Panayiotis Tetsis

Panayiotis Tetsis (1925 – 5 March 2016) was a Greek painter. Tetsis was an exponent of the post-impressionistic seascape tradition
"In his painting, Panayiotis Tetsis  has always maintained constant links with the senses. His gaze was trained in reading the light and translating it into pure forces of colour. He created a painting en plein air that is truly colouristic, with powerful harmonies, which convincingly interpret the nature of Greek light. In his mature work, Panayiotis Tetsis literally builds with colour. He translates light and shadow into calculated units of pure and gleaming colour, constructing a sunny and light universe. A neglected quality in the approach of modern painting to colour, the light provides the basis for the artist to lay out colour in his works. Yet, in his painting, Tetsis did not ignore the contributions of Abstraction. Each section of his painting can be read as pure painting and as part of the enigma of the image. As a thinker of the gaze, Panayiotis Tetsis seeks the absolute. He guides the viewer’s gaze toward the inner motions of the soul. This is why he only paints what he is intimately familiar with: his friends, landscapes from the island of Hydra or Sifnos, the last rays of the sun, the Friday open-air market on Xenokratous Street, in Athens, and still-life paintings, depicting objects with which the artist maintains a constant tactile and visual relationship."(.wikiart.org)

Dimitris Mytaras

Dimitris Mytaras (born 1934, Chalkis) is a Greek artist who is considered one of the important Greek painters of the 20th century.
His work is mainly inspired by the human figure, and a combination of naturalism and expressionism. From the 1960s onward, Mytaras moved in the direction of naturalism, while from 1975 an expressionistic approach became more and more marked in his output.

From 1953 till 1957, Mytaras studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts under Yiannis Moralis. Later on he studied stage design at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. From 1964 till 1972, he directed the Interior Decoration Workshop of the Athens Technological Institute. Since 1975 he has been teaching at the Painting Workshop of the Athens School of Fine Arts. Mytaras has participated in more than 30 international group shows, including the 1972 Venice Biennale.

During the time of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974, Mytaras sought to comment critically on Greek life through a series of realistic works entitled Photographic Documents.
In later life he turned towards classical themes.
Mytaras was also selected to create one of the official posters for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.Wikipedia

Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas

Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas (February 26, 1906 – September 3, 1994) was a leading Greek painter, sculptor, engraver, writer and academic. He was a founding member of the Association of Greek Art Critics, AICA-Hellas, International Association of Art Critics.He studied ancient and Byzantine art as well as folk art due to his adoration for the Greek landscape. During his youth he was exposed in Paris to the avant-garde European artistic trends and he gained recognition as the leading Greek cubist artist.
His aim was to focus on the harmony and purity of Greek art and to deconstruct the Greek landscape and intense natural light into simple geometric shapes and interlocking planes.His works are featured in the National Gallery (Athens), the Musee d’ Art Moderne in Paris, the Tate Gallery in London, the Metropolitan Museum of New York and in private collections worldwide.

 Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas was born in Athens in 1906. His father was the admiral Alexandros Hadjikyriakos, and his mother Eleni belonged to an old navy family of Greece. His father During his teen years (1918–1922) his family recognized the potential of his talent and arranged for him to study painting with the famous artist Parthenis. In 1923 he went to Paris to study French Literature and Esthetics at the Sorbonne University. During his first months in Paris he participated in an exhibition that took place in the Salon des Indépendants. In 1924 he continued his studies in painting and engraving at the Academie Ranson. In 1927 he had his first exhibition at Gallerie Percier. Picasso himself noticed and commented the works of the young Greek artist.

 In 1933 he organized in Athens the 4th International Architectural Symposium. In 1934 he arranged another exhibition of his paintings and sculptures in the Gallerie des Cahiers d' Art and in the international exhibitions of Paris and Venice. From 1935 to 1937 he was co-editor of the art magazine 3rd Eye. In 1941 he was offered a position in the Architectural School of the National Technical University of Athens. In 1949 he formed, with other artists including Yiannis Moralis, Yannis Tsarouchis, Nikos Nikolaou, Nikos Engonopoulos and Panayiotis Tetsis, the "Armos" art group.

 In 1961 he married Barbara Hutchinson, who had previously been married to Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild and to classicist Rex Warner.
In 1973 he became a member of the Athens Academy and in 1986 a member of the Royal Academy in London. He was also a member of the Tiberiana Academy in Rome and was granted the title of Officier des Arts et des Lettres from the French government.
In 1988 he had his last exhibition at the Royal Academy of London. His wife, Barbara, died in 1989. He died on September 3, 1994, in Athens.Today in Greece he is celebrated as one of the most important modern Greek painters. His house has been converted to a museum and is being run by the Benaki Museum.Wikipedia

Greek surrealism Nikos Engonopoulos

Nikos Engonopoulos (October 21, 1907 – October 31, 1985) was a modern Greek painter and poet. He is one of the most important members of "Generation of the '30s", as well as a major representative of the surrealist movement in Greece. His work as a writer also includes critique and essays.Nikos Engonopoulos was born in Athens in 1907 and was the second son of Panaghiotis and Errietti (Henrietta) Engonopoulos. During the summer of 1914 when Nikos Engonopoulos family went on a trip to Constantinople his family was obliged to settle there, due to the outbreak of World War I. In 1923, he was enrolled in a lycée in Paris, where he studied for a period of four years. After his return to Greece, he served as a private in the 1st Infantry Regiment. Later on he worked as a translator in a bank and as a secretary at the University of Athens. In 1930 Engonopoulos was employed as a designer in the Urban Planning Department of the Greek Ministry of Public Works.

 In 1932 he joined the Athens School of Fine Arts, where he studied under the supervision of Konstantinos Parthenis. He also attended classes at the art studio of Photios Kontoglou. During that time he met important artists, the poet Andreas Embirikos and painters such as Yannis Tsarouchis, Giorgio de Chirico and Yannis Moralis.

 His first paintings, mostly temperas on paper depicting old houses, were presented at an Art of Modern Greek Tradition exhibition, organised in January 1938. Soon after the exhibition, he published translations of poems by Tristan Tzara, which were published in February. A few months later, his first collection of poems (Do Not Distract the Driver) was published, followed by a second one (The Clavicembalos of Silence) the next year. Overall he is considered one of the finest surrealist poets of Greece.

 His first individual exhibition was held in 1939. Three years later, he finished his most popular long poem Bolivar, a Greek Poem, inspired by the revolutionary leader Simón Bolívar and published in 1944. The poem was also released in the form of a song, in 1968, with music composed by Nikos Mamangakis.He died of a heart attack in 1985 in Athens.Wikipedia