Spiros Vasileiou - Juvenilia

Spiros Vasileiou - Juvenilia, at the Benaki Museum, Pireos, Athens.

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.

Modern urban life is the main subject of Vassiliou's art, using selective elements of Cubism and Impressionism. He combined monochrome backgrounds and the unorthodox positioning of objects. 

Construction Site, (oil on wood)

Exarchia, 1929, (oil on cardboard)

Galatsi, 1929, (oil on wood)

Staircases, 1959, (oil on wood)

City, 1965, (acrylic and paper on particle board)

a closer look at the triptych

a closer look at the triptych

a closer look at the triptych

Athens, 1930, (oil on wood)

Look at the difference with the triptych above - the difference 35 years have made to the development of the city.