Flying Nike
Artist
Michael Axelos
(1877 - 1965 )
Date1928
MediumSanguine on paper
Dimensions49.6 x 38.25 cm
Collection NoΑΞ278
DescriptionAntiquity has also been a
source of inspiration and a prototype for the artists who worked as banknote
and coin designers at the Bank of Greece. Michael Axelos, the first banknote
artist in Greece, drew on classical aesthetics and themes from Greek antiquity
for his sketches and designs for banknote series. Infusing Greek banknote
designs for the first time with an artistic quality, Axelos included in his
thematic repertoire imagaes from ancient Greek sculpture and architecture of
the 5th and 4th centuries BC. These quests are exemplified in pencil drawings
from sculpture, such as the "Archaic", and pastels or watercolour sketches
for banknotes featuring "Flying Nike".