Fotis Kontoglou

Fotis (Fotios) Kontoglou ( Greek Φώτης Κόντογλου , also Photios Kontoglou ; born November 8, 1895 in Ayvalık ; † July 13, 1965 in Athens ) was an important Greek painter and writer. He is considered to be one of the most important representatives of the so-called " generation of the 30s " of Greek art. Yannis Tsarouchis and Nikos Engonopoulos were among his students .

Biography and works

Fotis Kontoglou was born under the name Fotios Apostolellis (Φώτιος Αποστολέλλης) in Ayvalik, Asia Minor, a coastal town across from the island of Lesbos . His father was named Nikolaos Apostolellis and his mother Despo Kontoglou. His father died a year after he was born. The guardianship of him and his three older brothers took over his uncle Stephanos Kontoglou, a ruler of the monastery of Saint Paraskevi. From then on he carried his uncle's surname. He spent his childhood and youth in Ayvalik. There he finished high school in 1912. During his school days, Kontoglou was a member of a school group that published a magazine called "Melissa" (German: bee ). Kontoglou decorated the magazine with drawings.

After finishing school he enrolled at the Athens School of Fine Arts . He never graduated there, however, but went to Paris in 1914 . There he studied works of various styles of painting. During this time, Kontoglou worked as the artistic director for Illustration magazine . In 1916 he won first prize in a competition for the artistic design of the novel Hunger by the Norwegian Nobel Prize laureate Knut Hamsun .

In 1917 he made a trip to Spain and Portugal and returned to France in 1918 . In the same year Kontoglou wrote his first literary work with the title Pedro Cazas . After the end of the First World War , he returned to Greece in 1919. There he founded the cultural association “New People” together with the writers Ilias Venezis and Stratis Doukas. The publication of Pedro Cazas followed . Kontoglou took up a position as a teacher of French and art history at the Ayvalik girls' school.

During the Asia Minor Catastrophe , Kontoglou found refuge on the island of Lesbos. Later he went to Athens at the invitation of some writers who had read his novel enthusiastically. These writers included Elli Alexiou , Markos Augeris, Galatia Kazantzakis, and Nikos Kazantzakis . In 1923 Kontoglou, a devout Christian, traveled to Holy Mount Athos . In the monasteries he came into contact with Byzantine painting. Kontoglou wrote numerous texts about Byzantine painting and painted pictures. After his return he published the illustrated book The Art of Athos and showed his pictures for the first time at an art exhibition.

In 1925 he married Maria Chatzikambouris. The couple settled in the Athens district of Nea Ionia. In addition to his preoccupation with art, Kontoglou worked from then on as an icon restorer for the Byzantine Museum of Athens in Mystra on the Peloponnese and for the Coptic Museum of Cairo . He also painted images of saints in churches, mainly in Attica , but also on Rhodes and other places in Greece. Kontoglou also painted a large mural in Athens City Hall, portraits (including the writer Alexandros Papadiamantis ) and pictures with historical or religious references. In doing so, he sometimes developed his own painting style, between Byzantine painting and modern painting. In addition to Pedro Cazas, his literary works include the books: Giavas Thalassinos , Ayvalik, my home , Blessed Refuge , Seas, Boats and Shipowners .

In 1961 his book Expressions of Orthodox Iconography was awarded by the Academy of Athens . In 1963 his book Ayvalik, Meine Heimat received a prize from Greek literary critics. In the same year the Academy of Athens honored him for his life's work.

Kontoglou died on July 13, 1965 as a result of a postoperative infection.

Web links

Commons : Fotis Kontoglou  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Short biography in English
• Website with a picture of the work “Laocoon” by Kontoglou