Georgios Iakovidis
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Georgios Jakobides (Γεώργιος Ιακωβίδης; 11 January 1853 – 13 December 1932) was a painter and one of the main representatives of the Greek artistic movement of the Munich School. He founded and was the first curator of the
National Gallery of Greece The National Gallery ( el, Εθνική Πινακοθήκη, ''Ethniki Pinakothiki'') is an art museum located on Vasilissis Sofias avenue in the Pangrati district, Athens, Greece. It is devoted to Greek and European art from the 14th century ...
in Athens.


Life

He was born in
Chidira Chidira ( el, Χίδηρα) is a village on the Greek island of Lesbos (or ''Lesvos''), located at its western part and belonging to the municipal unit of Eresos-Antissa. Its population was 472 in 2011. Chidira borders with the villages Agra, Me ...
, Lesbos, Ottoman Empire. At the age of 13, he traveled to Smyrna to live with his uncle and study at the Evangelical School. From 1870 to 1876, Jakobides studied sculpture and painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts, and in 1877 he went to the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich on a scholarship to continue his painting studies under Karl Theodor von Piloty. In Munich, he lived for 17 years where he worked in his studio, painting mythological scenes, genre pictures, and portraits. His work is influenced by German academic Realism. His most famous paintings were of children but it said that after his wife's death in 1889, he stopped painting happy themes. In the capital of Bavaria he was regarded as a successful German artist selling many of his works at high prices. The Greek government invited him in 1900 to return to Athens to organize the
National Gallery of Athens The National Gallery ( el, Εθνική Πινακοθήκη, ''Ethniki Pinakothiki'') is an art museum located on Vasilissis Sofias avenue in the Pangrati district, Athens, Greece. It is devoted to Greek and European art from the 14th century ...
, and in 1904 he was appointed Director of the Athens School of Fine Arts, where he taught for 25 years. At this time, additional to his themes he produced formal portraits of eminent Greeks (e.g., Queen Sophia). He opposed all new artistic tendencies, including Impressionism and
Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
, but supported younger artists to follow their own individual artistic tendencies. He was awarded at five international exhibits: among those in Berlin 1891 and in Paris 1900. His works are found in the National Gallery of Athens, private collections and in museums and art galleries around the world including art galleries in Germany and the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
. His opus consists of some two hundred oil paintings, several of which are on display in Europe and overseas. His son, the actor Michalis Iakovides, donated his personal journal – which includes a list of his paintings between 1878 and 1919 – to the National Gallery of Greece in 1951. He died in Athens in 1932.


Legacy

In addition to his work as a painter, Jakobides was commissioned to create designs for a number of modern Greek coins including the 1 and 2 drachma coins from 1910 and 1911, the 50 lepta of 1921, and the 10 lepta of 1922.


Gallery

File:George Iakovidis - Children's Concert.JPG, ''Children's Concert'' File:Grandma's Favorite.jpg, ''Grandma's Favorite'' File:Portrait of King George I of Greece, National Historical Museum, 8 March 2020.jpg, ''Portrait of King George I'' File:Queen Sofia of Greece.jpg, ''Portrait of Queen Sofia of Greece'' File:Pavlos Melas.jpg, '' Pavlos Melas'' File:The First Steps 1893.jpg, ''The First Steps'' (1893) File:The Girl.jpg, ''The Girl'' File:Jakobides-2.jpg, ''Bavarian village'' File:The Favorite by Georgios Iakovidis.jpg, ''The Favorite'' File:Georgios Jakobides Girl reading c1882.jpg, ''Girl Reading'' File:The Naughty Grandson.jpg, ''The Naughty Grandson'' File:Cold_Shower_by_Georgios_Iakovidis.jpg, ''Cold Shower''


See also

* Munich School * Art in modern Greece


References


External links


Jakobides Digital Museum

National Gallery of Athens Official website
* Andreas S. Ioannou, ''19th Century Greek Art''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jakobides, Georgios 1853 births 1932 deaths 19th-century German male artists 19th-century Greek painters 20th-century Greek male artists 20th-century Greek painters Athens School of Fine Arts faculty Greek art curators Greek male painters Greek portrait painters Greeks from the Ottoman Empire Members of the Academy of Athens (modern) Munich School People from Eresos-Antissa