New Acquisitions at the National Gallery 1992-2010. Abstraction – New Trends

Sifnos, Old School, Kastro, 28/07/2010 – 05/09/2010

The National Gallery-Alexandros Soutsos Museum has over the past 18 years acquired some 3,000 artworks from bequests, donations and purchases. These include the large donations of works by painters Tetsis, Nikolaou, Mytaras, Fassianos, Daniel, and individual donations by many other artists. Also included are characteristic works from four major donations of sculptures by Ioannis Avramidis, Frosso Efthymiadi-Menegaki, Bella Raftopoulou and Christos Kapralos. Two major New Acquisitions exhibitions, featuring different works, were organized in the National Gallery in 2006 and 2007, and a small exhibition was held at the Nafplio Annex. These exhibitions showed the evolution of Greek art from the 19th to the 21st century, alongside contemporary art, including paintings, installations, constructions, sculptures and reliefs.

Under the decentralization policy of strengthening local initiatives for the promotion of Greek art, and following the exhibitions at Pyrgos (2007) and Patras (2008), the National Gallery, in collaboration with the Municipality of Sifnos, held the exhibition New Acquisitions 1992-2009, From the Collections of the National Gallery, Figurative Art in the summer 2009. In 2010, the second part of the New Acquisitions exhibition, entitled National Gallery New Acquisitions 1992-2010, Part Two: Abstraction – New Trends went on display on the island. The Sifnos New Acquisitions exhibition featured several major artists in a small panorama of abstraction, the minimalist approach and recent explorations. The various facets of abstraction and new propositions by older artists, but mostly by artists of the generations between 1960 and 1980 are showcased through paintings, installations, constructions, sculptures and reliefs. Paintings by Tsingou, Maltesou, Vakalo, Prassinos, Daniel, Dekoulakos, Tetsis, Christoforos, Mytaras, Theocharakis, Kilessopoulou, Adamakos and Daskalakis reflect a powerful and accomplished approach to abstraction. Fresh propositions, installations, constructions and on-the-wall art by Daniel, Logothetis, Konstantinos Xenakis, Akrithakis, Michalis Katzourakis, Christakis and Angelos Skourtis are also on display. Sculpture is represented by works classifiable as abstract, such as those by Yannis Avramidis and Frosso Michalea.

Exhibition Curator: Dr Lina Tsikouta, Curator, National Gallery