Maks Velo (31 August 1935 – 7 May 2020) was a French-born Albanian painter, journalist, and architect. His works have been exhibited in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the

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Biography

Velo wrote many essays related to the dictatorship of

Enver Hoxha Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist politician who was the authoritarian ruler of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 unt ...

, who served from 1944 to 1985. He also published photo albums presenting his works, and illustrated works on the Albanian

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...

and

socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...

. Velo joined the

Albanian League of Writers and Artists The League of Writers and Artists of Albania () is a non-profit organization founded with the goal of promoting and advancing the literary and artistic creativity of Albanian writers and artists, as well as to assess and reassess the finest works ...

(ALWA) in 1969. Until the early 1970s, he designed and built hotels, schools, houses, movie theaters, and public parks in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

. He taught at the University of Arts in Tirana. In 1973, he was criticized for his sentiment in ALWA, and was accused of modernism at the 1975 Albanian national architecture congress.

Imprisonment and release

Velo was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in 1978 for "agitation and propaganda" against the Hoxha regime. Almost all of his paintings were then destroyed, and his art collections were either stolen or burned. He was released from Spaç Prison in 1986, and was assigned to work in an abrasive stone factory in Tirana. In 1991, the

Supreme Court of Albania Supreme may refer to: Entertainment * Supreme (character), a comic book superhero * ''Supreme'' (film), a 2016 Telugu film * Supreme (producer), hip-hop record producer * "Supreme" (song), a 2000 song by Robbie Williams * The Supremes, Motown-e ...

heard his case and his criminal record was expunged. Since then, he has had nearly forty exhibitions in his name in

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, the United States,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. He has participated in exhibitions in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He has lectured at the

Minneapolis College of Art and Design The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer ...

, the

University of Fine Arts in Poznań Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts Poznan Poznań (in Polish: ''Uniwersytet Artystyczny im. Magdaleny Abakanowicz w Poznaniu'') is one of the major fine-art academies in Poland. It was founded in 1919 as the State School of Decorative ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, and the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...

. Maks Velo died on 7 May 2020 in Tirana at the age of 84.

References

1936 births 2020 deaths Artists from Paris 20th-century Albanian painters {{Albania-journalist-stub