The Elf, 1955

Michalis Tombros pioneered in the dissemination of avant-garde movements in Modern Greek art. From 1925 to 1928 he lived and worked in Paris, but had already visited the French capital three times. The last three years of his stay were a turning point in shaping his style, which is characterised by a prominent duality: on the one hand, figurative (female figures), clearly influenced by the sculpture of Aristide Maillol, and public monuments in the academic style, and, on the other hand, cubist or surrealistic compositions from the late 1920s on. He focused more consistently to surrealistic works, however, since around 1950. Thus, works such as “Elf”, revolve around, or combine, organic and vegetable motifs with geometric patterns and outlandish creatures, with references to the sculpture of Alexander Archipenko and Ossip Zadkine.