He studied in the Architecture Department of the National Technical University (1931-1936) and then worked as an architect until the end of the Thirties. In 1947 he went to Brazil, and on the recommendation of Le Corbusier, worked on the studies and designs for Brasilia. The same year he travelled to Paris where he settled until 1960. He abandoned architecture and devoted himself to painting and set design, indeed, even founding his own theater. He had solo exhibitions in France and in 1963 his last solo show at the Zygos gallery in Athens to which he had returned in 1961. Retrospective exhibitions of his work were organized at the Technological Institute of Athens (1965), the National Gallery (1980) and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (1980).
One of the first artists internationally to express themselves in informel art, he created works feverish in style, the fruit of frenzied delirium, in which gesture and metier activate the painting surface.
He took private lessons from Panos Sarafianos, Theodoros Drosos and, for a time, Yannis Tsarouchis. In 1957 he began to present his work in group shows and had his first solo show at the Ora Gallery in 1972. In 1965 he began his professional involvement with the theater, making sets and costumes for the National Theater and Karolos Koun’s Art Theater as well as other private companies.
His painting, which includes a number of landscapes and interiors, but is primarily focused on the human figure and, frequently, its psychographic investigation, combines elements of ancient Greek and Byzantine art, the Fayum portraits and more modern trends as well.
In 1934 he settled with his family in Thessaloniki and in 1943 began to study Medicine, which he dropped in his first year of study, turning to music. During the period 1951-1952 he studied at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki, where he earned a degree in violin and then continued at the Music Academy of Vienna (1952-1953). In that same period he became involved with painting, and after he returned to Thessaloniki in 1954, he devoted himself to it. With the scholarships he received he worked in 1956 in Munich, in 1960 in Urbino, in 1972-1973 in Berlin (on a scholarship from D.A.A.D.) and in 1978-1979 in Worpswede in the former East Germany. His creative career was brought to a halt in 1988 as a year earlier he fell victim to an incurable disease.
His first solo show was organized in Thessaloniki in 1959 and the same year he began to take part in group shows, with a multitude of appearances both inside and outside Greece. In 1994 his work was presented in a retrospective exhibition at Warehouse I of the Port Authority of Thessaloniki.
In his earliest works, one finds both figurative and abstract depictions. Later he turned to abstraction, and then began to incorporate various objects into his work, frequently adding color as well, his aim being to stress the role of time and wear and tear. His artistic creation was then further extended to the fields of performance, happening, body and living art, incorporating his own body into a number of these works.
He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts from 1897 to 1906 and then, with private financial backing, went to Germany and enrolled in the Munich Academy in the classes of Professor Otto Seitz, also studying under Walter Thor and Georg Schildknecht. In 1909 in Berlin he got to know Max Liebermann. In Munich he had friendly relations with various artists, Heinz Waldmuller in particular, and had already known Giorgio de Chirico since his student days in Athens. He participated in exhibitions both at the Kunstverein and the Glaspalast and, starting in 1917, when his expressionistic idiom began to take on a clearer shape, presented his works at the Rithaler gallery. Later he would exhibit at the Thannhauser gallery in Munich, the Barchfeld gallery in Leipzig and the Chemnitz gallery (1927 with the sculptor Alexander Fischer); it is also worth noting his participation in 1928 in the exhibition in Munich of the Neue Secession group, of which he was a member. He would remain in the Bavarian capital until 1928 and then after visiting Vienna in 1929 would live, until 1932, in Paris, where he painted a large number of water colors. Moreover, it is from this period comes the Τετράδιο με τους “Αφορισμούς” (Notebook with Aphorisms), an important document for any real consideration of the artist. After returning to Munich, where he remained for another two years, he finally settled in Athens — promising to take a position in the School of Fine Arts, something which never transpired — and in 1935 took part in a group exhibition at the Studio gallery. In 1949 he held his only solo show in Greece, in the Parnassos Hall. He also exhibited his works in the Panhellenies (1938, 1939, 1952), the exhibitions of the Spirit-Level group (1951-1953), and the Group of Five (1957) while at the same time participating in exhibitions at Erlangen (1952) and Rome (1953). In 1950 he took part in the Venice Biennale and in 1956 received the Greek Prize in the international Guggenheim contest. After his death, the “The Friends of Bouzianis” society organized many exhibitions and other events centered around his work. In 1977 the National Gallery held a retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work.
