Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Arts
Greece is revered for its artistic and cultural legacy, and the arts remain a
vibrant and evolving element of Greek culture, identity and self-expression.
Despite, or because of, Greece's current economic woes, it has seen a palp-
able burst of artistic activity and creativity. While savage cuts in meagre
state-arts funding have some sectors reeling, an alternative cultural scene
is fighting back with low-budget films, artistic collectives, and small under-
ground theatres and galleries popping up in the capital.
Athens' metro stations feature an impressive showcase of Greek art from prominent
artists including Yannis Gaitis (Larisa), Giorgos Zongolopoulos (Syntagma) and Alekos
Fassianos (Metaxourgio), whose work fetches record prices for a living Greek artist.
Modern Greek Art
Until the start of the 19th century, the primary art form in Greece was Byzantine religious
painting. There was little artistic output under Ottoman rule, during which Greece essen-
tially missed the Renaissance.
Byzantine church frescoes and icons depicted scenes from the life of Christ and figures
of the saints. The 'Cretan school' of icon painting, influenced by the Italian Renaissance
and artists fleeing to Crete after the fall of Constantinople, combined technical brilliance
and dramatic richness. Cretan-born Renaissance painter El Greco ('The Greek' in Span-
ish), née Dominikos Theotokopoulos, got his grounding in the tradition of late-Byzantine
fresco painting before moving to Spain in 1577.
Modern Greek art per se evolved after Independence, when painting became more secu-
lar, focusing on portraits, nautical themes and the War of Independence. Major 19th-cen-
tury painters included Dionysios Tsokos, Theodoros Vryzakis, Nikiforos Lytras and Nich-
olas Gyzis, a leading artist of the Munich School (where many Greek artists of the day
studied).
Early 20th-century artists such as Konstantinos Parthenis, Fotis Kontoglou, Konstanti-
nos Kaleas and, later, the expressionist George Bouzianis, drew on their heritage and in-
corporated developments in modern art.
Leading 20th-century artists include cubist Nikos Hatzikyriakos- Ghikas, surrealist
artist and poet Nikos Engonopoulos, Yiannis Tsarouhis, Panayiotis Tetsis, Yannis Moralis,
Dimitris Mytaras and pioneer of the Arte Provera movement, Yiannis Kounellis.
