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Alekos Fassianos

Greek, 1935-2022

Alekos Fassianos
(Greek, 1935-2022)

"The Angel", 1964

oil on canvas
signed and dated upper right.
Framed.
45-1/4" x 28", framed 46" x 29"

Provenance: Athens, Greece, purchased in 1964; Estate of Thomas B. Lemann, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Notes: "Today we visited the three leading, if not the three only, art galleries in Athens and ended up with a sculpture by Clouvatos, a ceramic plaque by Valsomikis, and paintings by Sikeliotis, Papadakis, and Fassianos. The last named was exhibited at the art gallery of the Athens Hilton Hotel, where the artist himself put in an appearance, a 29-year-old originally from Corfu, who has lived three years in Paris and exhibited there. He specializes in Byzantine eyes."
- Thomas B. Lemann Travel Journals, Athens, July 1964

Born in Athens in 1935, Alekos Fassianos was a highly acclaimed contemporary artist and one of Greece's most celebrated painters. Encouraged by his parents, Fassianos began to paint amidst the terrors of the Second World War and the Greek Civil War. He attended Athens School of Fine Art, and later Ecole Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris. In Paris, he started to develop his very personal artistic style, one washed in a Mediterranean color palette, and rooted in the simplicity of Greek classical art. Fassianos would go on to expand his own distinctive artistic vocabulary, but his work began as a study of abstraction, and The Angel (1964) is an interesting example of this earlier work.

The angel figure is present but just barely visible behind a thick layer of warm, beige-hued paint, with intentional craquelure to further obscure the figure. The suggestion of a face can be seen in the top right corner, in a thick mixture of blue and white paint, and an eye is barely visible amidst the craquelure. Just beneath the feet are rippling blue lines, implying motion of either wind or water; nearly every one of Fassianos' works are characterized by movement, emphasized by the curved lines of hair or clothing blowing in the wind. The blue lines at the bottom of the canvas here are the beginnings of this trademark of Fassianos' style.

The canvas is largely devoid of the bright color palette that would become a distinct characteristic of Fassianos' work; it is mostly washed in a warm, creamy beige color, suggestive of a light that bathes the figure. While the palette is not nearly as bright as might be expected, the pops of blue, yellow, and a brownish red - reminiscent of terracotta amphora vases from Ancient Greece - are still the elements that breathe life into the figure, imbuing him with a spiritual existence.

Fassianos' grandfather was a priest, and he spent much of his childhood in the Byzantine church where his grandfather worked, bringing him incense to burn and scripture to read. Fassianos admits to being magnetized by the Byzantine protagonists, stating "I was impressed by the holy horsemen with their halos and swords, which made flames and killed beasts...." Perhaps the angel figure is not related to the myth of Greekness, as so much of his work often is, but related to his personal myth: the quiet afternoons spent with his grandfather and the alluring Byzantine icons that galvanized him.

The Angel allows an insight into Fassianos' early work, and the elements that would later characterize his mature artistic style. Though it is not a typical work by Fassianos, it is not difficult to connect it to his larger body of work and mature style. It is deeply personal, painted during a time when Fassianos was discovering his artistic vocabulary and just beginning to transform into an emblematic figure of 20th-century Greek art.

oil on canvas
signed and dated upper right.
Framed.
45-1/4" x 28", framed 46" x 29"

  • Provenance: Athens, Greece, purchased in 1964; Estate of Thomas B. Lemann, New Orleans, Louisiana.
  • Notes: "Today we visited the three leading, if not the three only, art galleries in Athens and ended up with a sculpture by Clouvatos, a ceramic plaque by Valsomikis, and paintings by Sikeliotis, Papadakis, and Fassianos. The last named was exhibited at the art gallery of the Athens Hilton Hotel, where the artist himself put in an appearance, a 29-year-old originally from Corfu, who has lived three years in Paris and exhibited there. He specializes in Byzantine eyes."
    - Thomas B. Lemann Travel Journals, Athens, July 1964

    Born in Athens in 1935, Alekos Fassianos was a highly acclaimed contemporary artist and one of Greece's most celebrated painters. Encouraged by his parents, Fassianos began to paint amidst the terrors of the Second World War and the Greek Civil War. He attended Athens School of Fine Art, and later Ecole Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris. In Paris, he started to develop his very personal artistic style, one washed in a Mediterranean color palette, and rooted in the simplicity of Greek classical art. Fassianos would go on to expand his own distinctive artistic vocabulary, but his work began as a study of abstraction, and The Angel (1964) is an interesting example of this earlier work.

    The angel figure is present but just barely visible behind a thick layer of warm, beige-hued paint, with intentional craquelure to further obscure the figure. The suggestion of a face can be seen in the top right corner, in a thick mixture of blue and white paint, and an eye is barely visible amidst the craquelure. Just beneath the feet are rippling blue lines, implying motion of either wind or water; nearly every one of Fassianos' works are characterized by movement, emphasized by the curved lines of hair or clothing blowing in the wind. The blue lines at the bottom of the canvas here are the beginnings of this trademark of Fassianos' style.

    The canvas is largely devoid of the bright color palette that would become a distinct characteristic of Fassianos' work; it is mostly washed in a warm, creamy beige color, suggestive of a light that bathes the figure. While the palette is not nearly as bright as might be expected, the pops of blue, yellow, and a brownish red - reminiscent of terracotta amphora vases from Ancient Greece - are still the elements that breathe life into the figure, imbuing him with a spiritual existence.

    Fassianos' grandfather was a priest, and he spent much of his childhood in the Byzantine church where his grandfather worked, bringing him incense to burn and scripture to read. Fassianos admits to being magnetized by the Byzantine protagonists, stating "I was impressed by the holy horsemen with their halos and swords, which made flames and killed beasts...." Perhaps the angel figure is not related to the myth of Greekness, as so much of his work often is, but related to his personal myth: the quiet afternoons spent with his grandfather and the alluring Byzantine icons that galvanized him.

    The Angel allows an insight into Fassianos' early work, and the elements that would later characterize his mature artistic style. Though it is not a typical work by Fassianos, it is not difficult to connect it to his larger body of work and mature style. It is deeply personal, painted during a time when Fassianos was discovering his artistic vocabulary and just beginning to transform into an emblematic figure of 20th-century Greek art.
  • Condition: **Surface dirt; some yellowing; minor, scattered losses to paint; some raw canvas areas exposed purposefully; scattered craquelure and cupping, although the craquelure-like pattern on the "figure" appears to be hand and intent of the artist; brownish accretions in lower area of canvas.
    Frame with surface marks and abrasions.
    Please ask for additional photos.

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