Visual Arts in Greece: 1950s–1990s - Part 6/6

Modernism in Greek visual arts has been a dynamic and evolving field throughout the 20^th century, shaped by the country’s rich cultural heritage, political changes, global influences and the advent of new media and technology. It is characterized by the exploration of abstraction, experimental techniques, and the use of modern materials, offering a fascinating glimpse into the complexities of Greek identity, history, tradition and modernity. Through a series of articles, Greek News Agenda presents a brief panorama of the Greek visual art scene in the second half of the 20^th century. The articles are based on the catalogue of the landmark exhibition at the National Gallery “Metamorphoses of the Modern – the Greek Experience”, curated by Dr. Anna Kafetsi (14.5-13.9.1992). The exhibition aimed to address the complex question: “Does a Greek modernism, in fact, exist? And if so, what is its character?” More than 100 Greek artists—both from the Greek metropolis and the Diaspora—were featured in the exhibition and selected for their “autonomous plastic language”. About 50 artists, key figures of the post-war Greek visual art scene, are explored in greater depth in the series.

Visual Arts in Greece: 1950s–1990s – Part 6/6: “Towards a new spatial art”

(Source: Dr Anna Kafetsi, Catalogue of the exhibition “Metamorphoses of the Modern – the Greek Experience”, National Gallery, Athens, 1992, p.245-6)

“With the evolution of sculpture – which had already broken down the strict barriers which divided it from painting – into an art of autonomous objects, the space which traditional painting had represented by means of illusion had been conquered. […] space and the particular place are now generative components in the structure of the work, and on a unified scale the work itself is metamorphosed into an architecturally-designed environment which we can visit. The lager constructions, which are part of space and impose their presence in their movement, their line, their intensity and their perpendicularity […] tend to take on an architectural dimension […] In a similar manner, other works whose construction contains an innate element of structural dismantling and re-assembly can be adapted to whatever site they are erected on, where they could be said to be re-created […] The dialectics of sculpture and architecture has continued in other directions and is tending to unify the two arts, metamorphosing constructional sculpture into constructed space […] All that was left now was for artists to turn towards the natural environment itself […] where qualities and features, products and characters from each specific location were utilized to make that location into a work of art”.

FEATURED ARTISTS (PART 6): GAITIS, COULENTIANOS, LOUKOPOULOS, PHILOLAOS, MOLFESSIS, LAPPAS, ZAFOS XAGORARIS, SPILIOPOULOS, CHARALAMBOUS

Yannis Gaitis, Black Stable Heads, aluminium, iron, 279×142 cm, Athens National Gallery (top left), Mass Transport or General Transport, 1984, iron and paint, 550 x460x200 cm, Athens National Gallery (top right), Interior view of the Gaitis-Simossi Museum, photo by Dimitris Foutris (lower)

YANNIS GAITIS (Athens, 1923 – Athens, 1984) studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts. In 1949, he participated in the founding of the group The Extremists. In 1954, he moved to Paris, where he studied at the School of Fine Arts and the Grande Chaumière Academy. In 1959, in Rome, he joined the Gruppo Sigma alongside other Greek artists. In the mid-1960s, Gaitis began creating his well-known figure of the little man. Initially, this figure was repeated around a central motif, but later evolved into a schematic and standardized form, becoming both a symbol and an ironic critique of society. His repeated little men, representing middle-class propriety and alienation, dominated his work in various forms, often as wooden constructions. These figures have been placed at the Athens metro station Stathmos Larissis. Gaitis participated in numerous exhibitions in Greece and abroad, including the São Paolo Biennales (1952, 1967) and the Brussels Europalia (1982). In 2024, the Gaitis-Simossi Museum opened its doors on the Cycladic island of Ios. (Source: Athens National Gallery, Contemporary Greek Art Institute, ISET)

