In modern Greek sculpture, the dominant theme in the field of representation is the human form. Animal sculpture is a secondary theme, cultivated by certain sculptors, but usually only occasionally.

The National Gallery’s sculpture collection includes works by artists such as Polygnotos Vagis (1894-1965), Thanasis Apartis (1899-1972), Bella Rafopoulou (1902-1992), Christos Kapralos (1909-1993), Evripidis Vavouris (1911-1987), Antonis Karachalios (1919-2009), Kostas Karachalios (1923-2007), Natalia Mela (1924-2019), Yannis Antoniadis (1935-2001), and Nikolas Dogoulis (1937-2013) offer a fairly representative picture of this aspect of their work. The only artist who dealt extensively with animal sculpture was Frosso Efthymiadou Menegaki (1911-1995), while Euripides Vavouris was the first to begin systematically working with animal forms.

Of the works belonging to the collection, only those whose size and material allow them to be exhibited outdoors were placed on the Farm. Works by Bella Rafopoulou, Antonis Karachalios, Yannis Antoniadis, Nikolas Dogoulis, and especially Froso Efthymiadou Menegaki, create a fantastic artistic environment, integrated into the natural landscape of the park, with familiar and lesser-known figures in characteristic poses. At the same time, however, they reveal the relationship, feelings, and unique perspective of each artist towards the animals or birds they chose to depict: tenderness for their own pet or a neighbor’s pet, but also for the unknown animals they used as models. The intimacy created with animals that are common images of his everyday environment, but also the admiration aroused by the dynamism, grandeur, and even mystery hidden in wild animals and birds.

At the Farm, which will be permanently displayed in the already established outdoor space of the National Sculpture Gallery, visitors will have the opportunity to learn about a rarer, but very interesting theme of sculpture, not only through a unique approach, but also through the style of each artist, sometimes intensely realistic and sometimes minimalist and abstract, from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Τα εγκαίνια της έκθεσης θα πλαισιώσει η μουσική εκδήλωση “Antonio’s Farm: soundscapes and symbolism in Antonio Vivaldi’s cosmos “ performed by Athens Classical.

Exhibition curator: Tonia Giannoudaki, curator of the Modern Greek and European Sculpture Collection at the National Gallery, Alexandros Soutsos Museum

Exhibition contributors

General Director – Artistic Planning: Syrago Tsiara

Concept – Exhibition curator – Coordination: Tonia Giannoudaki

Architectural design and supervision: Giorgos Parmenidis, Ifigeneia Mari

Director of Collections, Artistic and Museum Planning: Efi Agathonikou

Director of Conservation and Physicochemical Research of Works of Art: Agni Terliki

Director of Administration and Finance: Katerina Arvanitaki

Artwork Conservation: Maria Kliafa (Head of Sculpture Conservation Workshop), George Gargaridis

Financial Management: Irini Antoniadi, Dimitra Anagnostopoulou

Technical Advisor: Irini-Daphne Sapka