Greek Academic Art of The 19th Century - Representative Artists

Representative Artists

Artists that belong to the School of Munich include the first painters of free Greece such as Theodoros Vryzakis (1814–1878) and Dionysios Tsokos (1820–1862) (According to other art critics he belongs more to the Heptanese School). Both of them draw their subjects from the Greek War of Independence in 1821, focusing on idealised ideas on the Greek Revolution and not giving much attention to the violent and tragic aspects of a war. Even more dramatic in their depictions were the later Konstantinos Volanakis (1837–1907) and Ioannis Altamouras (1852–1878), that were focused more on the naval battles of the 1821 Revolution.

Main representatives of the artistic movement were apart from Volanakis the painters that worked mainly during the second half of the 19th century like Nikiphoros Lytras (1832–1904), Nikolaos Gysis (1842–1901), Georgios Iacovidis. (1853–1907), and Georgios Roilos (1867–1928). In his mature career Roilos went beyond the principles of the Munich School and introduced impressionism into Greek painting. Gysis stayed at the Academy in Germany while the others have returned to teach at the Athens School of Fine Arts. Their teaching and artistry have marked the 19th century artistic era in Greece.

Nikiphoros Lytras is considered the pope of Greek painting and the major iconographer of Greek life during the 19th century. Paintings such as The milkman or The awaiting consist reference points in Greek Art. Gysis worked mainly on ethography while at the maturity of his career he shifted towards the iconography of visions, allegories and symbolisms. Iacovidis paintings were mainly portraiture and depiction of children scenes. The latter was the founder and first curator of the National Gallery of Greece in Athens.

Other painters include Epameinondas Thomopoulos, Ioannis Koutsis, Stylianos Miliadis, Nikolaos Vokos, Ioannis Zaharias (1845–?) and Polychronis Lembesis. Influences of academic realism can also be seen in the work of many Greek artists such as Spyros Vikatos (1878–1960), Thalia Flora-Karavia (1871–1960) and Hector Doukas (1886–1969).

The end of the movement started when some Greek painters after the mid-19th century such as Periclis Pantazis (1849–1884) departed from academic realism towards impressionism and the final end occurred when expressionist Nikolaos Lytras (1883–1927), Georgios Roilos, and Konstantinos Parthenis (1878–1967) started to teach at the Athens School of Fine Arts.