Yannis Tsarouchis (; 13 January 1910 – 20 July 1989) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

set designer Scenic design, also known as stage design or set design, is the creation of scenery for theatrical productions including plays and musicals. The term can also be applied to film and television productions, where it may be referred to as prod ...

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 ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) 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 Gulf in the Ath ...

, he studied at 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 ...

(1929–1935). He was also a student of Photios Kontoglou, who introduced him to

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

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 construction, constructi ...

and dressing customs. Together with Dimitris Pikionis, Kontoglou and Angeliki Hatzimichali he led the movement for the introduction of Greek

tradition A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common e ...

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

. From 1935 to 1936 he visited

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He came in contact with the

Renaissance art Renaissance art (1350 – 1620) 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 occurr ...

and

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

. He discovered the works of Theophilos Hatzimihail and met influential artists such as

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

and

Alberto Giacometti Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, Drafter, draftsman and Printmaking, printmaker, who was one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. His work was particularly influenced ...

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, exhibiti ...

in Athens. He later fought in the

Greco-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian campaign in Greece, Italian invasion of Greece, and War of '40 in Greece, took place between Italy and Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. This conflict began the Balk ...

in 1940. In 1949, he and other artists, including

Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas (; February 26, 1906 – September 3, 1994), also known as Nikos Ghika, was a leading Greek painter, sculptor, engraver, writer and academic. He was a founding member of the Association of Greek Art Critics, AICA-Hellas, ...

, Yannis Moralis,

Nikos Nikolaou Nikos Nikolaou () (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 Umbertos Argyros. In 1932, he had his ...

Nikos Engonopoulos Nikos Engonopoulos (; October 21, 1907 – October 31, 1985) was a Greek painter and poet. He is one of the most important members of "Generation of the '30s", as well as a major representative of the surrealist movement in Greece. His work a ...

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

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In 1958 he participated in the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

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

homoerotic Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, including both male–male and female–female attraction. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be tempor ...

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 Modern 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 Marousi or Maroussi (), also known as Amarousio (), is a city and a suburb in the northeastern part of the Athens urban area, Greece. Marousi dates back to the era of the ancient Athenian Republic; its ancient name was '' Athmonon'' () and it r ...

, Athens, was inaugurated. The Museum is actually hosted in the house of the artist. He died in Athens in 1989.

List of Works

* Cafe Neon (Night)

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 painters LGBTQ designers Greek LGBTQ painters Greek gay artists 20th-century Greek male artists Greek designers Greek illustrators 20th-century Greek painters 20th-century Greek LGBTQ people {{Greece-painter-stub