Water and Greek painters

6b class 2nd Primary School of Pefka

2012Teacher: Elsa Lymberi

Water is not only a source of life, but a source of inspiration for many Greek artists, particularly painters. Besides, our country is a Mediterranean country, where water has played an important role in shaping civilizations.

• Major Greek painters who were inspired by water and especially by the Aegean Sea are: Lytras, Altamouras, Volanakis, Tetsis, Grammatopoulos, Moschakis.

Ioannis AltamourasHis life and work

• He continued his studies in Copenhagen. • In 1875, and while he was still in Copenhagen, he sent to the artistic competition

of Olympion in Athens his painting “The port of Copenhagen” and he won the second award.

From an early age, he exhibited his artistic skills in painting. He was accepted to the Athens School of Fine Arts where he studied painting along with Nikiphoros Lytras during the years 1871–1872.

His workHis seascape-paintings are considered equal to the works of another great Greek painter of seascapes of the 19th century, Konstantinos Volanakis. In 1878, the year of his death, two of his works ,“The destruction of the Ottoman flagship by Papanikolis in Eressos” and “The naval battle of Captain Miaoulis against two Ottoman flagships at the entrance of Patra”, were presented at the International exhibition of Paris.

Altamoura’s paintings

Nikiphoros Lytras

• He was one of the greatest Greek painters and teachers of painting in the 19th century. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the School of Arts of Munich and a pioneer in shaping the teaching of Fine Arts in Greece. His hugely important art covers the first three quarters of the century of Greek revival.

His paintings

• In his rich and endless work, from his first drawings until his last painting, one can see a constant evolution.

• He also focused in “History painting” with subjects inspired by Greek Mythology and Greek History.

Awards

• In 1903 he was decorated with the Golden Cross of Savour. In 1909 —after his death— some of his paintings were presented in Piloty’s School (1885-1886) in Munich.

• In 1933 an exhibition with Lytra’s 186 paintings was presented in Athens School of Fine Arts. The Hellenic Post honoured him by issuing a postage stamp.

Konstantinos Volanakis

He was from Volani, a small village in the area of Rethymnon, Crete.

His studies• He studied at the

Gymnasium of Syros. He graduated in 1856.

• He continued his studies at the Munich Academy. He worked in Munich, Vienna and Trieste.

• In 1833 he moved back to Greece. From that year until 1903 he taught at the School of Fine Arts.

The sea, ships and ports were the constant source of inpiration for Volanakis. Along with Theodore Vryzakis, Nikiforos Lytras, Nikolaos Gizis and George Iacovidis, he is considered one of the leading representatives of academic

realism, the so-called "Munich School". However, many of his bright works - such as “The famous Feast of Munich” - show some impressionistic trends.

The life of Kostas The life of Kostas GrammatopoulosGrammatopoulos

Kostas Grammatopoulos was a Greek painter and engraver ( 1916 -2003).

He studied at the School of Fine Arts under Yannis Kefallinos.

Later he was elected Professor of engraving at the same school.

Although he is not widely known, he is the one who created many posters for the war of 1940. He also illustrated the Greek Alphabet book of 1955 and the emblem of Hellenic Republic after 1974.

Panayiotis TetsisThe artistic process of the renowned painter

• In 1940 he took his first painting lessons from the German painter and engraver K. Frislanter, but his meeting with D. Pikioni and N. Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, whom he considers as his real teachers, played a crucial role to his route.

• He studied at the School of Fine Arts under K.Partheni and continued his studies as a free student at Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Paris(1953-1956) , where he studied engraving taught by E. J. Goerg.

In 1960 a three months’ honorary fellowship of the Italian government gave him the opportunity to study art in the Italian museums, and in 1972 a grant from the Ford Foundation enabled him to devote himself to painting.

Pavlos MoschakisBiography

Pavlos Moschakis was born in Istanbul in 1915. In 1964 he had to live his city and migrate to Greece. Since then he has been living in Athens.

He is a genuine self-taught artist who, in his paintings, demonstrates with sensitivity and love the quite harmonic and multicultural life in Istanbul and emphasizes the good memories he has about Turks and Turkey.

He was honoured by the Turkish daily newspaper “Cumhuriyet” for the valuable contribution of his paintings to the tribute for Istanbul, with the title “The City of the twentieth century”, with rare issues from the bridges of the City!

He has participated in many group and solo exhibitions since 1975. His works are in many private collections in Europe as well as the Municipality of Istanbul.

• Pavlos Moschakis is 97 years old and he lives in a nursing home in Athens, called “The House of People from Constantinople”.

• Unfortunately, he does not have any pension or health care. His only income are the paintings he still makes.

His paintings