Yannis Tsarouchis - Juvenilia

This exhibition covered the work of eleven Greek artists who were influenced by the major events of the 20th century: WWII, the occupation of Greece by the Germans and the famine that ensued; the Civil War that followed the end of the war, and how it divided the nation; finally the seven years of the military dictatorship that brought so much suffering to the Greek people. 

In the exhibition we were shown how each artist's work developed and changed as they matured and how some moved on to abstraction. I will cover the work of one artist in each post.

Yannis Tsarouchis at Juvenilia at Benaki Museum, Pireos, Athens.

One of the most important representatives of the 'Thirties Generation', Tsarouchis embodied in his work the ideal of 'Greekness'. A modernist painter and set designer, he created a unique personal style and depicted landscapes, still lifes, nudes and allegorical scenes. But his interest was primarily focused on the human figure, and is known for his homoerotic subjects, including, sailors, soldiers and nude young men. He was influenced by Byzantine iconography. His work moved in two main directions: toward the orientalist and sensual and toward the ancient Greek ideal.

He joined the struggle against the Italians trying to invade Greece in 1940. With a more political and humanist perspective after his military service, he began painting scenes of young men who were preparing to defend their homeland from the rise of Fascist Italy. Tsarouchis' depiction of the sailors and soldiers was controversial: some of his exhibits were taken down by censors who saw his work as unpatriotic and degrading to the Greek male image.

Most of the works in this exhibition are portraits of young men.

Still Life with Ruby Red Backgrouundk, 1934-35, (oil on plywood)

Evzone and Family, 1936, (mixed media on canvas)

Cyclist Dressed as Evzone with a Temple at the Bottom Right Corner of the Painting, 1936, (oil on canvas)

Youth in White Linen Suit, 1937, (pigments with animal glue on canvas)

The Thinker, 1936, (pigments with animal glue on paper)

A reference to Rodin's The Thinker - a modern young Greek sitting on a cafe stool, a cigarette in hand, with a faraway look in his eye.

Seated Dark-Haired Youth with a Topcoat, 1937, (pigments with animal glue on paper)

Youth Posing as a Statue from Olympia, 1939, (pigments with animal glue on canvas)

Italian Nude, seated in profile, 1937, (pigments with animal glue on paper)

Nude Youth with Oleanders and a Bandage on his Hand, 1940, (oil on canvas)

To see more of Tsarouchis' work you can go here

Yannis Tsarouchis - Illustrating an Autobiography

Yannis Tsarouchis - Illustrating an Autobiography, Part I, at the Benaki Museum, Pireos.

I found writing this post extremely frustrating: the photographs of the paintings are ruined by too much reflection, there is no exhibition catalogue and there is hardly anything of Tsarouchis' early period on the internet. I was going to abstain from writing up a post but then I thought that I would have no record of it, and it was a fascinating exhibition showing the early period of the painter's work. There were a large number of male nudes, as one would expect of Tsarouchis, but I found some of the other work fascinating as it is so different from what we know of his work. It is predominantly his later work that we are familiar with, after all. You can see some of it here.

There was a lot of biographical information in the exhibition but both Ken and I commented on the fact that there was absolutely no mention of his homosexuality - such a big part of Tsarouchis' life and of his art.

Copy of Coptic Textile from the Benaki Museum, 1931 (watercolour on paper)

Standing Nude, 1932-34 (pencil and oil on canvas)

 

Nude, Standing, 1933-34 (oil on canvas) 

 

 

 

 

Nude, Seated, 1933-34 (oil on canvas) 

 

  

 

 

Still Life, 1934, (oil on plywood) 

 

 

 

Still Life, 1934 (oil on plywood)

Youth in Winter, 1934 (oil on canvas)

 

 

Dedicated to the Dead Fiance, 1934 (oil on canvas)  

 

 

 

 

Landscape: Olympia with Two Columns, 1934 (oil on canvas) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Man Dressed as an Evzone, with Beaded Curtain, 1935 (oil on canvas) 

 

Good Solace, 1936 (oil on canvas) 

 

 

 

 

Portrait of Youth with Paper Flowers,  1936 (oil on canvas)

 

   

 

 

Reclining Nude, 1936 (oil on canvas) 

 

 

 

Start, (Paris, Rue Ernest Cresson), 1936 (oil on canvas)

Cyclist with Red Vest, 1936 (oil on canvas)

 

 

 

 

 

An anecdote that will stay with me: There was a reproduction of a theatre set that he made when he was eight years old which he would use for the staging of various plays. He needed an audience and used his little brother, who he would tie on a chair, to keep him there.