The most important of the Greek expressionist painters, he shaped the character of his art in Germany during the period when avant garde groups, such as Die Brucke and Der Blaue Reiter, were on the artistic forestage; he himself was a member of Neue Secession and Neue Gruppe. Still life and landscape, but above all portraiture and the human figure in general, made up the main thematic axes of his painting, where color is employed as a basic structural element and autonomous value. His work, in keeping with his anti-realistic views, is opposed to any idea of beautification, becoming a vehicle for emotional states and foreshadows abstraction.
A member of the Greek community, he originally studied painting in Vienna and then at the Academy of Venice. In 1873 he took part in the International Exhibition of Vienna where he won a distinction, and in 1878 he participated in the World Exhibition of Paris, showing two works. In 1882, in Vienna, he donated a “Virgin Mary” by an Italian painter to the Athens School of Fine Arts. He was the first president of the Association of the Fine Arts, in the foundation of which he played a leading role (1882). He was a member of the critical committee for the competition announced in 1883 by the University of Athens for the construction of a statue of Gladstone and the same year, on commission, he painted the “Portrait of Professor P. Grigoriadis” for the University.
A painter from the first years after the Greek War of Independence, he did mainly portraits, following academic models, but also did copies of the works of Italian artists.
He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts under Konstantinos Volanakis and Nikephoros Lytras. In 1906 he went to Germany and completed his studies at the Munich Academy under Heinrich von Zugel and then lived in London from 1908 to 1910. After his return to Greece he opened a studio and actively participated in social and artistic life, taking part in many exhibitions. He was a member of the Athenian Club, as well as the Publication Committee for the celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the Greek War of Independence and also participated in the founding of the Art Group. In addition, he served as director of the branches of the School of Fine Arts in Hydra and Delphi.
His work is made up of scenes from everyday life and landscapes which he rendered in an impressionistic manner. At the same time, he followed the thematic specialization of his teacher Zugel and displayed an interest in the depiction of animals.
He was the son of the painter and sculptor Pavlos Prosalendis the Elder and the father of the painters Aimilios and Pavlos Prosalendis the Younger. He took his first painting lessons at the art school which had been founded and directed by his father on Corfu and completed his lessons at the Fine Arts Academy of Venice, graduating with first prize. After quite a long period of residence in Venice, he returned to Corfu, while in 1865 he was appointed professor of painting at the School of Arts and settled in Athens. After teaching for a brief period he resigned and returned to Venice where he received a prize at the city’s International Exhibition. In 1870, at the urging of King George I, he settled permanently in Athens and undertook the decoration of the chapel of the Old Palace while in 1876, with the formation of the second chair of painting at the School of Arts, he was again appointed professor and remained in this position till his death.
Mainly a portrait painter, he was also involved with genre painting, but in a more limited way. He did the portraits of various eminent figures, as well as the veterans of the Greek War of Independence, combining an academic style with realistic rendering, while in his genre scenes the influences of his Italian training are obvious.
From a well-known family of Chios, he worked for a brief period in the commercial house of Rallis-Mavroyannis in London, but abandoned his entrepreneurial career and settled permanently in Paris. There he studied painting under the academic teacher and Orientalist painter Jean-Leon Gerome until approximately 1880. In 1873 he took part in the Salon des Refuses. From 1875 to the end of his life he participated without fail in the official French Salons, the World Exhibitions of Paris (1878, 1889 – silver medal, 1900 – outside competition, member of the critical committee of the Greek division) as well as many other exhibitions both inside and outside France. In Greece he won the silver medal at the Olympia Exhibition of 1888 and at the International Exhibition of Athens in 1903. In 1885, the year he won honorable mention at the Salon and the Cross of the Savior in Greece, he acquired French nationality. He repeatedly visited Greece as well as many Middle Eastern countries, drawing from them the subjects for his paintings. He also had a studio in Cairo where he spent the winter months from the end of the 1880s till 1904, developing noteworthy artistic activity, which included the organizing of yearly artistic exhibitions. In 1900 he was awarded the decoration of the Knight of the Legion of Honor. In 1910 the National Gallery received the Rallis Bequest, while a year later the Theodoros Rallis Prize was given for the first time in Paris and in 1912 the first Rallis Competition was held in Greece.
