Giannis Moralis (1916-2009)

Artist2016: “The Year of Giannis Moralis”100 years since his birth

Giannis Moralis, artist (1916-2009)2016: “The Year of Giannis Moralis”100 years since his birth

To celebrate the 100^th anniversary since the birth of the late artist Giannis Moralis, the Ministry of Culture and Sports declared 2016 “The Year of Giannis Moralis.” At the same time, it established the “Visual Arts Award Giannis Moralis” which will be awarded every two years to distinguished persons from the visual arts arena. For 2016, the award was bestowed upon artist and scholar Panagiotis Tsetis, whilst numerous other events will take place throughout the year.

Γιάννης Μόραλης

Biography

Giannis Moralis was born in Arta on April 23, 1916. He lived with his family in Preveza until 1922 where his father had been appointed as a philologist. Later, in his works, the beauty of Preveza will find itself transposed onto the landscapes of Aegina. His artistic inclination was evident from very early; when recalling his childhood, he remembered playing with his father’s colored chalks, two colored lithographs by Millet that hung in his ancestral home, the stained glass doors at his grandmother’s home, the smell of oil pants and the lined sheets of paper on which he created his first drawings. In 1927, his family moved to Athens. He had already decided that he wanted to become an artist; thus in 1931, at the age of 15, he prepared to sit the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASKT) entry examinations by enrolling is preparatory courses taught by Dimitris Geraniotis. He succeeded in gaining acceptance into ASKT, taking courses in drawing and etching under the tutelage of Argyros, Geraniotis, Parthenis and Kefallinos. Upon his graduation from ASKT in 1936, he left to study for a year in Rome. From there he went to Paris to study fresco and mural work at the École Nationale des Beaux Arts. He also studied mosaic at the École des Arts Μétiers. In 1939, with the onset of World War II, he was forced to return to Greece. In 1941 he married Maria Roussen, his first wife, whom he divorced in 1945. For financial reasons, during this period he engaged in art restoration projects as well as portraiture. In 1947, having already married for the second time to sculptress Aglaia Lymperaki (whom he divorced in 1955), he was appointed instructor of preparatory classes at the Athens School of Fine Arts. Together with numerous other Greek artists (Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, Tsarouchis, Nikolaou, Eggonopoulos), in 1949 together they founded the “Armos” art group which had its first exhibition in 1950 in Zappeion. His collaboration with the Art Theater of Karolos Koun began in 1954 and later in his life with the National Theater. In 1957 he was appointed professor of ASKT’s Painting Workshop. The following year, along with Giannis Tsarouchis and sculptor Antonis Sochos, he participated in the Biennale in Venice, where he was nominated for a small prize. His first solo exhibition took place in 1958 at the “Armos” art gallery in Athens.

Moralis’ favorite place to paint was his home in Aegina which he built in the 70s with earnings from an art exhibit in 1972. In the home’s garden and drawing rooms, he hosted his close friends - poet O. Elytis, sculptor Ch. Kapralos, artist N. Nikolaou, and architect A.Konstantinidis – who, in part, were responsible for his decision to spend much of his time on the island. Kapralos, Nikolaou and Moralis formed the hard core of artists who chose Aegina as a place of inspiration, creativity and reflections. The island’s significance was so great that, on each completed piece, Moralis first wrote Aegina, then signed and dated the work. His life on Aegina heavily influenced Moralis’ projects. There, the artist enjoyed wonderful times; he, himself, was full of humor and vitality, with sophisticated ways, well dressed, and singular. Whilst his entire collection of works centers on the themes of Love and Death, changes took place in the 70’s with the influence of constructivism and the Bauhaus altering the human form, always central to Moralis’ work, towards a strictly geometric style.

Moralis’ oeuvre included illustrations of poetic works by Elytis and Seferis, record album / cd covers, sculptures, murals, as well as stage sets and costumes for the National Theater and the Greek National Ballet. His architectural decoration of the Athens Hilton Hotel’s facade and compositions in the Metro-Station “Panepistimiou” are equally well known.

Moralis has been described as one of Greece’s leading figures of 20^th century art, a great teacher of painting and etching, a “nobleman” representative of the 30’s generation and an artist that best embodies post-war “Greek modernism” with his robust body of work.

In 1940, Moralis won his first prize. In 1965, King Constantine decorated him with the Order of the Phoenix. In 1973 he won a Gold Medal at the International Exhibition in Munich. The Academy of Athens awarded him with the Excellence in Art Prize in 1979. He retired from the Athens School of Fine Arts in 1983 and five years later the National Gallery honored him with an important retrospective exhibition. In 1999 he was awarded the Commander of Merit Medal. Today his works are on display in public and private schools both in Greece and abroad.

Giannis Moralis died on December 20, 2009 at his home in Athens, at the age of 93.

- Sofia Magoulioti, Biographies Division, EOE (Research Institute for Hellenes)

Γιάννης Μόραλης

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Giannis Moralis (1916-2009)