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    Δημήτρης Παπαχαραλάμπους
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    The document discusses the reception of Alexander the Great in modern Greek art through the works of three artists: Theofilos, Chrysanthos Bostantzoglou, and Euthymis Warlamis. [1] All three used Alexander as a symbol of Hellenism and a way to promote Greekness. [2] They depicted Alexander in a folk style drawing from traditions like Karaghiozis shadow puppetry to make connections to antiquity more accessible. [3] Their works showed Alexander as a folk hero who represented diachronic Greek values against the forces of occupation or a detached high culture.

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    The document discusses the reception of Alexander the Great in modern Greek art through the works of three artists: Theofilos, Chrysanthos Bostantzoglou, and Euthymis Warlamis. [1] All three used Alexander as a symbol of Hellenism and a way to promote Greekness. [2] They depicted Alexander in a folk style drawing from traditions like Karaghiozis shadow puppetry to make connections to antiquity more accessible. [3] Their works showed Alexander as a folk hero who represented diachronic Greek values against the forces of occupation or a detached high culture.

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    59 views20 pages

    Modern Greek Artists' Depictions of Alexander the Great

    Uploaded by

    Δημήτρης Παπαχαραλάμπους
    The document discusses the reception of Alexander the Great in modern Greek art through the works of three artists: Theofilos, Chrysanthos Bostantzoglou, and Euthymis Warlamis. [1] All three used Alexander as a symbol of Hellenism and a way to promote Greekness. [2] They depicted Alexander in a folk style drawing from traditions like Karaghiozis shadow puppetry to make connections to antiquity more accessible. [3] Their works showed Alexander as a folk hero who represented diachronic Greek values against the forces of occupation or a detached high culture.

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    Alexander III Wearing Tsarouchia:

    The Reception of the Great Conqueror


    in Modern Greek Art

    ISPCS Conference
    Jerusalem, 06-07 June 2018

    Guendalina D.M. Taietti


    University of Liverpool

    Alexander III, Royal Tomb of


    Philip II, Vergina
    From the left: Rhigas Ferraios,
    Pamphlet, 1797.
    Nikos Engonopoulos, The two
    Macedonians, 1977.
    Theodore Kolokotronis, helmet.
    Theofilos (1870-1934)
    -> Born in Mytilene (Lesbos) in 1870, under the Ottoman Empire
    -> Three artistic periods: 1. Smyrna (age of 15?)
    2. Thessaly: Volos and Pelion; meeting with Kontos (1897)
    3. Mytilene: meeting with Tériade (1927)
    -> Artistic method: Research of Light and colour, frescos, bi-dimensionality, poor materials
    -> Subjects: Ancient and Byzantine history, mythology, Greek Revolution, heroic Hellenism,
    everyday life
    -> ALEXANDER VS PERSIA = KOLOKOTRONIS VS TURKS
    Rhomiosyne
    Karaghiozis shadow theatre tradition
    From the left: Theofilos, Alexander the Great
    in the year 222 BC; Constantine XI
    Palaeologus in the year 1453.
    Eugene Spatharis, puppets from the
    theatrical play Karaghiozis, Megalexandros
    and the cursed snake/dragon.
    Theofilos, Alexander the Great, 1900 ca.
    Theofilos as
    Alexander the
    Great, black and
    white picture.

    Giannis Tsarouchis,
    Theofilos dressed as
    Alexander the Great,
    1968.
    Chrysanthos Bostantzoglou (1918-1996)
    -> Born in Constantinople in 1918, grew up in Athens. Joined EAM in 1942
    -> Political cartoonist, painter, playwright
    -> First half of the 20th cent. Greece: a) Metaxas’ dictatorship (1936-1941)
    b) Involvement in World War II and German occupation (1941-1944)
    c) Civil war (1946-1949)
    -> Artistic method/style: folk art (Karaghiozis, Theofilos) and surrealism
    -> Subjects: Ancient and Byzantine history, mythology, Greek Revolution
    FOLK HELLENISM vs KATHAREVOUSA and lofty, detached ‘high’ culture
    -> Alexander = antiquity, Byzantine Empire, Greek Revolution, Phyllada, Karaghiozis, St George; folk and
    Orthodox tradition mixed together!
    Bost, …We swear
    that Macedonia is
    Greek. The Oath of
    Alexander.

    Bost, Alexander
    the Macedonian.
    On the left: Bost, Erotocritos playing bouzouki.
    Here below: reconstruction of Alexander III’s
    helmet according to Plutarch (Alex. 16.7).
    On the right: woman wearing the traditional
    headdress of Roumlouki, Northern Greece.
    Euthymis (Makis) Warlamis
    (1942-2016)
    -> Born in Veroia, Macedonia, Northern Greece in 1942; lived in Austria
    -> Architect, designer, painter, sculptor, and art educator
    -> Interest in Greek matters: research project on anonymous architecture of the Aegean; several
    great art collections (Alexander, Thessaloniki, Mother Olympias, Mount Athos)
    -> Renaissance artist: research of light; chromatic poetry; ‘endless’; simple, uncomplicated
    language
    -> Thessaloniki as European Capital of Culture in 1997: Warlamis launched the project Alexander
    2000. THESSALONIKI AS SHOWCASE FOR ALEXANDER AND MACEDONIA’S GREEKNESS (FYROM?)
    -> Warlamis’ Alexander = Lysippos and Apelles’ type
    Folk hero, cosmopolitan Hellenism
    Marble head of Alexander the
    Great, 3rd CBC, Archaeological
    Museum of Pella.
    From Warlamis’ collection Alexander 2000
    Alexander and Philip II

    Makis Warlamis, Troy. Alexander and Olympias


    Alexander Buddha, homage to the
    school of Gandhara (Swat Valley,
    Pakistan), 1st-2nd CAD, local
    syncretism of Apollo, Alexander,
    Buddha.

    Alexander Angel.
    Alexander in Egypt. Alexander in Babylon.
    Thessaloniki, Alexander’s sister
    Conclusions: ζει και βασιλεύει
    Theofilos, Bost, and Warlamis:
    -> Art as a vehicle for Hellenism
    -> Insistence on the diachronic value of Hellenism
    -> Hellenism as a key to talk to people vs abstruse high culture
    -> Alexander = a primary means to promote Hellenism
    artist’s life’s work
    artist’s self-identification with Alexander
    Thank you!

    All comments welcome!

    gtaietti@liv.ac.uk

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