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Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
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Avdi Square
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Avdi Square is a public gathering place located in the Metaxourgeio neighbourhood of Athens, Greece, bounded by Leonidou, Kerameikou, Giatrakou and Germanikou streets. On the edges of the stand the Municipal Gallery of Athens, several cafes, theatres, businesses. The City of Athens renovated the square in 2008, increasing the amount and quality of greenery, the square’s 2008 overhaul was part of the city’s “Were Taking Note and Taking Action program, which aimed to solve everyday problems in Athens neighbourhoods. In Avdi Square, the city added 39 trees,112 bushes,500 flowers,1,000 square metres of grass and this square will become the heart of culture and recreation in your neighbourhood, ” he said during the launch of the revamped space. The square is named for Leon Avdis, a Greek lawyer, in 1994 he was elected Municipal Councillor of Athens as head of the Fighting Cooperation for Athens coalition. Avdis was elected to Parliament in 1996 on the Greek Communist Party ticket and his platform including improving living conditions in run-down areas and creating bicycle lanes in the capital. Map of Avdi Square and adjacent restaurants, theatres and art gallery Map of Athens neighbourhoods
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Christian Hansen (architect)
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He was the brother of Theophilus Hansen who was also an internationally successful architect, active in Athens and Vienna. He is considered to be a pioneer in the study and application of polychrome architecture, Christian Hansen was born in Copenhagen. Christian Frederik Hansen taught him an approach to architecture and Hetsch introduced him to Schinkel whose influence he had brought to Denmark. In 1831 Christian Hansen won the Academys large gold medal and a travel scholarship and he then set out on a journey to Italy and Greece, first spending two years in Italy, mainly in Rome and Sicily. In 1833, Hansen travelled to Athens, recently chosen as the new capital of the nascent Greece which had recently gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire. At the time, Athens was just a village with a few thousand inhabitants, chosen as capital for historic. It was therefore set for redevelopment to become a modern metropolis. Hansen won the favour of King Otto and was appointed Court Architect in 1834, in 1838, he was joined by his brother Theophilus who had also studied architecture at the Academy in Copenhagen but had been unsuccessful in getting commissions. Christian Hansens most famous work in Athens is the main building for the National. Construction started in 1839 using the proceeds of a campaign from Greeks at home. It was inaugurated in 1841, though not entirely completed until 1864 due to lack of funds and it is part of the so-called Neoclassical, or Athenian, Trilogy which was completed by his brother with the Academy of Athens and the National Library of Greece. Hansen also designed houses and churches. The latter include the Anglican St. Pauls Church and it is designed in a mixed Victorian and Gothic Revival style. Hansens work in Athens also involved archeological excavations and investigations, Hansens reputation reached outside Greece and in 1850 Österreichischer Lloyd commissioned him to build a marine arsenal and dockyards at Trieste. The extensive building complex designed in the Rundbogenstil with details inspired by Byzantine architecture was constructed from 1852 to 1856, after the revolt in September 1843 in Athens, a nationalist wave made it hard for foreigners to work in Greece. In 1851, Hansen returned to Denmark after almost 20 years abroad, in 1867, he became a member of the Academy in Copenhagen and Royal Building Inspector for Zealand, Lolland and Falster. That same year he took over the professorial chair in architecture at the Academy which had become vacant with Michael Gottlieb Bindesbølls death the year before. As a practicing architect, Hansen never got the prominent role in Denmark upon his return which could have expected after his achievements abroad
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Georgios Jakobides
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Georgios Jakobides was a painter and one of the main representatives of the Greek artistic movement of the Munich School. He founded and was the first curator of the National Gallery of Greece in Athens and he was born in Lesbos, Ottoman Empire. His first education was in Smyrna, in Munich, he lived for 17 years where he worked in his studio, painting mythological scenes, genre pictures, and portraits. His work is influenced by German academic Realism, hs most famous paintings were of children. In the capital of Bavaria he was regarded as a successful German artist selling many of his works at high prices, at this time, additional to his themes he produced formal portraits of eminent Greeks. He opposed all new artistic tendencies, including Impressionism and Expressionism and he was given awards at five international exhibits, among those in Berlin 1891 and in Paris 1900. His works are found in the National Gallery of Athens, private collections and in museums and art galleries around the world including art galleries in Germany and he died in Athens in 1932. Munich School Art in modern Greece Jakobides Digital Museum National Gallery of Athens Official website Andreas S. Ioannou, 19th Century Greek Art
