Initially a pupil of Georgios Vroutos at the School of Arts, he went on to study at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere and the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1904, after a short spell in Munich. He returned to Greece after 26 years in 1930, having led a successful international career with numerous distinctions and workshop teaching in Paris and London. During the same year, he was appointed professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts and in 1936 elected member of the Academy of Athens.

His work has been shown in group exhibitions and Paris salons, such as the Salon des Artistes Francais and the Salon d’Automne, the Greek Artists’ Exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris, the Venice Biennale (1936) as well as the Panhellenic exhibition in (1938).

His long sojourn in the French capital and his familiarity with European art, especially Rodin’s work, played a decisive role in shaping his own style. The French sculptor’s influence can be seen both in his choice of subject matter and in his treatment. The backbone of Dimitriadis’s work is the human figure, elevated into an allegorical symbol. His use of the human anatomy as an expressive means of fundamental importance, his accentuation of movement through the contrast of light and shadow, his endeavour to arrest the fleeting instant, his adoption of fragmentary forms, are all features that reveal how Dimitriadis adopted the spirit of Rodin’s art, which informs particularly his free compositions. In monuments, however, and above all in busts, a realistic approach prevails.

His apprenticeship began first in Dimitrios Filippotis’s and then Thomas Thomopoulos’s studios. In 1903, he enrolled in the Athens School of Fine Arts and in 1909 he began receiving a monthly subsidy from the Averoff Estate. In 1911-1912, he won the Chryssovergeio Award and in 1914 received a scholarship for international studies, of which he only benefited after 1919 due to the outbreak of World War I. In 1919, he came to Paris and enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, studying with Jean Boucher. Returning to Athens in 1923, he established his own studio and in 1925 was appointed Associate Professor of Plastic at the National Technical University of Athens.

He participated in group exhibitions in Greece and other countries, including exhibitions of the Greek Artists Association and the Greek-French exhibition in Athens (1918); a posthumous retrospective show of his work was organised at the Parnassos Hall in 1926. His work was also shown in the 1948 Panhellenic Exhibition in Athens.

Forged mainly during his Paris years, Loukas Doukas’s creative identity clearly suggests influence from Rodin’s sculpture, oscillating between realism and expressionism. His works tell of his strife to capture reality through a selection of realistic subjects or to capitalise on expressive passion through expressionistic distortion.

He studied from 1847 until 1855 at the School of Arts under Christian Siegel; on government scholarship in 1856 he went to Munich, where he studied under Max Widnmann until 1859. There, he met the Greek baron Simon Sinas, who financially supported him in order to continue his studies and later commissioned major works, such as the sculptural decoration of the Academy of Athens. In 1859, he enrolled in the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied with Ernst Hahnel. Then he travelled to Vienna, Paris and London, and ended up in Rome, where he established a studio with several assistants. In 1868, he accepted an invitation to teach at the School of Arts and within the same year returned to Greece. His creative career came to a premature end, as he died at the age of 48.

His exhibition activity includes important international exhibitions, such as the Paris International Exhibitions in 1867 and 1878, in the first of which he received the silver award, the 1873 Vienna International Exhibition, in which he was honoured with the arts medal, and the Athens Olympia exhibition in 1870.

His studies in Munich and Dresden, his travels in European cities and his stay in Rome, all brought him into direct contact with European neoclassicism, of which he became the most consistent Greek exponent, and provided him with a wealth of inspiring models. His subject matter includes allegorical and mythological themes, statues and busts. Already in the earliest compositions of his academic years, he proved his skill in the treatment of marble and fluency in the neoclassicist language. Smooth white surfaces, idealism and idealisation, stark outlines, clarity of articulation in individual parts and masterful folds, obsession with detail and an impeccable technique constitute the main characteristics of his sculpture. Yet, adherence to his models leads to a lack of life – a fact more often to be noticed in his mythology figures. His work and teaching influenced a great number of later sculptors.

Son of Saverio Altamura, an Italian professor at the Naples School of Fine Arts and the painter Eleni Boukouri from Spetses, he got his first painting lessons from his mother. In 1857/ 1859, after his parents separated, he returned to Athens with his mother and brothers and sisters. According to the records of the School of Fine Arts, he studied in 1871-1872 under Nikephoros Lytras. From 1873 to 1876, on a scholarship from George I, he continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen under the seascape painter Karl Frederik Sorensen, studying gratis thanks to the recommendation of the Danish architect Christian Hansen. Suffering from tuberculosis, in 1876 Altamouras returned to Greece and settled in Spetses, where he died two years later.
In 1875 he took part in the Olympia Exhibition where he exhibited the “Copenhagen Harbour” and received the silver second class medal and in 1878 he exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris; after his death his works were presented in group exhibitions in Greece and abroad.
Familiar with the European tradition of seascape painting and having assimilated the academic Danish tradition on the same subject along with the more innovative viewpoints of his teacher, he worked primarily in this thematographic area, at the same time painting a number of landscapes, portraits and naval battles taken from the Greek War of Independence. By virtue of his royal scholarship he was given the opportunity to associate with officers of the Danish Royal Navy and to sail with the Danish fleet, thereby getting to know the Scandinavian maritime areas he would so frequently depict in his works. His compositions, lyrical and atmospheric, are characterized by the way they capture the momentary, the fleeting and the capricious and reveal his contact with the currents of early impressionism.

