IYP X Benaki Museum, Athens
JUVENILIA: From early style to mature work
Curated by: Charis Kanellopoulou, Irene Orati, Constantinos Papachristou
The exhibition seeks, studies and highlights the ideas, motifs and characteristics that manifested themselves early in the work of eleven Greek artists, to root gradually in their mature artistic language.
The early works contain treasures, elusive perhaps at the time of their creation, but certainly valuable and worthy of re-evaluation vis-à-vis the mature works. Juvenilia serve as a proposal for the study and evaluation of the artists’ oeuvres, which doesn’t exclusively involve going back to the youthful, “immature” past of each creator to discover it for its own sake. They also aim to offer an original, arguably alternative, way of reconsidering an otherwise well-known body of work.
Featuring: Spyros Vassiliou, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, Yannis Tsarouchis, Yannis Moralis, A. Tassos, Vasso Katraki, Jannis Spyropoulos, Alekos Kontopoulos, Dimitris Mytaras, Yannis Gaitis and Chryssa Romanos.
“Juvenilia” is the result of collaboration between three organisations and their respective curators, who initially selected these eleven artistic personalities of the 20th century, based on their significant presence in the history of modern Greek art. The exhibition ventures a return to the beginning of these artists’ journey and their initial explorations, in order to investigate the following: What were the first creative and expressive elements that appeared in their work, and how did these evolve into their later acclaimed artistic style?
To answer this question, the exhibition’s co-curators invited prominent art historians and theoreticians to research and write essays, seeking their own take on the issue.
In this way, for the study of juvenilia, the following matchings were created:
Spyros Vassiliou – Anny Malama
Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika – Evita Arapoglou & Ioanna Moraiti
Yannis Tsarouchis – Anna Kafetsi
Yannis Moralis – Evgenios D. Matthiopoulos
Α. Tassos – Yannis Bolis
Vasso Katraki – Spyros Moschonas
Jannis Spyropoulos – Olga Daniilopoulou
Alekos Kontopoulos – Bia Papadopoulou
Dimitris Mytaras – Areti Leopoulou
Yannis Gaitis – Elena Hamalidi
Chryssa Romanos – Polina Kosmadaki
Chryssa Romanos (1931-2006)
Reportage, 1965
collage on canvas
65 x 50 cm