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Angelos Giallinas
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Angelos Giallinas was a Greek landscape painter, known primarily for his watercolors. He was one of the last representatives of the Heptanese School of art, from 1872 to 1875, he studied at the private art school of Charalambos Pachis, then continued his studies in Venice, Naples and Rome. During this time, he decided to devote himself to watercolors and he returned to Corfu in 1878. He soon began participating in the Panhellenic Exhibitions in Athens and presented his first solo showing in 1886 and it was there that he met the British Ambassador, Clare Ford, who commissioned him to paint albums of landscapes from Venice, Spain, Rhodes and Istanbul. Ford also arranged an exhibit in London, which ran from 1891 to 1892 and he also participated in the Exposition Universelle. Two years later, he started his own art school on Corfu. From 1907 to 1908, he painted murals at the Achilleion and his largest exhibition came in 1918 at the Galerie D’Art Geo in Athens. A major retrospective of his work was held at the National Gallery of Greece in 1974 and his home became an art gallery. In 2010, several paintings were stolen and have not been recovered, aeron Charline, Angelos Giallinas, Onym Press,2011 ISBN 613-7891-18-6 ArtNet, More works by Giallinas Ποιοι πίνακες εκλάπησαν από την οικία Γιαλλινά @ Το Βημα
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Nikolaos Lytras
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Nikolaos Lytras was a Greek modernist painter who specialized in portraits, still-lifes and landscapes. He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts from 1902 to 1906, where he was taught by his father, Nikiforos Lytras, and also by Georgios Jakobides. After that, he transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, while there, he also came under the influence of Der Blaue Reiter, a group of Expressionist painters, and created illustrations for the novel A Tale with No Name by Penelope Delta. He left Munich to enlist in the Balkan Wars, serving as an officer, when he returned home, with several decorations, he began to participate in the exhibitions of the Association of Greek Artists, often exhibiting together with the sculptor Gregorios Zevgolis. Later, they opened a joint studio in the old workshop of Lazaros Sochos, in 1917, he joined with Konstantinos Parthenis and others to establish Ομάδα Τέχνη, with the aim of countering German Academicism in Greek art. His group won the support of Eleftherios Venizelos and the Liberal Party, in 1923, he and Parthenis were candidates to take over the management of the School of Fine Arts. Lytras won the position, despite opposition based on the fact that his father was a representative of the Munich School. His primary contribution involved changing the structure and role of the workshops and he held this position until his death from tuberculosis in 1927. A major retrospective of his work was given at the Zappeion in 1929, Aphrodite Kouria, Νίκος Λύτρας, χτίζοντας με το χρώμα και το φως. ISBN 978-960-201-191-1 Arcadja Auctions, More works by Lytras Biography and critical appreciation by Aphrodite Kouria @ Κοινο Τοπία
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Amedeo Modigliani
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Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian Jewish painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a style characterized by elongation of faces and figures, that were not received well during his lifetime. Modigliani spent his youth in Italy, where he studied the art of antiquity, there he came into contact with prominent artists such as Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brâncuși. Modiglianis œuvre includes paintings and drawings, from 1909 to 1914, however, he devoted himself mainly to sculpture. His main subject was portraits and full figures of humans, both in the images and in the sculptures, during his life, Amedeo Modigliani had little success, but after his death he achieved greater popularity and his works of art achieved high prices. He died at age 35 in Paris of tubercular meningitis, Modigliani was born into a Sephardic Jewish family in Livorno, Italy. A port city, Livorno had long served as a refuge for those persecuted for their religion and his maternal great-great-grandfather, Solomon Garsin, had immigrated to Livorno in the 18th century as a refugee. Fluent in many languages, her ancestors were authorities on sacred Jewish texts and had founded a school of Talmudic studies, family legend traced the family lineage to the 17th-century Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza. The family business was an agency with branches in Livorno, Marseille, Tunis. Modigliani’s father, Flaminio, was a member of an Italian Jewish family of successful businessmen, while not as culturally sophisticated as the Garsins, they knew how to invest in and develop thriving business endeavors. When the Garsin and Modigliani families announced the engagement of their children and he managed the mine in Sardinia and also managed the almost 30,000 acres of timberland