Alecos Kontopoulos Biography
Alecos Kontopoulos (1904-1975), born in 1904 in Lamía, is a Greek painter recognized internationally as one of the pioneers of abstract writing. As a young man, Alekos became a student of the religious icon painter Y. Sarafianos and enrolled at the School of Fine Arts in Athens, then continuing his studies in Paris, where he attended painting courses at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and some academies of independent art, until 1939.
He presented his first official solo exhibition in the Hermes gallery in 1932, and in those years was associated with the left-wing circles of the Young Pioneers organization, founding the Free Artists artistic group in 1934.
In this period his painting maintains a realistic orientation, inclined towards social criticism since the attitude towards modern art is skeptical, almost negative.
Only around 1947 did he attempt a turn towards abstract painting, which he would vigorously defend in the following years. In 1949 he became head of the Oi Akraioi artistic group, which contributed to the spread of abstract forms in Greece. His figure as an intellectual and artist, associated with his relationship with abstract painting, contributed to the modernization of Greek art.
He published the texts of his lectures and essays on art and his work was presented in solo and group exhibitions in Greece and abroad, participating in the Sao Paolo and Venice Biennials in 1960.
In 1976, a retrospective exhibition of his work was organized at the National Art Gallery in Athens, while the Lamia Alekos Kondopoulos Municipal Gallery maintains a permanent exhibition of his representative works.
