Landscape with the Acropolis (1931/1935) by Steris YerassimosNational Gallery of Greece - Alexandros Soutsos Museum
For Greece, the milestone of the period between the wars was the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922. This traumatic experience created the need for national self-affirmation, which was expressed through a turn to tradition.
Furthermore, a turn towards order and tradition also characterized European art in the period between the wars. The characteristics that would prevail in the artists of the Generation of the Thirties were fashioned in the Twenties.
Still Life (ca. 1925 - 1930) by Parthenis KonstantinosNational Gallery of Greece - Alexandros Soutsos Museum
The “Generation of the Thirties” was established as a term in the field of literature and referred to a group of young writers, poets mainly, who are related to the introduction of avant-garde currents into Greece and their conscious endeavor to naturalize them.
In the visual arts, the first Greek plein-air painting was succeeded by a painting which tended to become anthropocentric. Its basic hallmark was the predominance of intellect over the senses, expressed through a powerful schematization in composition and drawing, while colour distanced itself from nature and became more spiritual.
Still Life with Acropolis in the Background (before 1931) by Parthenis KonstantinosNational Gallery of Greece - Alexandros Soutsos Museum
The mature work of Konstantinos Parthenis(1878/1879 – 1967) typifies these changes. His allegorical and religious compositions combine influences from Greek antiquity, Byzantium, and modern trends.
Wall Painting, with wich the artist decorated a wall of his house (1932) by Kontoglou FotisNational Gallery of Greece - Alexandros Soutsos Museum
Fotis Kontoglou(1896 – 1965), who came from Asia Minor, sought his sources of inspiration exclusively in the Byzantine and Eastern traditions, rejecting all contact with Western art. His personality and ideas influenced many artists in the Generation of the Thirties.
Guest Quarters at Lavra Monastery on Mt. Athos (1924) by Papaloukas SpyrosNational Gallery of Greece - Alexandros Soutsos Museum
In contrast to Kontoglou, his friend Spyros Papaloukas(1892 - 1957) approached tradition through the experience of modern art.
Yannis Tsarouchis (1910 – 1989) also understood the impasse implicit in Kontoglou’s doctrines and opened a fertile dialogue with many traditions (Hellenistic painting, Byzantium, the Renaissance, and folk art), consistently sharing the preoccupations of modern art, Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954) in particular.
Theatre (1961) by Engonopoulos NicosNational Gallery of Greece - Alexandros Soutsos Museum
The doctrines of Kontoglou were reconciled with the codes of the pittura metafisica in the work of Nikos Engonopoulos (1907 - 1985).
Ιn this climate, the Generation of the Thirties discovered the value of the art of folk artists such as the “Makryyannis’ painter” and Theophilos (Chatzimichael 1873 - 1934).
Nikos Chatzikyriakos-Ghika (1906 - 1994) painted landscapes, interiors, and still lifes in a post-cubist style transformed through the impact of Greek light and color.
In several artists of the '30s Generation, the influence of André Dérain's(1880-1954) classicist phase, which arrived in Greece through the engraver and painter Dimitris Galanis (1879 - 1966), can be traced.
Homeric Shore (ca. 1930) by Steris YerassimosNational Gallery of Greece - Alexandros Soutsos Museum
Τhis "Generation of 30's" includes also the dreamy Greek seashores of Gerasimos Steris (1898-1987).
For this generation, tradition and Modernism acted as two-way catalysts, each helping to deepen understanding and appropriating the other.
Texts: Marina Lampraki-Plaka, Professor Emeritus of the History of Art, ex-Director, National Gallery - Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Athens
Project leader: Efi Agathonikou, Head of Collections Department, National Gallery - Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Athens
Images: Stavros Psiroukis & Thalia Kimpari, Photographic Studio, National Gallery - Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Athens
Digital curation: Dr. Alexandros Teneketzis, Art Historian & Marina Tomazani, Art Historian, Curator, National Gallery - Alexandros Soutsos Museum
You are all set!
Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.