The Gaitis-Simossi Museum on Ios Island

Costas Coulentianos, Abstract, 1974, iron, 187x155x172 cm, Athens National Gallery (top left), New Generation IX, 1998, iron, Ethniki Amyna station of the Athens metro (top right), View of the exhibition The last of the Modern Acrobats, the Βenaki Museum, 27.9.2012-5.1.2023 (lower)

COSTAS COULENTIANOS (Athens, 1918 – Arles, 1995) studied sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts. He fought as a volunteer on the Albanian front and later participated in the Greek Resistance. In 1945, le boarded the celebrated Mataroa ship, traveling to Paris with other Greek artists and intellectuals on a French government scholarship. In 1946, he attended courses at the École des Beaux Arts and shortly after at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. His collaboration with Henri Laurens had a decisive impact on his career. In the 1950s, he began exploring abstract forms, with metal becoming his primary material. In the 1970s, his “screw” sculptures became his trademark. These works, made of curved or flat surfaces of white- or black-painted iron joined by iron blades, resulted in dynamic compositions that interact with space and light. He created more than 50 outdoor sculptures. His work New Generation IX has been placed at the Ethniki Amyna station of the Athens metro. Coulentianos presented his work in numerous exhibitions in Athens, London, Paris and other cities across Europe and America. He also participated in group exhibitions, including the São Paulo Biennale (1955) and the Venice Biennale (1964, 1982). (Source: Athens National Gallery, Contemporary Greek Art Institute, ISET)

Klearchos Loukopoulos, Superimposition, 1977, Bronze, 63x53x42 cm, Athens National Gallery (left), Acrocorinth, 1965, Bronze, 97,5x51x38,5 cm, Athens National Gallery (right)

KLEARCHOS LOUKOPOULOS (Thermo, Aitolia, 1906 – Athens, 1995) studied studied law at the University of Athens and sculpture at the Académie Colarossi in Paris (1934-36). Initially creating realistic, anthropocentric works, he later transitioned to abstraction During this period, he abandoned marble and stone in favor of metal, creating works featuring polyhedral forged metal forms that evoke Mycenaean stone wall masonry. His work, based on various combinations of geometric shapes arranged in vertical or horizontal patterns in space, developed constructivist traits after the 1970s. In a broader context of creative activity, Loukopoulos collaborated with the architect, Aris Konstantinidis to create a series of monumental compositions for the Xenia hotels of the Hellenic Tourism Organization (EOT), located in several Greek cities. An artist with broad intellectual interests, Loukopoulos published and translated many articles on art. His work has been presented in solo exhibitions and group events, including the Salon des Indépendants in Paris, the Venice Biennale (1956, 1966), the São Paulo and Alexandria Biennales (1959), and Europalia (1982). In 2000, his work Stili (Column) was placed at the Ethniki Amyna station of the Athens metro. (Source: Athens National Gallery, Contemporary Greek Art Institute, ISET)

Philolaos (Tloupas), The Prow, 1964, stainless steel, 80 x 60 x 90 cm, Athens National Gallery (top left), The Water Towers of Valance, 1969-71, aqueduct, stainless steel and cement, 52 and 57 m, included in the UNESCO list of cultural heritage projects (photo from the current exhibition at the Katsigras Museum in Larissa), L’oiseau mécanique, metallic sculpture, La Défense, Paris, 1972 (photo from the current exhibition at the Katsigras Museum in Larissa)

PHILOLAOS (TLOUPAS) (Larissa, 1923 – Paris, 2010) studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts. After graduating in 1950, he moved to for Paris and soon settled in Chevreuse, where he became first a student and later a professor at the Faculty of Ceramics. An artist who never ceased to seek to experiment, he developed his own original technique in the late 1970s, producing a great number of works made from cement, stainless steel and washed concrete (béton lavé). Particularly interested in the cultural role of sculpture and its integration into architectural setting, Philolaos extensively collaborated with architects. The result of these collaborations was monumental sculptural constructions for public spaces. At the same time, he created small-scale sculptures with a poetic and intensely surrealist quality. Philolaos held his first solo exhibitions in 1964 in Nantes, Paris, and Athens. He also participated in major group exhibitions, including the Salon du Mai in Paris and the São Paulo Biennale (1965). In 2005, the French government, in 2005, honored Philolaos for his contributions to art by declaring him an Officer of the Order of Letters and Arts, and the French Academy of Architecture awarded him the Medal of Plastic Arts. (Source: Athens National Gallery)