the family owned. A reversal in fortune occurred to this family in 1883. An economic downturn in the price of metal plunged the Modiglianis into bankruptcy, ever resourceful, Modigliani’s mother used her social contacts to establish a school and, along with her two sisters, made the school into a successful enterprise. Modigliani was the child, whose birth coincided with the disastrous financial collapse of his fathers business interests. Amedeos birth saved the family from ruin, according to an ancient law, the bailiffs entered the familys home just as Eugenia went into labour, the family protected their most valuable assets by piling them on top of her. Modigliani had a relationship with his mother, who taught him at home until he was 10. Beset with health problems after an attack of pleurisy when he was about 11, when he was 16 he was taken ill again and contracted the tuberculosis which would later claim his life. After Modigliani recovered from the bout of pleurisy, his mother took him on a tour of southern Italy, Naples, Capri, Rome and Amalfi
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Pierre Bonnard
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Pierre Bonnard was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of the Post-Impressionist group of avant-garde painters Les Nabis. Bonnard preferred to work from memory, using drawings as a reference, the intimate domestic scenes, for which he is perhaps best known, often include his wife Marthe de Meligny. Identified as a practitioner of Impressionism in the early 20th century, Bonnard has since been recognized for his unique use of color. Bonnard was born in Fontenay-aux-Roses, Hauts-de-Seine on 3 October 1867 and he led a happy and carefree youth as the son of a prominent official of the French Ministry of War. He studied classics during his baccalaureate, at the insistence of his father, Bonnard studied law, graduating and briefly practicing as a barrister in 1888. However, he had attended art classes at Ecole des Beaux-Arts and Académie Julian. His earlier work such as Woman in Checkered Dress shows the influence of Japanese prints, in 1891, he met Toulouse-Lautrec and began showing his work at the annual exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. In the same year Bonnard also began an association with La Revue Blanche, for which he, Bonnards talent was appreciated early in his career, Claude Roger-Marx remarked in 1893 that he catches fleeting poses, steals unconscious gestures, crystallises the most transient expressions. His first show was at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in 1896, in his twenties Bonnard was a part of Les Nabis, a group of young artists committed to creating work of symbolic and spiritual nature. Other Nabis include Vuillard and Maurice Denis, in addition to his paintings, he also became known for his posters and book illustrations, as well as for his prints and theater set designs. He left Paris in 1910 for the south of France, Bonnard was described, by his own friend and historians, as a man of quiet temperament and one who was unobtrusively independent. His life was free from the tensions and reversals of untoward circumstance. It has been suggested that, Like Daumier, whose life knew little serenity, Bonnard is known for his intense use of color, especially via areas built with small brush marks and close values. His often complex compositions—typically of sunlit interiors and gardens populated with friends, Bonnards fondness for depicting intimate scenes of everyday life, has led to him being called an Intimist, his wife Marthe was an ever-present subject over the course of several decades. She is seen seated at the table, with the remnants of a meal, or nude. He also painted several self-portraits, landscapes, street scenes, and many still lifes, Bonnard did not paint from life but rather drew his subject—sometimes photographing it as well—and made notes on the colors. He then painted the canvas in his studio from his notes, I have all my subjects to hand, he said, I go back and look at them. And before I start painting I reflect, I dream and he worked on numerous canvases simultaneously, which he tacked onto the walls of his small studio
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Pablo Picasso
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Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, also known as Pablo Picasso, was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright who spent most of his adult life in France. Picasso demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent in his years, painting in a naturalistic manner through his childhood. During the first decade of the 20th century, his style changed as he experimented with different theories, techniques, Picassos work is often categorized into periods. Much of Picassos work of the late 1910s and early 1920s is in a neoclassical style and his later work often combines elements of his earlier styles. Ruiz y Picasso were included for his father and mother, respectively, born in the city of Málaga in the Andalusian region of Spain, he was the first child of Don José Ruiz y Blasco and María Picasso y López. His mother was of one quarter Italian descent, from the territory of Genoa, though baptized a Catholic, Picasso would later on become an atheist. Picassos family was of middle-class background and his father was a