A descendant of Admiral Miaoulis, he originally studied at the Evelpidon (Army Cadet) School, but was quickly won over by painting and studied at the School of Arts from 1874 to 1878. In 1885 he left on a scholarship for Munich where he studied for two years at the Academy under Ludwig von Lofftz, Andreas Muller and Nikolaos Gyzis. In the Bavarian capital he opened a private painting school, at which quite a number of Greeks studied, but he fell ill and returned to Greece in 1902 just a few months before his death.

Already by the time of his studies in Greece there is evidence of his participation in the Olympia Exhibition of 1875 with the “Portrait of D. Voulgaris” while he won a bronze medal at the 1888 Olympia. In 1890 he received a silver medal at the exhibition of sketches at the Parnassos Hall and in 1898 took part in the artistic exhibition at the Zappeion Hall. In Munich he presented his works at the exhibitions of the Kunstverein (1889, 1901) and the Glaspalast (1898), while in 1900 he participated in the World Exhibition of Paris with a still life.

He was originally involved with genre painting and portraiture. Then, taking the Dutch painters as his model, he turned almost exclusively to still life, usually with fish and shells, which he rendered naturalistically.

An artist of Cretan origins, son of Konstantinos and brother of Themistoklis Varouchas, also painters. He spent the greater part of his life in Rome, where in 1907 he was awarded the Gold Cross of the Italian government. It is known he participated in the Olympia Exhibition of 1888.

On a scholarship from the Metropolitan of Athens, Germanos Kalligas, he studied at the School of Art (1896-1900), painting under Nikephoros Lytras and Spyridon Prossalentis and sculpture under Georgios Vroutos. He completed his studies in Munich (1900- 1905/1906) under Nikolaos Gyzis and Ludwig von Lofftz on a scholarship from the Petrakis Monastery and E. Vallianou. In 1909 he was appointed Professor of Sketching at the Athens School of Fine Arts where he taught until 1939.

He started to exhibit early, presenting his work in solo, group and international exhibitions: of these the Glaspalast in 1905, the International Exhibitions of Bordeaux in 1907 (gold medal), Rome in 1911, Paris in 1937 and the Venice Biennales of 1934 and 1936 are the most notable.
In 1937 he was awarded the National Prize for Arts and Letters, while in 1951 the Munich Academy of Fine Arts elected him an honorary member. In his will he established the “”Vikateios Scholarship”” for students at the Athens School of Fine Arts and the Academy of Munich respectively.

Remaining faithful to the teachings of the German academic tradition, he painted mainly portraits. On a more limited scale, he also worked with historical and religious subjects, did still lifes, landscapes and scenes from everyday life. Elderly figures hold a special place in his work; he rendered them isolated or in the context of larger compositions, and they are intensely psychographic.

At a very early age he showed an inclination for painting as well as a love of the theater. He began his studies by taking night lessons in painting at the National Technical University and then continued at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, later going to Paris. In 1910 his work “The Adoration of the Mag”, won the prize in the competition of the Berlin and Munich Academies.

The Balkan wars obliged him to return to Greece where he fought as a reserve. During this period he designed all the uniforms for the Greek Army and made a series of works concerned with his war experiences.

His first contact with set design is dated to 1914 when he made the sets for the work Living Images presented by the Amateurs Society.During the following two years he designed and supervised the construction of the sets and costumes for operettas and plays. His greatest successes were the works he did for the Xifir Faler Revue. But he never stopped painting and indeed painted the portraits of some of the eminent figures of the time.

In 1918 he was hired by the Royal Theater of Berlin and the same year was appointed to the State Opera of Berlin. During his frequent trips to Paris he cultivated a friendship with Dimitris Galanis who acted as a go-between for the publication of his cartoons in French periodicals.

His first major success in Germany was scored in 1920 with the sets for the opera of Richard Strauss “Die Frau Ohne Statten”. In 1912 he won the prize of the State Patent Office for his architectural design for the state theater and concert halls. In 1926 he was awarded the title of artistic advisor to German theaters and to him was assigned the organization of his own school of design operating in the studios of the Berlin State Opera. His activities also extended to the theaters of other German towns.

In 1927 he was called to Athens to offer advice in regard to the renovation of the stage of the Municipal Theater and a while later for the renovation of the Royal Theater. In 1930 he was summoned to Paris where he died.