His works, mainly Greek genre scenes and “oriental” subjects, are incorporated in the framework of the European Orientalism of the second half of the 19th century and are rendered in agreement with the precepts of Academic realism, while there are also a few brief attempts at using the insights of the more innovative trends.
He studied painting in Paris under Alexandre Cabanel, professor at the School of Fine Arts and the painter of Napoleon III. After the end of his studies he remained and worked in the French capital, involving himself deeply in artistic activity. He took part in many Paris Salons, as well as the World Exhibitions of 1878 and 1900. In the latter, he presented, among others, his “Athenian Evening” for which he won the silver medal. For the same work he received a commendation at the Artistic Exhibition of Athens in 1899. He also participated in the Panhellenies exhibitions of 1888 and 1889 at the Zappeion Hall and in exhibitions at the Parnassos Hall in 1901 and 1902.
Iakovos Rizos, even though he was a friend of Renoir and an admirer of Degas and lived in Paris during the time when the impressionist movement appeared, preferred to follow the doctrines of his teacher and the French academic tradition.
In his work the main role is played by elegant female figures, who are depicted in aristocratic interiors, employed at the occupations of the nobility, in the context of the Belle Epoque. On a more limited scale he was also involved with landscape, adopting impressionistic-plein air perceptions
He studied engraving under Vittorio Grassi and painting under Giulio Bargellini at the School of Decorative Arts in Rome. During the period of 1921-1922 he followed the Asia Minor campaign as a war painter along with Spyros Papaloukas and Periklis Vyzantios; the works of all three were lost with the destruction of Smyrna. In 1923 he settled in Genoa for good after periods of residence in Germany, Athens, Paris and Marseilles.
In 1919 he presented a solo exhibition at the main room of the “Ελεύθερος Τύπος” newspaper in Athens and the same year he also participated in the exhibition organized by the “Art Group” at the “La Boetie” gallery in Paris. Furthermore, he presented his work in solo and group exhibitions in Italy as well as the Venice Biennales of 1934, 1940 and 1948, sometimes representing Greece and other times Italy.
His work, initially influenced by symbolism, consisted mainly of landscapes rendered impressionistically.
He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts from 1880 to 1887 and a year after graduating, with a scholarship from the Kritsis Bequest, he attended lessons at the Munich Academy, under Nikolaos Gyzis. He continued his studies at the Paris School of Fine Arts, under professors Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant. He returned to Greece in 1894 and starting in 1895 taught at the School of Fine Arts. Three years later, with the declaration of the Greek-Turkish war, he enlisted and depicted scenes from the military conflict, which he later exhibited, at the exhibition at Athens City Hall in 1902 and the International Exhibition of Athens in 1903. At the same time he pursued artistic activity outside Greece as well, when in 1903 he resigned from his position at the School and settled for five years in England, initially in London and then Liverpool. Two years after his return to Greece he was appointed anew to the School of Fine Arts where he taught until 1927 and established lessons in the open air. In 1912 he was again at the front, turning his art to the events in the Balkan Wars. During the following years he continued his artistic activity while holding solo exhibitions as well (1919, 1925, 1927).
He painted portraits, genre and war scenes, as well as views of Greek nature in accordance with the principles of post-impressionism.
