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
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 ...
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"
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 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 ...
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 ...
(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