painter who specialized in naturalistic depictions of birds and other game. For most of his life Ruiz was a professor of art at the School of Crafts, Picasso showed a passion and a skill for drawing from an early age. According to his mother, his first words were piz, piz, a shortening of lápiz, from the age of seven, Picasso received formal artistic training from his father in figure drawing and oil painting. Ruiz was an academic artist and instructor, who believed that proper training required disciplined copying of the masters. His son became preoccupied with art to the detriment of his classwork, the family moved to A Coruña in 1891, where his father became a professor at the School of Fine Arts. On one occasion, the father found his son painting over his sketch of a pigeon. In 1895, Picasso was traumatized when his sister, Conchita. After her death, the moved to Barcelona, where Ruiz took a position at its School of Fine Arts. Picasso thrived in the city, regarding it in times of sadness or nostalgia as his true home, Ruiz persuaded the officials at the academy to allow his son to take an entrance exam for the advanced class. This process often took students a month, but Picasso completed it in a week, the student lacked discipline but made friendships that would affect him in later life. His father rented a room for him close to home so he could work alone, yet he checked up on him numerous times a day. Picassos father and uncle decided to send the young artist to Madrids Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, at age 16, Picasso set off for the first time on his own, but he disliked formal instruction and stopped attending classes soon after enrolment
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Andrea Palladio
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Andrea Palladio was an Italian architect active in the Republic of Venice. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius, is considered to be the most influential individual in the history of architecture. All of his buildings are located in what was the Venetian Republic, the city of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Palladio was born on 30 November 1508 in Padua and was given the name and his father, Pietro, called Della Gondola, was a miller. From early on, Andrea Palladio was introduced into the work of building, in Padua he gained his first experiences as a stonecutter in the sculpture workshop of Bartolomeo Cavazza da Sossano, who is said to have imposed particularly hard working conditions. At the age of sixteen he moved to Vicenza where he would reside for most of his life, here he became an assistant in the Pedemuro studio, a leading workshop of stonecutters and masons. He joined a guild of stonemasons and bricklayers and he was employed as a stonemason to make monuments and decorative sculptures. These sculptures reflected the Mannerist style of the architect Michele Sanmicheli, perhaps the key moment that sparked Palladios career was being employed by the Humanist poet and scholar, Gian Giorgio Trissino, from 1538 to 1539. While Trissino was reconstructing the Villa Cricoli, he took interest in Palladios work, Trissino was heavily influenced by the studies of Vitruvius, who later influenced Palladios own ideals and attitudes toward classical architecture. It was also Trissino who gave him the name by which he became known, Palladio, indeed, the word Palladio means Wise one. The powerful Barbaros introduced Palladio to Venice, where he finally became Proto della Serenissima after Jacopo Sansovino, in addition to the Barbaros, the Corner, Foscari, and Pisani families supported Palladios career. Andrea Palladio began to develop his own architectural style around 1541, the Palladian style, named after him, adhered to classical Roman principles he rediscovered, applied, and explained in his works. Andrea Palladio is known to be one of the most influential architects in Western architecture and his architectural works have been valued for centuries as the quintessence of High Renaissance calm and harmony. He designed many palaces, villas, and churches, but Palladios reputation, initially, the palladian villas are located mainly in the province of Vicenza, while the palazzi are concentrated in the city of Vicenza and the churches in Venice. A number of his works are now protected as part of the World Heritage Site City of Vicenza, other buildings by Palladio are to be found within the Venice and its Lagoon World Heritage Site. Palladios first major public project began when his designs for building the loggias for the town hall and he proposed an addition of two-storey stone buttresses reflecting the Gothic style of the existing hall while using classical proportions. The construction was completed in 1617 after Palladios death, aside from Palladios designs, his publications contributed to Palladianism. During the second half of his life, Palladio published many books, above all, Palladio is most known for his designs of villas and palaces as well as his books
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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
