Konstantinos Parthenis

 

 

Konstantinos Parthenis, Art and Spirit, at the Theocharaki Foundation, Vasilissis Sofias.

 

A pivotal figure in the development of 20th century art in Greece and a representative of Greek modernism, Parthenis (1878-1967) broke with the Greek academic tradition of 19th century painting and introduced avant-garde ideas of colour and form.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yannis Tsarouchis on Parthenis:

 

'After Impressionism and the Post-Impressionists, alongside poetry and even music, there was a tendency to return to poetic painting, to painting that is not only inspired by the classical, but also by the archaic or the primitive. It was precisely then that Parthenis staged his own Greek revolution, because no matter how much we acknowledge that Parthenis was participating in a kind of universal work taking place all over the world, it is at the same time clear that he stamped it with the particular character of Greek - and in particular Attic - light.

 

His sensitivity and integrity are evidenced by the following: when, as a student, I used to visit his workshop, after I left and until I reached the Temple of the Olympian Zeus and Hadrian's Gate, I would see everything through his eyes, like his paintings, as this was his neighbourhood and it has influenced him. A genuine painter is influenced by their surroundings and is capable of conveying this to others'. 

 

 

 

Poetry (The Annunciation), 1950s, (oil on canvas) 

 

 

 

 

 

Landscape, 1903, (oil on canvas)

 

 

 

 

 

 The Annunciation, 1907-1910, (oil on pasteboard)

 

 

 

 

 

Landscape, 1909-12, (oil on canvas)

 

 

 

 



 

Landscape, 1910-12, (oil on canvas)

 

 

 

 

 

Wise Man, fragment from The Adoration of the Kings, 1917-19, (oil on canvas)

 

 

 

 

 



The Resurrection, 1917-19, (oil on canvas) 

 

 

 

 

 

Harvest, 1920-27, (oil on cloth)

 



 

 

 

 

Small Church in Cephalonia, 1920-27, (oil on canvas)

 

 

 

 

 

 Small Church in Cephalonia, before 1930, (oil on canvas)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure Lost in the Shadow of a Branch, 1925-30, (oil on canvas) 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Girl with Goldfish, 1925-30, (oil on canvas) 



 

 

 



Athanasios Diakos, 1931-33, (charcoal and oil on linen)

The Night Responds to my Complaints, 1935-38 (oil on canvas)

Odeon of Herodes Atticus, 1930-1938 (oil on canvas)

Saint Cecilia, 1938 (oil on canvas)

Victory, after 1940, (pencil and oil on canvas)

 

 

 

 

Landscape - Small Church, 1950-60, (oil and charcoal on canvas) 

 

 

Table with Flowers, after 1940, (pencil and oil on canvas).