These large-scale works capture the luminescence of the moment, the rays of light refracted by the currents of the sea, playing off of the bodies of bathers submerged in joy. After studying at the Ecole des Beaux Arts with Leonardo Cremonini, she moved back to Athens in an interview with Margarita Pournara, her response to the question about what coming back to Greece was like begins simply with “A return home to light.”Īnyone who has experienced the embrace of the Greek seas under the Mediterranean sun will have an immediate, sensual response to Filopoulou’s paintings. Among her most known works are also public murals, including in the railway station of Corinth, and also in the Medical School of the University of Athens.įilopoulou addresses the most elemental of Greek subjects – water and light – with unique eloquence and depth. She continued to work actively through 1986. She embraced the avant-garde in her work – fauvism, cubism, abstraction – and was among the artists representing the country in the Greek Pavilion at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. She met the sculptor Giorgos Zongolopoulos (famous for his public works such as the “Umbrellas” of Thessaloniki) after her studies, and they married in 1936. Leaving Asia Minor for Greece in 1922, her family finally settled in Athens, where she attended the Athens School of Fine Arts, studying drawing with Konstantinos Parthenis. Through her work and life, Paschalidou Zongolopoulou personifies the spirit of the “Generation of the ‘30s” – a term referring to the generation whose creative work was dedicated to interpreting the notion of ‘Greekness’ in the wake of the Asia Minor catastrophe. Flora-Karavia’s works – both joyous and contemplative – treat their subjects with a notable psychological depth.Įleni Paschalidou Zongolopoulou (Moda, Istanbul, 1909 – Athens, 1991) From the war sketches at the War Museum of Athens to the sunny impressionism of “Girl on the Beach” in the National Gallery. These field sketches serve as an artistic and historical record of the terrain, the monuments, and daily lives of the soldiers, and in recognition she was awarded both the Silver Medal of the Athens Academy (1945), and the Cross of the Order of Beneficence (1953). She accompanied the Greek Army, keeping a diary and producing a wealth of powerful, impressionistic sketches, later published in the book “Impressions of the War of 1912-1913, Macedonia – Epirus.” She also joined Greek troops on the Asia Minor campaign, and then on the Albanian front. The Balkan wars brought a definitive period for Flora-Karavia’s career. She founded a school of art, and was there for three decades. She later went to Alexandria, where she married the journalist Nikolaos Karavias. In Athens, she had a joint exhibition with Laskaridou, to excellent reception. Thalia Flora-Karavia (Siatista 1871– Athens 1960)įlora, raised in Constantinople, studied in Munich with Nikolaos Gyzis, Giorgos Iakovides, and other prominent figures of the era.
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