Zavitzianos Markos

Corfiot in origin, he completed the Megali tou Genous Scholi (Great School of the Hellenes), located in the Phanari section of Constantinople. He showed an early interest in painting, perhaps influenced by his mother who was an amateur painter. In 1903 he went to Munich and in 1906 enrolled in the Academy where he studied painting under G. von Hackl, as well as engraving, more than likely in the M. Kern studio.
In Germany he became friends with Konstantinos Theotokis and was introduced to socialist ideas and in 1909 he participated in the founding of the Socialist Democratic Union. He also published in the magazine Νουμάς a study entitled, Ανθρώπινες αντιλήψεις (Human Perceptions) examining this matter from a socialist point of view. That same year he went to Paris and the following year returned to Corfu where, together with Theotokis, he organized the Socialist Center of Corfu. In 1914 he participated in the forming of the literary and artistic group Company of Nine, publishing at the same time poems, drawings and engravings in the group’s magazine Κερκυραϊκή Ανθολογία.

Sometime before 1912 he became involved with the illustration of the short stories of K. Theotokis, only one of which, Η Τιμή και το Χρήμα (Honor and Money) was published at the time (1914). The rest were published in 1982 under the titles, Διηγήματα-Κορφιάτικες Ιστορίες and Το βιος της κυρά Κερκύρας (Stories – Corfiot Tales and The Fortune of Madam Corfu). From 1919 to 1922 he did engravings for the republication of the book by P. Vlastos, Στον ήσκιο της συκιάς (In the Shadow of the Fig Tree) which in the end did not take place and in 1922 he went to Berlin where he illustrated the book by Alfred Maria Ellis (Warner Hageman), Iphigenie.
In 1917 he came to Athens where he presented a series of engravings at the Kazazis music store while in 1922 he held a solo show at the Zappeion Hall with oil paintings and engravings. He also took part in the exhibitions of the Society of Greek Artists and in 1936 his engravings were exhibited at the Venice Biennale. Since his death there have been repeated retrospectives of his work.
His engraving, consisting mainly of copperplates and in large part destined to illustrate books, is done realistically, while in his painting, which consists of landscapes, interiors and portraits, his knowledge of impressionist and post-impressionist work is apparent.