Kastriotis Georgios

After his father’s death, Georgios Kastriotis and his family moved to Paris. Growing up in an environment in which everybody had artistic pursuits, his inclination for sculpture became apparent from a very early age, when he started modelling miniature figures in clay. In 1917, he enrolled in the Lausanne Engineering School but health reasons only permitted him to attend for two years. In 1926, he decided to study sculpture and within the year was admitted to the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, in Antoine Bourdelle’s workshop. In 1928 though, pressed by his mother in spite of his teacher’s mediation, he returned to Athens. He worked as an art restorer at the National Archaeological Museum and the Acropolis Museum in 1935-1936. He resigned, however, from these positions in order to devote himself to sculpture. His full-time occupation with sculpture began in 1946, resulting in more than 80 sculptures in his life.

In 1958, his first solo exhibition was held at the Parnassos Hall. He also participated in group and Panhellenic exhibitions, and a posthumous retrospective of his oeuvre was held at the Municipality of Piraeus in 1972.

Focusing on the human figure, especially the female one, Kastriotis produced works of a pronounced monumental character with symbolic overtones. His works blend realistic and expressionistic elements, and Bourdelle’s influence – more evident in his earlier compositions – can be felt mostly in Kastriotis’s treatment of surfaces.