχνη while in 1942 he published a book Περί ζωγραφικής (On Painting). From 1940 to 1946 he abandoned painting almost entirely in order to involve himself with the collection and study of elements related to the works and painters of the 19th century, which he later published in his book, Έλληνες ζωγράφοι του δεκάτου ενάτου αιώνος (Greek Painters from the Nineteenth Century) , published in 1957 by the Commercial Bank of Greece. In 1948 he was appointed Professor of Art Lessons at the Greek Institute of Eleftheriadis and I.M. Panayiotopoulos and in 1951 he spent ten months as the artistic director of glass-making division of the Fertilizer Corporation.
A painter primarily of landscapes, he also did portraits and still lifes adhering to the doctrines of impressionism while in certain compositions influences from the work of Cezanne and cubism can be seen.
He originally studied painting in Italy (Venice or Rome) but after the death of his brother he went to London and in 1866 settled in Paris where he completed his studies at the School of Fine Arts under Henri Leroux and Jean- Paul Laurens. Residing in the French capital for thirty years, he had a noteworthy career and developed host of artistic activities, participating in many Parisian Salons, in the World Exhibitions of Paris in 1878 and 1889, in the International Exhibition of London in 1862 as well as exhibitions in Greece. During his residence there he travelled to Italy and Russia and in 1899, crushed by the death of his wife, he returned to Greece where he lived alone and inconspicuous in a hotel room, but he continued to work till the end of his life.
Xydias, though he lived in Paris during a period when many painters turned to impressionism, remained at basis an academic painter, without venturing to make any fundamental changes. He was primarily involved with portraiture but also did still lifes, mythological and allegorical scenes and genre work while in 1869 at the request of the Greek community he made three icons for the church of St. Nicholas in Liverpool in which his assimilation of western elements, which characterize the painting of the Ionian islands, is obvious.
He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts under Spyridon Vikatos, Umvertos Argyros and Epameinondas Thomopoulos (1933-1938). In 1938, on a scholarship from the Athens Academy, he went to Paris where he continued his studies at the School of Fine Arts under Charles Guerin and at private schools. He returned to Greece in 1940 and later began to present his works in solo, group and international exhibitions in Greece and abroad (Alexandria Biennale 1955, Sao Paolo Biennale 1957, Documenta, Kassel 1964, 1975). In 1960 he won the UNESCO Prize at the 30th Venice Biennale. In 1961 he won the Gold Medal of the City of Ostende in Belgium, in 1966 the Order of the Phoenix in Athens and in 1978 the Gottfried von Herder Prize in Vienna. In November 1990, just a few months after his death, the Jannis and Zoe Spyropoulos Foundation was formed, whose aim is the collecting, study, presentation and exploitation of the paintings of Jannis Spyropoulos as well as the support of young painters. In 1992 the house-museum was inaugurated showing the developmental course of the painter, and the same year it awarded for the first time the J. Spyropoulos Prize for talented young visual artists. In 1994 the Macedonian Mu-seum of Contemporary Art organized a retrospective exhibition of his work and a year later this was followed by a retrospective at the National Gallery.
“A Classicist of Abstraction”, Spyropoulos steadfastly forged ahead in regard to the development of his morphoplastic quests, from pictorial rendering to abstract rendering and finally to pure abstraction. From the doctrines of Cezanne and the schematized figure, he went on to geometric structure and construction by means of color, and then was gradually led to a combinative use of heterogeneous materials with the technique of oil painting, the juxtaposition of large dark and smaller luminous color surfaces achieving in his final works on paper, spareness and inwardness.
