Natalia Mela (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Ναταλία Μελά; 1923–14 April 2019) was a

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. She was the granddaughter of the fighter of the

Macedonian Struggle The Macedonian Struggle ( bg, Македонска борба; el, Μακεδονικός Αγώνας; mk, Борба за Македонија; sr, Борба за Македонију; tr, Makedonya Mücadelesi) was a series of social, po ...

Pavlos Melas Pavlos Melas ( el, Παύλος Μελάς, ''Pávlos Melás''; March 29, 1870 – October 13, 1904) was a Greek revolutionary and artillery officer of the Hellenic Army. He participated in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and was amongst the first ...

and wife of architect

Aris Konstantinidis Aris Konstantinidis (; 4 March 1913 – 18 September 1993) was a Greek modernist architect. Aris Konstantinidis was born in Athens and studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich from 1931 to 1936, where he came into contact wi ...

Biography

Natalia Mela born in

Kifissia Kifissia or Kifisia (also Kephisia or Cephissia; el, Κηφισιά, ) is one of the most expensive northern suburbs of Athens, Greece, mainly accessed via Kifissias Avenue, running all the way from central Athens up to Theseos Avenue in the subu ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and grew up in an upper-class household with historical origins. She was the granddaughter of the " Makedonomachos"

and Natalia Dragoumis. Her father was Michail Melas and her mother was the daughter of

Ioannis Pesmazoglou Ioannis Pesmazoglou ( el, Ιωάννης Πεσμαζόγλου; 1857–1906) was a Greek banker, economist and politician. Ioannis Pesmazoglou was from Constantinople (now Istanbul), although his family originate from Enderlik, in Cappadocia. P ...

, founder of the

National Bank of Greece The National Bank of Greece (NBG; el, Εθνική Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος) is a global banking and financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece. 85% of the company's pretax preprovision profits are derived ...

along with

Georgios Stavros Georgios Stavros ( el, Γεώργιος Σταύρος, 1788–1869) was a banker, benefactor and revolutionary from modern-day Greece. He was one of the founders and the first governor of the National Bank of Greece. Early years Stavros was bor ...

. Her grandmother from the side of her father was of the Dragoumi family and was the sister of

Ion Dragoumis Ion Dragoumis (; 14 September 1878 – 31 July 1920) was a Greek diplomat, philosopher, writer and revolutionary. Biography Born in Athens, Dragoumis was the son of Stephanos Dragoumis who was foreign minister under Charilaos Trikoupis. The ...

and daughter of

Stephanos Dragoumis Stefanos Dragoumis ( el, Στέφανος Δραγούμης; 1842September 17, 1923) was a judge, writer and the Prime Minister of Greece from January to October 1910. He was the father of Ion Dragoumis. Early years Dragoumis was born in Athen ...

. At 1942 she was enlisted at the Athens School of Fine Arts, with professors such as Kostas Dimitriadis and Mihalis Tompro. She worked at the workshop of

Athanase Apartis Athanase Apartis ( el, Αθανάσιος Απάρτης, 24 October 1899 – 1 April 1972) was a Greek sculptor. His busts of famous people and monumental works stand in many public places in Greece. Life Athanase Apartis was born on 24 Octob ...

. She then became a member of the

United Panhellenic Organization of Youth The United Panhellenic Organization of Youth, abbreviated EPON ( el, Ενιαία Πανελλαδική Οργάνωση Νέων (ΕΠΟΝ)), was a Greek resistance organization that was active during the Axis Occupation of Greece in World ...

, abbreviated EPON and of Greece's Communist Party (KKE). However, after the murder of Kitsos Maltezos she left both organizations. After her graduation, at 1948, she worked for a period of time along her professor

Dimitris Pikionis Demetrios ("Dimitris") Pikionis ( el, Δημήτριος (Δημήτρης) Πικιώνης; 1887–1968) was a Greek architect, and also painter, of the 20th century who had a considerable influence on modern Greek architecture. He was a foundi ...

for a stele at the tomb of the bishop Chrysanthos and later for the Monument of the Fallen in Leontio, Nemea in the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...

. She also constructed busts for Stephanos Dragoumis and Georgios Pesmazoglou, where the influence of Pikionis is obvious. In a few years she opened her own workshop in a house in

Vasilissis Sofias Avenue Vasilissis Sofias Avenue () is a major avenue in the east side of Athens, the Greek capital. The avenue was originally part of the Kifisias Avenue. The part from Syntagma Square to the intersection with Alexandras Avenue was renamed after Que ...

and later in Mourouzis Street. Where many

Greek artists Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

paid her visits such as

Nikos Engonopoulos Nikos Egonopoulos ( el, Νίκος Εγγονόπουλος; October 21, 1907 – October 31, 1985) was a Greek painter and poet. He is one of the most important members of "Generation of the '30s",Eleni Kefala''Peripheral (Post) Modernity'' ...

, Yannis Tsarouhis, Andreas Empirikos and

Yiannis Moralis Yiannis Moralis ( el, Γιάννης Μόραλης; also transliterated Yannis Moralis or Giannis Moralis; 23 April 1916 – 20 December 2009) was an important Greece, Greek visual artist and part of the so-called "Generation of the '30s (G ...

. She was a founder of the artistic team "Armos". At 1951 she married the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

(1913-1993) with whom she had two children, Dimitri and Alexandra. For the next ten years she mainly worked for

Karolos Koun Karolos Koun ( el, Κάρολος Κουν; September 13, 1908 in Bursa – February 14, 1987 in Athens) was a prominent Greek theater director, widely known for his lively staging of ancient Greek plays. Biography Koun was born in Bursa, Ottoman ...

's Theatre where she was responsible for the stage production.

Artistic creation

Natalia Mela in the beginning worked with

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

and rock, while in the end of 1960s, when she returned from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where she had learned to work with oxygen, she instead focused more on

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

, adopting the teaching of

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

, which was at its heights at the period. This is the period where she abandoned the Hellenocentism of Athens and turned to Paris'

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

. She used "ready-made" materials, which she bought from

Athinas Street Athinas Street ( el, Οδός Αθηνάς) is a street in downtown Athens in Greece. It is named after Athena, the goddess of wisdom. The street runs from Ermou Street north to Omonoia Square through the Psiri neighborhood. Its total length ...

. She drew inspiration from subjects of nature, such as birds and animals (she has created many statues of crows, capricorns, taurs, goats and pigeons) and

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

as well.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mela, Natalia 1938 births 2019 deaths Artists from Athens Greek designers Greek sculptors 20th-century Greek painters Dragoumis family 21st-century Greek sculptors 20th-century Greek sculptors