Modern Greek art

Modern Greek art is art from the period between the emergence of the new independent Greek state and the 20th century. As Mainland Greece was under

The Cretan School and in particular the Heptanese School of art are two important artistic movements in Greece that followed parallel routes to Western Europe.^[1]

Modern Greek art can be said to have been predominantly shaped by the particular socioeconomic conditions of Greece, the large Greek diaspora across Europe, and the new Greek social elite, as well as external artistic influences, predominantly from Germany and France.

Sculpture and painting

19th century

The School of Munich

Modern Greek art began to be developed around the time of Romanticism. Greek artists absorbed many elements from their European colleagues, resulting in the culmination of the distinctive style of Greek Romantic art, inspired by revolutionary ideals as well as the country's geography and history. After centuries of Ottoman rule, few opportunities for an education in the arts existed in the newly independent Greece, so studying abroad was imperative for artists. Munich, as an important international center for the arts at that time, was the place where the majority of the Greek artists of the 19th century chose to study. In the school of Munich, led by Karl von Piloty, true fresco was taught for mural paintings on fresh wet lime plaster. During this period much of the art was emotional and theatrical in tone. The most prominent themes of the school of Munich were urban life, rural life, still life, and landscape.[1]

Later on, they would return to Greece and pass on their knowledge. Some of them remained in Munich, the so-called Athens on the

Other artists associated with the

Symeon Sabbides, Yannoulis Chalepas, Leonidas Drosis, as well as quite a few modernist artists who studied in Munich, which included Theofrastos Triantafyllidis, Jorgos Busianis, and also Giorgio de Chirico.^[2]

Notable sculptors of the new

Greek Kingdom were Leonidas Drosis (his major work was the extensive neo-classical architectural ornament at the Academy of Athens), Lazaros Sochos, Georgios Vitalis, Dimitrios Filippotis, Ioannis Kossos, Yannoulis Chalepas, Georgios Bonanos and Lazaros Fytalis

.

The School of Paris

A few Greek painters studied in

Impressionist movement developed, but most Greek painters remained faithful to the precepts of their teachers with only some nebulous thrusts in the direction of this movement. The first Greek impressionist was Périclès Pantazis who, after Paris, settled in Belgium and became a part of the avant-garde

group Circle de la pâte.

Themes-artistic depictions

Many Greek artists of this period also drew upon

Nikiphoros Lytras

.

20th century

At the beginning of the 20th century landscape painting held sway and the interest of painters turned toward the study of light and color.

Andre Malreaux as an artist capable "of stirring emotions as powerful as those of Giotto". Later in the century Nikos Engonopoulos achieved international recognition with his surrealist conceptions both of painting and poetry, while in the late 1960s Dimitris Mytaras and Yiannis Psychopedis became associated with European critical realism. Impressionism was the original influence on the leading figures of the art of the first half of the 20th century, Konstantinos Parthenis and Konstantinos Maleas, while Nikiphoros Lytras associated himself with the avant-garde groups of Munich constituting the last known link with the series of painters in the great tradition of Munich

in Greek art . The further development of these painters led to other roads, but always within the framework of the avantgarde movement albeit with a Greek dimension.

Gradually the

Yiannis Tsarouchis, Yiannis Moralis, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, Spyros Vassiliou, Alekos Kontopoulos (introduced abstraction in Greek paintings) and Spyros Papaloukas coming into the limelight of Greek Art. These painters tried mainly to link leading European trends with Greek tradition.^[4]

Notable 20th- and 21st-century artists

See also:

Contemporary Greek Art

The second half of the 20th century has seen a range of acclaimed Greek artists, such as

Varotsos, Dimitris Mytaras, Spyros Vassiliou, Alekos Fassianos, Theocharis Mores, Dimitris Koukos (1948-), Nikos Stratakis, Steven Antonakos, Kostas Tsoklis, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, Thanassis Stephopoulos, Aggelika Korovessi, and Yiannis Melanitis.^[5]

Gallery

• 
  Konstantinos Volanakis, Anchored boats.
• 
  Ioannis Altamouras, The port of Copenhagen.
• 
  Kolokotronis' statue by Lazaros Sochos.
• 
  Grandma's Favorite by Georgios Jakobides.
• 
  Capuchin friar by Nikolaos Gyzis.
• 
  Theofilos Hatzimichail

  , Symposium of Empress Eudoxia.
• 
  Theodoros Vryzakis, The sortie of Messologhi.
• 
  Statue of Socrates by Leonidas Drosis.
• 
  Theodore Ralli

  , Eavesdropping.
• 
  Nikiphoros Lytras

  , Antigone in front of the dead Polynices.
• 
  Statue of Andreas Miaoulis in Ermoupoli by Georgios Bonanos.
• 
  Nikolaos Lytras, The straw-hat.
• 
  The "umbrellas" of Zongolopoulos in Thessaloniki.

See also

Part of a series on the
History of Greek art
Greek Bronze Age Cycladic art Minoan art Mycenaean art
Ancient Greece Archaic Greek art Ancient Greek art Ancient Greek architecture Ancient Greek pottery Ancient Greek sculpture Hellenistic art see also: Greco-Buddhist art
Medieval Greece Byzantine art Byzantine Iconoclasm Macedonian art
Post-Byzantine Greece Cretan School Heptanese School
Modern Greece Modern Greek art Modern Greek architecture Munich School Contemporary Greek art
v t e

• Culture of Greece
• Modern Greek architecture
• Mycenaean Revival architecture
• National Gallery of Athens

References

"Characteristics of Romanticism"[2]. www.bluffton.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-26.^[6]

"The so-called Munich School, and the Greek painting of the 19th century".[3] USEUM. Retrieved 2022-04-26.^[7]

"5 Greek Female Artists You Should Know".[4] DailyArt Magazine. 2020-07-08. Retrieved 2022-04-26.^[8]

References

1. ^ Nano Chatzidakis, in From Byzantium to El Greco, p.49, Athens 1987, Byzantine Museum of Arts
2. ^ ^{a b} "Greek Artists at the Academy of Munich, 19th - 20th century". Archived from the original on 2007-08-05. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2007-02-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. ^ Modern and Contemporary Art in Greece (1984), Hans-Jörg Heusser AICARC Center, Zürich
5. ^ Greek Horizons: Contemporary Art from Greece (1998), Efi Strousa, Roger Wollen, Tullie House Museum, Art Gallery Carlise, England
6. ^ "Characteristics of Romanticism". www.bluffton.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
7. ^ "The so-called Munich School, and the Greek painting of the 19th century". USEUM. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
8. ^ "5 Greek Female Artists You Should Know". DailyArt Magazine. 2020-07-08. Retrieved 2022-04-26.

External links

• National Gallery of Athens official website