 

 

 

Yannis Tsarouchis at the National Gallery

Yannis Tsarouchis at the National Gallery, Athens.

I was disappointed that there is so little of Tsarouchis' work at the National Gallery. If you want to see more go here . It was good however, seeing some of his work again.

Tsarouchis was born in 1910 in Piraeus 'where the light is silver and gold'. He initially trained in the studio of Byzantine artist Fotis Kontoglou, an influential Greek modernist who introduced him to Byzantine iconography. He later studied at the Athens School of Fine Art. The major influence on Tsarouchis' work however came from a trip to Paris, Istanbul and Italy in the mid-1930s that exposed him to the bohemian lifestyle as well as Renaissance and Impressionist art. 

His work moved in two main directions: an orientalist and sensualist style with strong influences from Matisse, and towards the ancient Greek ideas as expressed by the Renaissance and the Baroque movements. 

The main subjects of his work were neo-classical buildings and sailors. Gay depiction of sailors was seen as very controversial at the time, and his work was taken down repeatedly by the the censors who saw it as unpatriotic and degrading to the Greek male image. He moved to Paris in 1967 in a self-imposed exile to wait out the years of the military dictatorship in Greece. During his exile he designed theater sets for productions at Milan's La Scala, the Greek National Theater, the Dallas Opera and London's Covent Garden.

Man in Grey Suit, 1936, (oil on canvas)

Self-Portrait with Paper Flowers, 1936, (oil on canvas)

Koundouriotissa or Woman, 1948, (tempera on wood, (door))

Neon Cafe (at night), 1956-66, (oil on canvas)

note the sailor

Neon Cafe (daytime), 1956-66, (oil on canvas)

Head of Youth, 1941, (oil on wood panel)

 Sunrise at the Port of Chios, 1965, (oil on canvas)

Sailor and Cupids (fan), 1943, (tempera and ink on wood panel)

looking closer

The Spirit of the Technique, 1960, (watercolour with vinavyl glue on cloth)

Modern Greek Art - Goulandris Museum

Modern Greek Art at the Goulandris Museum, Athens.

Having visited the fourth floor where Contemporary Greek Art was exhibited, we moved on to the third from to have a look at Modern Greek Art.

Nikos Kadjikyriakos-Ghika, Balcony with Horizontal Columns, 1954, (oil on canvas)

Nikos Kadjikyriakos-Ghika, Paris Rooftops, 1952, (oil on canvas)

Giorgos Gounaropoulos, Prometheus (Female Figures), 1948, (oil on canvas)

George Bouzanis, Portrait of the Painter Vas. Chatzis, 1915, (oil on canvas)

George Bouzianis, Self-Portrait, 1945, (oil on wood)

Yannis Tsarouchis, The old Customs Warehouse of Piraeus, 1975, (oil on canvas)

Yannis Tsarouchis, Sailor Sitting at the Table, Pink Background, 1980, (oil on canvas)

Opy Zouni, Ascent to Square, 1984, (acrylic on wood)

Vlassis Caniaris, Untitled, 1958, (mixed media on canvas)

Panagiotis Tetsis, Sifnos, Top View II, 1968, (oil on canvas)

Dinos Byzantios, Abstract Yellow, 1971, (oil on canvas)

Pavlos (Dionysopoulos), The Little Tree, 1976, (mixed media)

Yannis Moralis, Erotic, 1977, (acrylic on canvas)

Yannis Moralis, Erotic, 1976, (oil on canvas)

Yannis Gaitis, Descent from the Cross, 1984, (mixed media on canvas)

Dimitris Mytaras, The Mirror, 1990, (acrylic on canvas)

Panayiotis Tetsis, Hydra, Sunset, 1998-2005, (oil on canvas)

Yannis Pappas, Woman with Octopus, 1959, (bronze with green patina)

George Zongopoulos, Roving Alexander, 1968, (bronze with green and white patina)

Michalis Tabros, Two Women Friends