He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts under Konstantinos Parthenis and Spyridon Vikatos (1935-1940). His first solo exhibition in 1954 on the premises of the newspaper Τo Vima (Tο Βήμα) was followed by many other solo shows and participations in group exhibitions in Greece and abroad, in European countries and America. In 1957 he took part in the Alexandria Biennale and in 1960 was chosen among the candidates for the Guggenheim Prize. He was a member of the Spirit-Level group.
In 1975 the National Gallery had a retrospective exhibition of his work and in 1983 an exhibition of his drawings. In his works, mainly human figures and landscapes, can be traced influences from Byzantine and folk art but also from the tradition of the shadow puppet theater.
He worked in the advertising division of the Astir company, starting in 1918. He was involved with interior decoration and the graphic arts, working in cooperation with advertising firms. For many years he designed cigarette packets for the Papastratos and Keranis cigarette companies. In 1935 he took part in the exhibition of the Art Group at the Atelier gallery.
Self-taught, he was one of the first Greek artists to adopt the collage technique and use scraping in his work. His contribution to the renewal of industrial design in agreement with the aesthetics of the Bauhaus is considered important.
He studied painting at the Paris School of Fine Arts (1956-1962). After the completion of his studies he remained in the French capital and from 1976 to 1988 taught lithography at the same school. In 1988 he returned to Greece where he lives and works.
In 1966 he had his first solo show at the Astor gallery in Athens, and then organized other solo shows in both Greece and abroad. He also took part in Parisian Salons, as well as group and international exhibitions of painting and engraving.
In his work he presents a world which combines elements of the familiar and the everyday with an otherworldly, dreamy and, frequently, erotic atmosphere, in which the female figure dominates. Nude in most instances and often reclining, alone or with a man, she is rendered without any trace of realism, in strong colors and with a plasticity of volumes and is shown in bourgeois interiors with elements from the past. Along with his painting he is occupied with engraving, lithography in particular, creating compositions with a strong expressionistic character.
Brother of Philippos Margaritis, he studied painting and lithography in Paris. In 1836 he returned to Athens and was appointed the first Professor of Painting at the Evelpidon (Military Cadet) School. At the same time he founded a painting studio, in which he also installed lithography apparatus. His brother also established himself there after his return to Greece and there is mention made that the Prime Minister Ioannis Kolettis visited it in 1844. Moreover, they later founded the first photography studio in Athens, introducing the art of photography to Greece. From 1843 to 1853 he taught, without pay, Advanced Painting, Plaster Work and Oil Painting at the School of Arts.
Georgios Margaritis, influenced by the neoclassical spirit, did portraits of warriors and various personalities of the period with a tendency toward beautification and idealization, but also scenes from the Greek War of Independence, such as the work “Karaiskakis Advances on the Acropolis”, and “Karaiskakis Wounded at the Battle Along the Coast” the drawing for which earned him a silver medal in 1870 at the Olympia exhibition. Moreover, in cooperation with his brother, he decorated the palace with wall paintings, the Throne Room in particular.
Evidencing a talent for painting at an early age he took his first lessons in Piraeus from Konstantinos Volanakis. In 1906 he went to Paris with the aim of studying shipbuilding, but his contact with the artistic currents dominant in that period in the French capital and his acquaintance with Periklis Vyzantios, Juan Gris and other painters made him turn to the School of Fine Arts.
In Paris, where he remained until 1926, he had his first solo show in 1913 at the Bernheim gallery. At the same time he participated in group exhibitions in the French capital, London and Athens. In Greece he organized his first solo exhibition in 1926 at the Parnassos Hall, continuing to work and present paintings in group exhibitions until 1933 when he died at the Dromokaiteio Mental Hospital. In 1961 a retrospective of his work was held at the Armos gallery.
Landscape was the central interest of his painting. Isolated houses at the edge of the sea, row-boats and chapels enveloped in a dreamy and romantic atmosphere were some of his favourite subjects. His style was influenced by the painting of the Nabis and the Syntheticists and to achieve the desired result he used not only canvas and hardboard but undershirts, old sheets, the smooth side of kitchen oilcloth and even the rags on which he had wiped his brushes.
