Vakirtzis Giorgos

He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1939-1946) under Konstantinos Parthenis and Umvertos Argyros, while he learned the techniques for making giant posters from Stephanos Almaliotis (1938-1940). During the period 1952-1953 he studied painting, engraving and the graphic arts at the School of Fine Arts as well as private academies in Paris.

From 1945 to 1963 he was the artistic director of Skouras Films, at the same time making giant posters for the most important cinemas in Athens. He also worked for Finos Films and L.T.C. in Paris and, starting in 1963, served as director of the advertising company Gnomi A.E. At the same time, he was involved with wall and shop-window posters and decorated houses, commercial pavilions and shops with inscriptions and wall paintings. During the period 1956-1974, his interests extended to the graphic arts, in the context of which he edited publications and designed covers for books, albums and magazines, while he also was important to the promotion of commercial photography in Greece. He was, moreover, interested in art on a theoretical level, publishing studies and the books, “25 αφίσες του Γ. Bακιρτζή” (25 Posters by G. Vakirtzis) (Athens, 1963), “Γιγαντοαφίσες του κινηματογράφου του Γ. Βακιρτζή” (Giant Posters for the Cinema by G. Vakirtzis) (Athens, 1968) and “Η λαϊκή επιγραφή στην Ελλάδα” (The Folk Inscription in Greece) (Athens, 1973/1974).

He started to take part in group, Panhellenies and international exhibitions in 1949, holding solo shows from 1980 on, while in 1989 his work was presented in a retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery.

An anthropocentric artist, Vakirtzis used elements from the art of the giant poster, folk painting and expressionism, which he combined with a background of large, classical compositions from the past, in order to set down his preoccupations in his own personal style directly related to the historical and political experiences of Greek society.