Janaq Paço (14 March 1914,“Gladitorët”, porositur dhe paguar nga Arkeologjiku i Durrësit
. durreslajm.com (26 August 2013)

Konitsa Konitsa (, see also Konitsa#Name, names in other languages) is a town of Ioannina (regional unit), Ioannina in Epirus (region), Epirus, Greece. It is located north of the capital Ioannina and near the Albanian Border crossings of Albania, border. ...

Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece (, Romanization, romanized: ''Vasíleion tis Elládos'', pronounced ) was the Greece, Greek Nation state, nation-state established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally ...

– 11 July 1991,

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, 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 ov ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

) was one of the best known Albanian sculptors of the 20th century. Some of his prominent works include the monuments of

Skanderbeg Gjergj Kastrioti (17 January 1468), commonly known as Skanderbeg, was an Albanians, Albanian Albanian nobility, feudal lord and military commander who led Skanderbeg's rebellion, a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in what is today Albania, ...

in Kruja,

, and

Pristina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

(reproduced post-mortem), as well as ''The Gladiators''.

Life

Paço was of Aromanian origins. He studied first in his home town and then at the high school in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, Greece. Afterwards he entered the

Athens School of Fine Arts The Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA; , ΑΣΚΤ) is a Greek higher education institution, specializing in the visual arts. History The Athens School of Fine Arts was established on 12 January 1837, known as the ''School for the Arts''. In the ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. During his studies, Paço worked and studied with the Greek modern sculptor Costandinos Dimitriadis, himself a student of

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...

, and others. He went to Albania in 1941. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he worked as a sculpture teacher in Artistic Lyceum "Jordan Misja" in Tirana, where he would teach all his life until retirement. Paço was one of the founders of the Albanian sculpture school and tradition. In addition to his realistic sculptures, Paço created also many nude sculptures during the 1960s and 1970s, and was obliged to destroy them, fearing punishment from the

Communist Regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

.Broken "nudes" of Janaq Paço got discovered
(in Albanian). shqiptarja.com, 18 December 2012 During this time he was criticized by other members of 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. Its mission includes assessing and reassessing outs ...

. This led him to gradually dissociate himself from the League.

Bibliography of art works

Main part of his work: * The monument of

Krujë Krujë ( sq-definite, Kruja; see also the etymology section) is a town and a municipality in north-central Albania. Located between Mount Krujë and the Ishëm River, the city is 20 km north of the capital of Albania, Tirana. Krujë was ...

(started in 1949; finished in 1959), which was later copied in

, after the 1998–1999

Kosovo War The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

.Skanderbeg statue
inyourpocket.com * The monument of Skanderbeg (1968), today in "Scanderbeg Square" in Tirana, where he co-worked with the first Albanian sculptor

Odhise Paskali Odhise Paskali (22 December 1903 – 13 September 1985) was an Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Sea ...

and

Andrea Mano Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrey, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek language, Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός ...

* Two statues of

Fan Noli Theofan Stilian Noli, known as Fan Noli (6 January 1882 – 13 March 1965), was an Albanian Americans, Albanian-American writer, scholar, diplomat, politician, historian, orator, bishop, and founder of the Albanian Orthodox Church and the Albania ...

, and one of

Alexander Moissi Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are A ...

(1960s) * The ''Gladiators'' (1973) (3.5 m), anticipated to be placed at the entrance of the ancient

Durrës Amphitheatre Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the second most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is one of Albania's oldest continuously inhabited cities, with roughly 2,500 years of re ...

Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the List of cities and towns in Albania#List, second most populous city of the Albania, Republic of Albania and county seat, seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is one of Albania's oldest ...

* The sculptural group ''Skanderbeg with the People'' (1982), which is placed in the entrance of the

Skanderbeg Museum The National History Museum "Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu" (), also known as the Skanderbeg Museum or the Kruja Museum, is located in Krujë and is one of the most important and visited museums in Albania. The museum was built at the end of the 1 ...

Awards and prizes

* In 1984, he was awarded the title

People's Artist of Albania The People's Artist () was an honorary title for outstanding art performers of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, whose merits were exceptional in the sphere of development of the performing arts (theatre, music, Film, cinema and art). I ...

. * At the exhibition "Spring '90" at the

National Art Gallery of Albania National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, Paço won first prize with his art work ''Girl's Portrait'' (), which one year earlier (before the

fall of communism in Albania The fall of communism in Albania, the last such event in Europe outside the Soviet Union, started in December 1990 with student demonstrations in the capital, Tirana, although protests started in January that year in other cities like Shkod ...

) was prohibited to be exhibited inside the gallery as a "modern art work".

References

External links

List of Articles from Albanian Library Bksh.al

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paco, Janaq 1914 births 1991 deaths 20th-century Albanian sculptors Greek art educators Athens School of Fine Arts alumni People from Konitsa Artists from Tirana People's Artists of Albania Albanian people of Aromanian descent

Life

Bibliography of art works

Awards and prizes

See also

References

External links