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Polygnotos Vagis () (1894 – March 15, 1965) was a Greek-American sculptor and painter.
Vagis, Polygnotos ''Benezit Dictionary of Artists''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vagis, Polys Greek painters American people of Greek descent 1894 births 1965 deaths People from Thasos New York University Institute of Fine Arts alumni 20th-century Greek sculptors 20th-century American people of Greek descent Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to the United States
Polygnotos Vagis () (1894 – March 15, 1965) was a Greek-American sculptor and painter.
Biography
He was born inPotamia, Thasos
Potamia () is a village on the island of Thasos, Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, No ...
, and his father, Hatzigeorgiou, was a carpenter. He immigrated to New York in 1911 and dealt with sculpture. He studied at the Institute of Fine Arts
An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body.
In some countries, institutes ca ...
and maintained a workshop in New York City for decades.
In his works he used stone, cement, and emphasized simplistic lines, an example of his connection with primitive art
Tribal art is the visual arts and material culture of indigenous peoples. Also known as non-Western art or ethnographic art, or, controversially, primitive art, Dutton, Denis, Tribal Art'. In Michael Kelly (editor), '' Encyclopedia of Aesthetics' ...
. He focused primarily on human and animal forms and on compositions such as the moon and the world. His works are on display at the Whitney Museum of Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a modern and contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. The institution was foun ...
, the Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
New York (MOMA), the National Gallery (Athens)
The National Gallery (, ''Ethniki Pinakothiki'') is an art museum located on Vasilissis Sofias avenue in the Pangrati district, Athens, Greece. It is devoted to Greek and European art from the 14th century to the 20th century.
The newly reno ...
, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follow ...
, the Kavala Municipal Museum, etc.
In 1958 he was awarded the Audubon Artists Gold Medal and in 1962 with the Golden Cross of the Phoenix.
During the last years of his life he inherited much of his collection in the Greek state. Today in his hometown of Potamia, Thassos, there is a museum named after him, which houses 98 sculptures and 15 paintings.
He died on March 15, 1965, in New York City and was buried in Potamia, Thassos.
References
External links
Vagis, Polygnotos ''Benezit Dictionary of Artists''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vagis, Polys Greek painters American people of Greek descent 1894 births 1965 deaths People from Thasos New York University Institute of Fine Arts alumni 20th-century Greek sculptors 20th-century American people of Greek descent Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to the United States