Jason Molfessis, MXXD 3010 I-II-III, 1994, steel, 1,50Χ1,50Χ1,50m, 0,80Χ052m, 1.00Χ0,15m, European Cultural Center of Delphi (top left), The Eye of the Ox, 1988, polyester, diameter 19.5 cm, Florina Museum of Contemporary Art (top right), Iron Corridor, 1990, polyester, iron, iron plates, Athens National Gallery (lower)

JASON MOLFESSIS (Athens, 1925 – Athens, 2009) studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1941-46), while also attending the Athens Law School. In 1950, he left for Paris where he attended fresco and painting workshops (1951-52). He settled permanently in Paris and became part of the avant-garde of his time, maintaining contacts in Greece. In 1968, he turned to sculpture, initially creating relief compositions from hammered lead, and later large sculptural installations made of cement and iron in Paris and other cities, which he called “Agora”, “Labyrinth”, “Sarcophagus”, “Temple”, “Fossil”. Molfessis developed a unique artistic language, showing a keen interest in the technological achievements of his times, especially in computing, and used binary code to create his own abstract artistic universe. In 1988, he was elected professor at the School of Fine Arts in Thessaloniki, where he taught until 1990. His exhibition history includes solo shows as well as participation in group and international exhibitions, including the São Paulo Biennale (1963), the Venice Biennale (1972), Europalia (1982), and the Paris Salons. (Source: Kalfayan Galleries, Athens National Gallery)

George Lappas, Le film eternal, luminous installation, aluminum, metals, plastic and light, 300x200x200cm, Athens National Gallery (top left), New Burghers, 1993, metal, plaster, polyurethane, red cloth, Figure A: 228x120x90cm, Figure C:228x100x130cm, Base:200x221x194cm, EMST (top right), Mappemonde, 1987, metal, neon and Plexiglas, 31 sculptures, 135x150x100 cm, EMST (lower)

GEORGE LAPPAS (Cairo, 1950 – Athens, 2016) studied psychology at Reed College, Portland (U.S.A.). In 1975, he studied architecture in London and then sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1977-82). He continued his art studies at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris (1984-85). His work includes sculptures, constructions, and installations, often large that explore the relationship between sculpture and space, as well as the viewer-artwork communication. In the 1990s he created his most popular works, dominated by the human figure and the use of bright red colour. The life-size figures, known as The Bourgeois, whether single or in groups, are often fragmentary or made from assembled parts, allowing for constant reshaping. Those constructions, which evoke both statues and mechanical devices, challenge the static nature of sculpture by offering extensive potential for transformation. Lappas taught sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA) from 1992 onward. He presented solo exhibitions in Greece and abroad and participated in several group exhibitions, including the Young Artists Biennale in Paris (1982), the Europalia (Belgium), São Paulo Biennale (1987), and the Venice Biennale (Aperto 1988, Greek Pavilion 1990). His work was also featured at the Kassel Dokumenta (2017). (Source: Contemporary Greek Art Institute, ISET)

Zafos Xagoraris, Boxed bells, 2003, Bell, sound proof materials, programmable bell Ringer, 220x170x170cm, 8 drawings with pencil 25 x 33 cm, EMST, Sound installation, Petrofani, 2004, Amp, mechanism comprising of two speakers, an amplifier, a battery and a microphone, installed in the center of abandoned villages due to the Turkish invasion in 1974, Cyprus (top right), “The Performance”, outdoor installation, ΝΕΟΝ city project 2016, parking lot next to the Athinaion Theater, Athens, 2016 (photo by Natalia Tsoukala) (lower)

