Lot 43

Technique: Oil pastel on paper
Title: “The Month of May”
Dated: 1988
Signed: Lower center

Giannis Tsarouchis (Piraeus, January 13, 1910 – Athens, July 20, 1989) was a Greek painter and set designer. He exhibited his first works in 1929 at the Art Asylum. His success then led him to study at the School of Fine Arts of the Technical University of Athens during the years 1929–1935, with professors Iakovidis, Vikato and Partheni. At the same time, during the period 1931–1934, he apprenticed with Fotis Kontoglou, who introduced him to Byzantine hagiography, while he studied folk architecture and costume. Together with Dimitris Pikionis, Fotis Kontoglou and Angeliki Hatzimichalis, he pioneered the demand of the time for the Greekness of art.

In the period 1935–1936, after first visiting Istanbul, he traveled to Paris and Italy. Visiting the various museums he came in contact with creations of the Renaissance and Impressionism as well as with the contemporary artistic currents of his time. He discovered Theofilos’ work and met artists such as Henri Matisse and Alberto Giacometti.