The National Library of Greece presents the exhibition. Vassos Kapandais, Drawings and Sculptures

Vasos Kapandais was born in 1924 in Mytilene, of Asia Minor parents, and died in 1990 in Nea Smyrni. During the period 1942-1947 he studied sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts, under the professors Kostas Dimitriadis and Michalis Tombros. He also studied History and Archaeology at the University of Athens.

He was one of the first artists to engage systematically in applied arts as early as the 1950s, working in the production of ceramic objects and copies of ancient art. His main occupation, however, was sculpture, and in its public function: both on the monumental scale (heroes, statues, monuments) and in the field of miniature sculpture (he produced important work in the field of medals, with an international presence).

Kapandai’s sculptural creation is organically integrated into the framework of Greek post-war sculpture. Although the artist started from archaic plastic types, he gradually assimilated Modernist tendencies, especially abstraction, turning to increasingly abstract, expressionist forms.

However, he never created non-figurative works, since the axis of his sculptural work was almost exclusively the human figure.

Almost twenty years after the major retrospective exhibition of Vassos Kapandais curated by George Hadjimichalis at the Benaki Museum (2007), the National Library of Greece organizes the exhibition Vassos Kapandais. Drawings and sculptures. The exhibition presents mainly drawings by the sculptor, in correlation with his sculptural works (mainly small-scale). The majority of the exhibited drawings are presented to the public for the first time and aim to understand the particular dialogue between the preliminary sketch on paper and the final, three-dimensional sculpture.

The large number of drawings and sculptures exhibited in the Atrium of the 4th floor of the NLG reveal the complex, varied and rich in sources and stimuli art of Kapandai, his openness to themes and sections that were not always intended for public view, but which defined his work as a whole, both in painting and sculpture. Thanks to the exhibition, the public will form a more complete picture of Kapantai as a complex artist, with his work spreading equally in the public and private spheres.

Curated by: Spyros Moschonas, Art Historian

The exhibition is accompanied by a detailed catalogue, edited by Stavros Zoumboulakis, President of the Electoral Council of the NLG.

On the occasion of the exhibition, the sculptor’s family donated a sufficient number of drawings and a sculpture to the NLG.

INFO

Free Admission

Monday through Sunday 09:30-20:00

Exhibition duration: 12.02-31.05.2025

Atrium, 4th floor, NLG, SNFCC