ZAFOS XAGORARIS (Athens, 1963) studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with an Onassis Foundation scholarship. His Ph.D. was about the construction of miracles by Hero of Alexandria (Department of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens). He has presented several personal exhibitions, while his work consists of drawings, obstructing devices of visual or other signals, and public installations of sound amplification mechanisms. He is currently teaching at the Athens School of Fine Arts and has taught at the University of Patras and the University of Sassari. Xagoraris has participated in major exhibitions, including the 58th Venice Biennale, Greek Pavilion, “Mr Stigl” (2019), the Kassel Documenta (2017), and the São Paulo Biennale (2006). He was also one of the curators of the Greek Pavilion at the 9th Venice Architecture Biennale (2004) and the 2nd Athens Bienniale (2009). In addition, he has presented several outdoor installations. (Source: http://zafosxagoraris.net/, EMST)

Marios Spiliopoulos, Apiculture Arrangement, 1997, wood, wax, blue marker drawing on transparent paper, lamp, wire, 50,5 x 25 x 41,5 cm, EMST (top right), Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, 1992, mixed media, Athens National Gallery (top right), Christodentro (The Tree of Christ), 1995, mixed media on panel, 39,5×33,5cm, Athens National Gallery (lower left), The Landscape of Being, 1997, wooden table (80x 100x70cm) with hand written text from the Landscape of Being, by N.G. Pentzikis, 10 branches, 12 little black crosses, electric lamp, steel, water, glass, straw chair, 3 glasses, steel cross filled with olive oil, square glass, electric lamp, illuminated box (50 x 42 x 25 cm), variable dimensions, EMST (lower right)

MARIOS SPILIOPOULOS (Polygyros, Chalkidiki, 1957) studied at the School of Engineering and Technology in Thessaloniki and painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1983-88). His first solo exhibition, an artistic intervention in the environment, was presented in his birthplace in 1987. This exhibition revealed the artistic position of his later work, which includes environments, constructions and spatial interventions, often of a ritualistic nature and alluding to the identity and characteristics of Greece and its people. He typically uses natural, unrefined materials in his constructions (such as soil, water, wood, and wax) which are connected to primordial memories and allude to mythical or religious symbols. The ritualistic atmosphere, distinctive in his installations, is further enhanced by the use of light, often emanating from lit candles or vigil lamps. Spiliopoulos Xagoraris is teaching at the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA) since 1991. He has presented his work in several solo exhibitions in Greece and abroad and has participated in many group exhibitions and international art events, including those in Glasgow (1990), Madrid (1992), and Copenhagen (1996). He won first prize at the 18th Alexandria Biennale in 1994. (Source: Contemporary Greek Art Institute, ISET)

Panos Charalambous, Concerning Fishing, Fishermen, 1990-91, panoscharalambous.com (top left), Tobacco area, mixed media, 1986, panoscharalambous.com (top right), An Eagle was Standing, 2019, Mr. Stigl, Pavilion of Greece at the 58th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, panoscharalambous.com (lower)

PANOS CHARALAMBOUS (Akarnania, 1956) studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts. He has worked with various materials, often drawn from the context of Greek provincial life, and has experimented with many forms of visual and performance art. From 1986 to 1990, he created wall-mounted works and environments focused on the theme of tobacco cultivation, a reference to his rural upbringing and home region. In 1990, he began a new cycle of works centered on fishing, creating in situ interventions in Lake Amvrakia. His artistic expression constitutes a conceptual articulation that takes historical and social experience into account. He is a professor emeritus of the Athens School of Fine Arts. Charalambous has participated in international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (2019), the Kassel Documenta (2017), the White House Biennial, Varna (2016), Besançon (2014), Break-Through exhibition, Madrid (2004), the Cultural Capital of Europe, Copenhagen (1996), and Kunst-Europa, Berlin (1991). In 2015, he was awarded by the Association of Art Critics – AICA Hellas for the exhibition Aquis Submersus. (Source: https://panoscharalambous.com/, Athens National Gallery)

I.A.