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He volunteered for army service in the First World War, but soon suffered a breakdown and was discharged. In 1933, his work was branded as degenerate by the Nazis and in 1937, in 1938, he committed suicide by gunshot. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was born in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria and his parents were of Prussian descent and his mother was a descendant of the Huguenots, a fact to which Kirchner often referred. The institution provided a range of studies in addition to architecture, such as freehand drawing, perspective drawing. While in attendance, he became friends with Fritz Bleyl. They discussed art together and also studied nature, having a radical outlook in common, Kirchner continued studies in Munich 1903–1904, returning to Dresden in 1905 to complete his degree. In 1905, Kirchner, along with Bleyl and two other students, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Erich Heckel, founded the artists group Die Brücke. From then on, he committed himself to art, the group aimed to eschew the prevalent traditional academic style and find a new mode of artistic expression, which would form a bridge between the past and the present. They responded both to past artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Matthias Grünewald and Lucas Cranach the Elder, as part of the affirmation of their national heritage, they revived older media, particularly woodcut prints. Their group was one of the ones which in due course had a major impact on the evolution of modern art in the 20th century. The group met initially in Kirchners first studio, which had previously been a butchers shop, Kirchners studio became a venue which overthrew social conventions to allow casual love-making and frequent nudity. Group life-drawing sessions took place using models from the circle, rather than professionals. A group manifesto written by Kirchner in 1906 stated that Everyone who reproduces, directly and without illusion, whatever he senses the urge to create, belongs to us. In September and October 1906, the first group exhibition was held, focused on the female nude, in 1906, he met Doris Große, who was his favoured model until 1911. Between 1907 and 1911, he stayed during the summer at the Moritzburg lakes and on the island of Fehmarn with other Brücke members, his work featured the female nude in natural settings. In 1911, he moved to Berlin, where he founded an art school, MIUM-Institut. This was not a success and closed the year, when he also began a relationship with Erna Schilling that lasted the rest of his life. In 1913, his writing of Chronik der Brücke led to the ending of the group, at this time, he established an individual identity with his first solo exhibition, which took place at the Essen Folkwang Museum
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Erich Heckel
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Erich Heckel was a German painter and printmaker, and a founding member of the group Die Brücke which existed 1905-1913. Heckel was born in Döbeln, Saxony, the son of a railway engineer, between 1897 and 1904 he attended the Realgymnasium in Chemnitz, before studying architecture in Dresden. He left after three terms, shortly after the foundation of Die Brücke, an group of which he was secretary. The other founder-members, also students, were Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rotluff. He worked in the office of the architect Wilhelm Kreis until July 1907, Heckel met the other founding members of Die Brücke, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rotluff, and Fritz Bleyl, while studying architecture in Dresden. The foursome equally regarded pursuing a degree in architecture as a compromise with their respectable middle-class parents who would have never supported them, had wanted to study art. Heckel attended the Dresden Polytechnic Institute for only eighteen months, after time he accepted a job as a draughtsman at Wilhem Kreiss architectural studio. He was able to use the position for the benefit of the Brücke, as a member of Die Brücke, Heckel often filled the role of business manager, which allowed the collective to network with other upcoming artists at the time, such as the Munich-based Franz Marc. This subsequently led to publicity for the collective, such as their mention in the almanac of Franz Marcs own artistic coalition. In addition, Heckels poster, no longer extant, had been barred from public display by the Dresden police, in 1906 and 1907 the Die Brücke had another exhibition in Löbtau, devoted exclusively to graphics and including a group of woodcuts by Wassily Kandinsky. Unfortunately, the once again failed to strike a chord with the public. However, much more noteworthy and ironically also notorious, were the three annual shows by the Die Brücke, this time held in the fashionable Emil Richter Gallery. Heckel and other members of Die Brücke greatly admired the work of Edvard Munch, the four founding members made much use of the print as a cheap and quick medium with which to produce affordable art. Primitive art was also an inspiration to the members of the Die Brücke and it is through this style that they found a source of strength in the barbaric figures. In December 1911, Erich Heckel moved from Dresden to Berlin, Die Brücke was dissolved in 1913. He was classified as unfit for service during the First World War. He managed to continue to work throughout the war. In 1937 the Nazi Party declared his work degenerate, it forbade him to show his work in public, by 1944 all of his woodcut blocks and print plates had been destroyed