He studied at the School of Fine Arts (1909-1916) under professors Spyros Vikatos, Dimitrios Geraniotis, Georgios Jakovides, Stephanos Lanza, Georgios Roilos and Pavlos Mathiopoulos, winning seven first prizes during his attendance. In 1917 he went to Paris where he continued his studies at the Julian and Grande Chaumiere Academies but stopped in 1921 to take part in the Asia Minor Campaign as a war painter along with Periklis Vyzantios and Pavlos Rodokanakis. The works he painted there were exhibited at the Zappeion Hall in 1922, but were later lost in the destruction of Smyrna.
During 1923-1924 he remained in Mt. Athos where he studied nature and Byzantine art and painted a series of works he exhibited at the end of 1924 in Thessaloniki. Having won the contest for the illustration of the Cathedral of Amfissa in 1926, he worked on the decoration from 1927 to 1932 while from 1932 to 1933 he painted an apartment building in the Exarcheia section of Athens, known ever since as the “Blue Apartment House”. His activity as a hagiographer and decorator continued with the illustration of other churches and the decoration of the Archaeological Museum of Herakleio; in 1926 his interest in set design commenced and he did sets for the performances at the National Theater, the Kotopouli Theater and elsewhere.
He taught freehand and decorative drawing at the Handicrafts School, starting in 1925, decorative arts at the Sivitanideio Institute starting in 1936 while in 1940 he was appointed decorator of the Town-Planning Service of the Ministry for the Administration of the Capital and the Technical Service of the Municipality of Athens. At the same time he assumed the management of the Municipal Gallery. From 1943 to 1951 he taught freehand drawing at the Architectural School of the National Technical University and in 1956 was elected professor to the painting studio of the School of Fine Arts.
During the period 1935 to 1937 he published, together with Stratis Doukas, Nikos Chatzikyriakos-Ghika, Dimitris Pikionis and Sokratis Karantinos the avant garde Greek magazine “Το Τρίτο Μάτι”. A founding member of the Art Group and member of the League of Greek Artists, he took part in their exhibitions, in group shows in Greece and abroad as well as in Panhellenies. In 1976 his work was presented in a retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery and in 1982 at the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Athens.
He was involved with portraiture and still life, but landscape is what dominated his painting which he rendered after having fully assimilated the doctrines of Byzantine art as well as certain post-impressionistic trends: Gauguin, the Nabis and Pointillism in particular. In his portraits he adopted various techniques while in his iconography he endeavored to combine traditional Byzantine types with elements derived from modern artistic trends.
There is a variety of information on his youth and studies and it is mutually contradictory. He probably took his first painting lessons in Egypt during 1894-1895 from the German artist Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach and in 1895/1896 went to Vienna where he completed his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (1897-1903) and the Conservatory.
In 1903 he came to Greece for the first time and the same year took part in the International Exhibition of Athens, at which he received the silver medal. Remaining in Greece for five years, he travelled to various parts of it, painting and producing icons for churches. From 1909 to 1911/1914 he lived in Paris, where he took part in various Salons among which was the Autumn Salon of 1910 where his work Slope was awarded a prize. Returning to Greece he settled for a time in Corfu, took Greek citizenship and became a member of the literary and artistic group Company of Nine. In 1917 he came permanently to Athens and, along with other artists founded the Art Group. In 1919 he was commissioned by the Attican League to do the painting in the church of Ayios Alexandros in Palaio Faliro. The next year he presented at Zappeion Hall a large retrospective exhibition, for which he was awarded the National Prize in Letters and Arts and thus established himself as an artist, but raising a storm of reaction in conservative academic circles. In 1934 he took part in the Venice Biennale, in 1937 the International Exhibition of Paris where his work The Battle of Hercules with the Amazons won the gold medal, while in 1938 he organized a retrospective exhibition in the framework of the Venice Biennale, where his work Annunciation was purchased by the Museum of Venice.
