Yannis Tsarouchis

Yannis Tsarouchis (13 January 1910-1989) was a Greek painter.

Born in Piraeus, he studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1929-1935). He was also a student of Photis Kontoglou, who introduced him to Byzantine iconography, while he also studied popular architecture and dressing customs. Together with Pikionis, Kontoglou and Agh. Chatzimichalis he led the movement for the introduction of Greek tradition in painting.

From 1935 to 1936 he visited Istanbul, Paris and Italy. He came in contact with the Renaissance art and Impressionism. He discovered the works of Theophilos and met influential artists such as Henri Matisse and Alberto Giacometti.

Art

He returned to Greece in 1936 and two years later he realized his first personal exhibition in Athens. He participated to the Greco-Italian War of 1940. In 1949 he and other artists, including Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, Yannis Moralis, Nikos Nikolaou, Nikos Engonopoulos and Panayiotis Tetsis, established the "Armos" art group. In 1951 he made exhibitions in Paris and London. In 1958 he participated in the Venice Biennale. In 1967 he moved to Paris.

A deeply sensual painter, much influenced by the French impressionists, Tsarouchis, a gay artist, filled his canvases with homoerotic images of vulnerable men and (to a much lesser extent) strong women.cite web |url=http://www.glbtq.com/arts/tsarouchis_y.html |title=Tsarouchis, Yannis (1910-1989) |work=glbtq.com |accessdate=2007-06-03 |last=Gianoulis |first=Tina |year=2002]

Institutions

In 1982 the [http://www.tsarouchis.gr Yannis Tsarouchis Museum] in Maroussi, Athens was inaugurated. The Museum is actually hosted in the house of the artist. There is also the [http://www.tsarouchis.gr Tsarouchis Foundation] .

He died in Athens in 1989.

Sources

* Adaptation of the Greek wikipedia article.refend

Links

* [http://www.tsarouchis.gr Tsarouchis Foundation]