Γεννήθηκε
στον Πειραιά το 1910 και πέθανε στην
Αθήνα το 1989. Υπήρξε πολύπλευρη
προσωπικότητα, ανοικτός στη γνώση,
απ’ όπου και αν αυτή προερχόταν.
Κοσμοπολίτης και ελληνολάτρης,
μοντέρνος και παραδοσιακός,
ουμανιστής και χριστιανός,
ρεαλιστής και ιδεαλιστής,
καλλιτέχνης και διανοούμενος,
πολυμαθής γνώστης των αρχών που
διέπουν την ιστορία, την κοινωνία,
τον άνθρωπο και τον πολιτισμό. Είχε
έντονη διδακτική συνείδηση, η
οποία και μορφοποιήθηκε μέσα από
το καλλιτεχνικό και συγγραφικό του
έργο.
Σπούδαζε
στην Ανώτατη Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών
Αθήνας με δάσκαλο τον Κ. Παρθένη.
Παράλληλα μαθητεύει για τέσσερα
χρόνια στο εργαστήρι του Φ.
Κόντογλου, όπου «κάλφας και
καλογεροπαίδι» μυείται στα
μυστικά της βυζαντινής και λαϊκής
παράδοσης, εικαστικής, μουσικής
και πολιστιστικής.
Παρουσίασε
το έργο του σε ατομικές εκθέσεις
στην Ελλάδα, Παρίσι, Λονδίνο,
Μπιενάλε Βενετίας, Ρώμη, Μπολόνια κ.ά.
Πήρε μέρος σε ομαδικές εκθέσεις.
Μπιενάλε Αλεξάνδρειας 1955, Μπιενάλε
Βενετίας 1958, Ν. Υόρκη κ.ά.
Giannis Tsarouhis
He is one of the
most inspired exponents of this movements. A student of K.
Parthenis at the Athens School of Fine Arts, he also studied
with F. Kontoglou and D. Pikionis, after which he goes to Paris
in 1935, and produces his first major works at the end of the
30’s. The influences of Pompey’s frescoes, Fayoum or
Byzantium, Theophilos and Karayozis, Renaissance and also
Baroque as well as Matisse of Baroque work together within his
art in a unique way, to give us pictures with man at their
center. Figures which are sometimes realistic, sometimes
idealized sometimes effusively decorated, and always with the
unique stamp which makes the works of the great artists who have
something important to say, stand out from the rest. These
unique features are present in the three works displayed in
Municipal Art Gallery, Two Friends (1938), Basketball Player
(1949) and the Squadron Leader, created in the period 1950-1951.
In all three, what strikes one most is the active role played by
the masses of color, which prepare for the frontal treatment of
the subject. Together with this, the way in which shapes and
forms are set out on the canvas gives it an introverted
dimension, in which are described the features of the faces.
These, in accordance with the habit of the artist, are male
figures rendered with characteristic realism, as can be seen
mainly in the latter works. Here, the individual features of the
figures are emphasized. The design in based on masses of color,
with linear strikes to stress the outline. The resultant form
confirms the power of the artist to express his thoughts and his
ideological relationship with art itself, together with the
inborn feeling and understanding he has for his native country.
Tsarouhis does not reject anything out of hand, but uses
everything which moves him as part of his work.