Mavroidis Georgios

Cypriot in origin, he lived in Larnaca until the age of twelve. He studied Law and Political Science at the University of Athens while he was a self-taught painter though he had shown an inclination for it from his boyhood. In 1947 he started his career in the diplomatic service, from which he resigned in 1959 when he was elected Professor of Painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts. He remained in this position till 1982. During the period 1950-1952, working as a diplomatic employee in Paris, he had the chance to study modern art trends.

He began to exhibit in 1948 with the artistic group “Armos” (Junction), of which he was a founding member. He has also organized many solo shows and taken part in group exhibitions in Greece and abroad, among which are the Biennales of Sao Paolo in 1955 and 1957, where he was awarded honorable mention, Alexandria in 1961 and Venice in 1966. In 1986 his work was presented in a retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery.

From time to time he has been involved with stage design, while in the context of his broader intellectual interests he has published literary texts in magazines and published a collection of stories called Mirrors (1947).

Experimenting with oil and tempera, water color and encaustic, he paints landscapes, still lifes, portraits and dressed or nude female figures; expressionistic in nature his work is characterized by heavy distortion and powerful color combinations.