The Painter Yannis Moralis, 1937

Yannis Pappas remained faithful to the figurative depiction focused on the human being throughout his entire artistic career. Guided by nature and tradition he moulded, drew and painted the human figure, initially placing his stress on a realistic and detailed rendering and eventually seeking to express the essence of the subject, using a simplified and more abstract manner. His style echoes both archaic Greek and Egyptian sculpture, as well as the contemporary trends.

During his stay in Paris he made the sculptures of Christos Kapralos (1936) and Yannis Moralis (1937), two very characteristic early works. The differences in the rendering of these works indicate the style that he will adopt in his later compositions. While Kapralos is characterized by intense realism, Yannis Moralis’s sculpture is characterized by the essential and the details are stressed in a discreet and selective manner in specific parts of the face and the body. Thus they forewarn the more abstract style which will characterize his later works.