In 1929, by a Presidential decree of Alexandros Papanastasiou, who was also his close friend, he was appointed a professor at the School of Fine Arts, after an unsuccessful attempt at being elected to it in 1923. This fact created a hostile atmosphere between him and his colleagues, but he was very popular among his students. He taught at the School until 1947 when he quit. For a while he continued to teach at his studio but by 1948 he had withdrawn into himself and stopped having any real contact with the world. This had been preceded by his participation in the Panhellenio exhibition of that year where he exhibited the Apotheosis of Athanasios Diakos which received special praise and was recommended for the first prize and the gold medal. The fact that in the end it did not receive them coupled with his departure from the School and a long-term dispute with the Municipality of Athens over the commissioning of twelve paintings in 1940, which in the end were not delivered, exacerbated his isolation.
In 1954 he was awarded the Order of the Commander of King George I and in 1965 the Order of the Gold Commander of the Phoenix, while in 1966 his students organized at the Athenian Technological Institute an exhibition of his work from public and private collections, but he himself did not make an appearance.
Parthenis is one of the most important figures in modern Greek art, both for his work and for his contribution through teaching. In his painting, which includes religious subjects, landscapes, mythological and allegorical motifs, portraits, and still lifes, drawing his inspiration from ancient and Byzantine art but also from modern currents -impressionism and post-impressionism, symbolism and Art Nouveau – he fashioned a completely unique and personal style, with which he transformed his ideas and visions into images, opening the road for the revitalization of Greek art.
He studied painting in Munich from 1842 to 1845. Then he stayed in Rome for three years, more than likely completing his artistic education there, and afterward settled in Greece.
He was primarily involved with portraiture, working in the islands, since a large part of his work consisted of the portraits of members of well-known naval families who were very active during the years of the Greek War of Independence and exercised considerable authority at the time. On a more limited scale, he was also involved with landscape. Despite this painter’s characteristic rendering of his figures, which seem formal and stiff in their grand interiors, next to open windows with a view of well-known archaeological sites, islands and cities, many of his works were originally attributed to the painter Andreas Kriezis. His identity became known when, in the portrait of the Hydriot Stamatis Voudouris the inscription “Hydra 7/19 Aprile 1857, Francesco Pige di Tirolo pinxit” was located, an element which led to the identification of other of his works having the same technical characteristics.
He got his general education at the Commercial School of Chalki and in 1878 came to Athens where, for two years, he attended classes at the Architectural School of the National Technical School. In 1880, with the financial assistance of the Greek Stephanos Zafeiropoulos, he went to Munich and enrolled in the Academy. For seven years he studied painting with professors Julius Benczur, Ludwig von Lofftz, Wilhelm von Diez and Nikolaos Gyzis, who also became a close friend.
He remained in the Bavarian capital until 1925, at the same time taking trips to Constantinople, Tokat, Samsun and Athens. During this period he maintained his own studio, became a member of the Kunstverein Luitpoldgruppe and developed a wealth of artistic activities, participating in exhibitions at the Glaspalast, as well as the international exhibitions of Munich (1901), Berlin, Leipzig, Hamburg, Vienna, Paris (1900) and London (1895) where he won the silver medal. He also took part in the Artistic Exhibition of Athens in 1899 and in exhibitions at the Parnassos and Zappeion Halls, while in 1931, four years after his death, the Lyceum Club of Greek Women organized a large retrospective exhibition of his work.
By nature restless and with a variety of interests he was involved with the study of ancient monuments, with problems of a philosophical and ethical content, as well as with geology, physiology, medicine and meteorology, indeed developing a theory for weather prediction based on the colors of the dawn and sunset. These thoughts he mentions in an unpublished manuscript written in German and called, Έργα και πάρεργα (Works and Hobbies). But what he was most involved with his whole life long was the study of color and the formulation of a theory related to the warm, cool and complementary colors, which became known by word of mouth and was particularly esteemed by his contemporaries.
Scenes of everyday life and landscapes, which dominate his artistic creation, are the subjects which assist him in applying his theories related to color and light. He was also interested in still life and portraiture, while his scenes from the Middle East, which were inspired by his trips to Constantinople and Asia Minor, were in the style of the Orientalists.
