Juvenilia. From early style to mature work

The artists are the following: Spyros Vassiliou, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, Yannis Tsarouchis, Yannis Moralis, A. Tassos, Vasso Katraki, Jannis Spyropoulos, Alekos Kontopoulos, Dimitris Mytaras, Yannis Gaitis and Chryssa Romanos.
 

“Juvenilia” is the result of collaboration between three organisations and their respective curators, who initially selected these eleven artistic personalities of the 20th century, based on their significant presence in the history of modern Greek art. The exhibition ventures a return to the beginning of these artists’ journey and their initial explorations, in order to investigate the following: What were the first creative and expressive elements that appeared in their work, and how did these evolve into their later acclaimed artistic style?

To answer this question, the exhibition’s co-curators invited prominent art historians and theoreticians to research and write essays, seeking their own take on the issue.

 In this way, for the study of juvenilia, the following matchings were created:

Spyros Vassiliou · Anny Malama

Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika · Evita Arapoglou and Ioanna Moraiti

Yannis Tsarouchis · Anna Kafetsi

Yannis Moralis · Evgenios D. Matthiopoulos

Α. Tassos · Yannis Bolis

Vasso Katraki · Spyros Moschonas

Jannis Spyropoulos · Olga Daniilopoulou

Alekos Kontopoulos · Bia Papadopoulou

Dimitris Mytaras · Areti Leopoulou

Yannis Gaitis · Elena Hamalidi

Chryssa Romanos · Polina Kosmadaki

The early works contain treasures, elusive perhaps at the time of their creation, but certainly valuable and worthy of re-evaluation vis-à-vis the mature works. Juvenilia serve as a proposal for the study and evaluation of the artists’ oeuvres, which doesn’t exclusively involve going back to the youthful, “immature” past of each creator to discover it for its own sake. They also aim to offer an original, arguably alternative, way of reconsidering an otherwise well-known body of work.

The fully illustrated catalogue of the exhibition, published by the Bank of Greece, includes the introductory essay of its co-curators (Charis Kanellopoulou, Irene Orati, Constantinos Papachristou), and the essays of the invited art historians and theoreticians on the work of the exhibition’s artists.

Benaki Museum / Pireos 138 & Andronikou

t.:210 345 3111

email:benaki@benaki.org

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