He studied painting at the School of Fine Arts (1950-1955) under Yannis Moralis and at the same time worked as an assistant to Jannis Spyropoulos and Nikos Nikolaou. In 1952 he took part in the Panhellenio, exhibiting three works. He continued his studies in Rome at the School for the Preservation of Works of Art and worked as a preservationist on the works for the restoration of the wall paintings in the church of the Eremitani in Padua. He presented his first solo show in 1957 at the Obelisco gallery in Rome, the catalogue of which had a preface by the art critic Guilio Carlo Argan while in 1958 he exhibited his first informel work at the Venice Biennale. In Italy he created the Gruppo Sigma along with Yannis Gaitis, Dimitris Kontos, Vlassis Caniaris and Kostas Tsoclis. In 1959 he was awarded the first Amedeo Modigliani Prize in Livorno and decided to settle permanently in Paris where he had cordial relations with Pierre Restany. In 1961 he won the Premio Lissone European Prize and honorable mention at the Sao Paolo Biennale. The same year he presented Gestures at the J gallery and in 1962, the year of his first solo show in Paris, Walls in a group exhibition of Greek artists in Paris while at the same time continuing to exhibit in Italy. In 1964 he took part, with his first White Gesture, in the Mercato d’Arte in Florence, while he would also present works made of sheets in his first solo show in Rome as well as the La Fenice Theater in Venice, in the context of the Biennale. At the same time he was experimenting with photography and in 1965 presented in Berlin, Paris, and Rome the Phantasmagorias of Identity. During that same period he formed the Mec Art Group made up of artists such as Di Bello, Bertini, Rotella, Mariani, Beguier and Jacquet under the supervision of Restany. In 1966 he created Reformations with the use of an epidiascope and color and this was followed by Meta-Structures. In 1978 he took part in an exhibition of the New Realists at the Zoumboulaki gallery. In 1981 he was elected professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts and settled permanently in Athens at the beginning of the following year. He also served as Rector of the School until 1996. In 1987 he presented a series of his Poplars at the Pieridis Gallery while in 1988 he represented Greece, along with Vlassis Caniaris, at the Venice Biennale and took part in the Olympiad of Art in Seoul. In 1996 he presented Cements and for the first time in Greece the complete Gestures series at the gallery AD.

A restless artist, who never stops experimenting with techniques and methods, he has managed to transcend traditional painting materials and has found himself on the forestage of the avant garde throughout his career, moving from informel to mec art and then on to his photomechanical works done on sensitized cloth or cement.

In 1945 he went to South Africa, where he studied architecture at the Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. In 1949, wanting to get involved with painting, he interrupted his studies and went to Paris where he remained for thirty years. His first exhibition at the Arnaud gallery in the French capital was followed by a series of solo shows in Amsterdam, Antwerp, London, Paris and New York. Between 1979 and 1999 he was the director of the Teriade Museum on the island of Lesbos where he settled permanently.

His trip to Lesbos in 1956 is considered to be a watershed for his painting, for it signals the start of a period of landscape painting, which in the beginning was abstract and then became progressively more figurative.

He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts from where he graduated in 1956, while at the same time taking lessons from Spyros Papaloukas. He taught freehand drawing at the Athens Technological Institute (1960-1968) and at his own Workshop of Free Painting Studies (1969-1972). In 1982 he was elected a full professor to the Chair of Painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts, where he remained till his retirement in 1988. He had solo shows in Athenian galleries (Zygos 1963, The Hilton 1973, Nees Morfes 1973, Desmos 1979, Ora 1984) and took part in many group exhibitions in Greece and abroad (Panhellenies 1957, 1960, 1963, 1965, Youth Biennale, Paris 1961, Alexandria Biennale 1963 and others).

After his early works, which adhered more or less to abstract expressionism, he turned to figurative painting, creating surrealistic paintings with human figures and objects, while still later he was also involved with landscapes.

She began her studies at the Athens School of Fine Arts in 1931, originally under Pavlos Mathiopoulos and Dimitris Geraniotis and then at the studio of Umvertos Argyros and Konstantinos Parthenis but in 1935 she interrupted her education in order to marry the writer M. Karagatsis. After the Liberation, having abandoned painting for a long period of time, she took lessons in copperplate at the studio of Yannis Kefallinos and then began to paint again.

In 1950 she presented her work for the first time in an exhibition of the Spirit-Level group while in 1956 she organized her first solo show at the Payne Gallery. This was followed by other solo shows as well as participation in Panhellenies and group exhibitions, inside and outside Greece, such as the Biennale of Alexandria in 1965. In 1988 her work was presented in a retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery.

Faithful to figurative painting, she depicted landscapes, still lifes and scenes from everyday life accompanied by her own personal experiences and her familiar environs, family and friends. Her compositions, imbued with intense elements of “Greekness”, are marked by a sentimental but at the same time realistic mood, without any special accent put on the details, the main element being color.