Yannis Tsarouchis ( el, Γιάννης Τσαρούχης; 13 January 1910 – 20 July 1989) was a Greek modernist

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

set designer Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...

who achieved international fame, and was "known in particular for his homoerotic subjects," including soldiers, sailors, and nude males.

Biography

Early life

Born in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

, he studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1929–1935). He was also a student of

Photios Kontoglou Photis Kontoglou (, the pen name of Φώτης Αποστολέλης (Photis Apostolelis); Aivali, 8 November 1895 – Athens, 13 July 1965) was a Greek writer, painter and icon painter. Life He was raised by his mother, Despoina Kontoglou, an ...

, who introduced him to

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

, while he also studied popular

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

and dressing customs. Together with

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 ...

, Kontoglou and Angeliki Hatzimichali he led the movement for the introduction of Greek

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

. From 1935 to 1936 he visited

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

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 ...

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 came in contact with the

Renaissance art Renaissance art (1350 – 1620 AD) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occ ...

and

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

. He discovered the works of

Theophilos Hatzimihail Theophilos Chatzimichail ( el, Θεόφιλος Χατζημιχαήλ or Θεόφιλος Κεφαλάς; born c. 1870, Vareia, near Mytilene, island of Lesbos; died in Vareia, Greece, 24 March 1934), known simply as Theophilos, was a Greek fo ...

and met influential artists such as

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

and

Alberto Giacometti Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman and printmaker. Beginning in 1922, he lived and worked mainly in Paris but regularly visited his hometown Borgonovo to see his family and ...

Work

He returned to Greece in 1936 and two years later he produced his first personal

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

in Athens. He later fought in the

Greco-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (Greek language, Greek: Ελληνοϊταλικός Πόλεμος, ''Ellinoïtalikós Pólemos''), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian Campaign in Greece, and the War of '40 in Greece, took place between the kingdom ...

in 1940. In 1949, he and other artists, including Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas,

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

Nikos Nikolaou Nikos Nikolaou ( el, Νίκος Νικολάου) (1909–1986) was a major figure in Greek art during the 20th century. In 1929 Nikolaou was admitted into the Athens School of Fine Arts, where he studied under Konstantinos Parthenis and Umberto ...

, Nikos Engonopoulos and

Panayiotis Tetsis Panayiotis Tetsis (Greek: Παναγιώτης Τέτσης; 1925 – 5 March 2016) was a Greek painter. Tetsis was an exponent of the post-impressionistic seascape tradition. Life and work Born in 1925 on the island of Hydra, where he spent ...

, established the "Armos" art group. In 1951 he had exhibitions in

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In 1958 he participated in the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

. In 1967 he moved to Paris. Tsarouchis "filled his canvases with

homoerotic Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...

images of vulnerable men and (to a much lesser extent) strong women."

Sylvester & Orphanos Sylvester & Orphanos was a publishing house originally founded in Los Angeles by Ralph Sylvester, Stathis Orphanos and George Fisher in 1972. When Fisher moved to New York City, ''Sylvester & Orphanos'' specialized in limited-signed press books. Or ...

published ''Yannis Tsarouchis: The Face of Modem Greece''.Luckenbill, Dan (1990). Sylvester & Orphanos : catalog of an exhibit, October–December 1990. UCLA. Retrieved 13 March 2018.

Institutions

In 1982 the Yannis Tsarouchis Foundation Museum in Maroussi, Athens, was inaugurated. The Museum is actually hosted in the house of the artist. He died in Athens in 1989.

Notes

References

* Adaptation of the Greek Wikipedia article.

External links

Tsarouchis PaintingsTsarouchis FoundationBiography and selected Works (Greek only)Documentary video and InterviewDocumerntary video with the artist
1910 births 1989 deaths Artists from Piraeus Gay artists Greek designers Greek illustrators 20th-century Greek painters 20th-century LGBT people {{Greece-painter-stub