Beauty lies behind what you feel, not behind what you see

ALEKOS FASSIANOS

"Fassianos in light"

Alekos Fassianos (25 October 1935 ā€“ 16 January 2022) was born in Athens. His father was a musician and his mother taught ancient Greek. He studied violin at the National Conservatory and painting under Yannis Moralis at the School of Fine Arts in Athens from 1956 to 1960. In 1960, he received a scholarship from the French government and went to Paris to study lithography at the Ɖcole des Beaux-Arts. After completing his studies in Paris in 1963, Fassianos returned to Athens. Together with architect Antonis Kepetzis and artists Vasilis Sperantzas and Nikos Stefanou, they moved into an old house in Kallithea, which was granted
to them by the National Gallery of Athens. The so called ā€œstudio of Kallitheaā€ was a vibrant workshop that shaped and pushed boundaries of the Athenian art scene and where artists and poets gathered. It was also there that Fassianos painted his first ā€˜smoking cyclistā€™. At the iconic Athenian cafĆ© Brazilian where intellectuals gathered, he befriended poets such as Odysseas Elytis,
Miltos Sachtouris and Andreas Embirikos, with the encouragement of whom he created a series of ā€˜cyclists with windblown hairā€™.
In 1967, with the rise of the dictatorship of the Colonels in Greece, Fassianos moved permanently to Paris. Two years later, he was discovered by legendary art dealer Paul Facchetti. They began a vibrant collaboration, with Facchetti exhibiting Fassianosā€™ works alongside those of fellow Parisian artists Jean Paul Riopelle and Georges Mathieu. For Fassianos, the solo shows organized byFacchetti were critical to furthering his career as they marked the first com-prehensive showcase of his artistic idiom. In the 70s, he was represented by Alexander Iolas Gallery, showing alongside Max Ernst, RenĆ© Magritte, Giorgiode Chirico and Martial Raysse. Fassianosā€™ works travelled from Malmƶ to Tokyo through Zurich, Berlin, Milan, and New York and in 1983, Blaise Gautier organized a monograp presentation of the artistā€™s work at Centre Pompidou as part of the periodical ā€˜Revue parlĆ©eā€™. In 1985, the ChĆ¢teau de Chenonceau presented his first retro- spective, followed by a series of gallery exhibitions around the world. In the late 1980s, the artist expressed his desire to remodel a building his family owned in the old center of Athens with the vision to house the Alekos Fassianos Museum. Together with architect and longtime friend, Kyriakos Krokos they altered, renovated it and the project was completed in 1995. The building is of significant importance to the contemporary architectural map of Athens for its
mastery in corrective intervention to an existing building and its intensive and precise crafting of surfaces. Aside from painting, Fassianos was a writer, poet, ceramist, designer, scenographer, and architect. He created the costumes and stage sets for
numerous plays including Franz Kafkaā€™s America and Euripidesā€™ Helen at the National Theatre of Athens and, in 1980 he oversaw the scenography of No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre. Throughout his career, Fassianos illustrated numerous editions for writers and poets such as Miltos Sachtouris, Odysseas Elytis, Constantin Cavafy, Yiannis Ritsos, Kostas Tachtsis, Louis Aragon, Guillaume Apollinaire, Jacques LacarriĆØre, Paul ValĆ©ry, Fernando Arrabal and Jean-Marie Drot, among others. He created limited edition publications with Bruno Roy, editor of Fata Morgana, and the publisher AndrĆ© Biren. Fassianos created design objects such as furniture, lights, door handles and homeware for his residences in Athens and Kea. During his lifetime, Fassianos was awarded Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Officier de la LĆ©gion dā€™Honneur by the French Minister of Culture FrĆ©dĆ©ric Mitterand, and, in 2021, he received the highest award of Commandeur de lā€™Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Minister of Culture in France, Madame Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin.

Fassianos Alekos-Alekos Fassianos
@Louisa Nikolaidou Photography

PAINTINGS

Work

Ī•Ļ€Ī¹Ī»ĪµĪ³Ī¼Ī­Ī½Ī± Ī­ĻĪ³Ī± Ļ„ĪæĻ… Ī‘. Ī¦Ī±ĻƒĪ¹Ī±Ī½ĪæĻ ĻƒĻ…Ī³ĪŗĪµĪ½Ļ„ĻĻ‰Ī¼Ī­Ī½Ī± ĻƒĪµ 3 ĪŗĪ±Ļ„Ī·Ī³ĪæĻĪÆĪµĻ‚.

ā€œHe whose name I write, the name I learned to pronounce: Fassianos, Oh, Fassianos! I remember those first days when the surprise hit me ā€“ it was a new way to love.ā€

Louis Aragon, ā€œFassianos Facing the Skyā€

CHRONOLOGY

Fassianos Alekos-Alekos Fassianos

An overview of Fassianos by life period

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PUBLICATIONS

Publications and books

The archive is divided into 6 subcategories. Publications and books The archive is divided into 6 subcategories.
Fassianos Alekos-6th Grade Grammar book
Fassianos Alekos-Exhibition Catalogue
Fassianos Alekos-
Fassianos Alekos-Louis Aragon

AWARDS

Awards and distinctions

2021
GREECE
AWARDED BY THE MINISTER OF CULTURE MADAME ROSELYNE BACHELOT - NARQUIN
COMMANDEUR DE L'ORDRE DES ARTS ET DES LETTRES
2018
GREECE
CULTURAL CENTER OF ALIMOS
Honorable citizen of Alimos
GREECE
MUNICIPALITY OF HYDRA
Honorable citizen of Hydra
2017
GREECE
MUNICIPALITY OF CORFU
Honorable citizen of Corfu
2016
RUSSIA, ST PETERSBURGH
STATE ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS IN RUSSIA
First level award by the Russian Academy of Arts
2013
GREECE
EMBASSY OF FRANCE IN GREECE
Commander of the Legion of Honor by the French Ambassador in Greece
2010
FRANCE
Officer of the Order of the Arts and Letters by the then Minister of Culture Frederic Mitterrand
1999
GREECE
ACADEMY OF ATHENS
Award by the Academy of Athens
1985
FRANCE
EMBASSY OF GREECE
Order Of Arts And Letters by the then Minister of Culture Jacques Lang
GREECE
MAXIMOU MANSION
Commander of the Order of the Phoenix by the President of the Greek Republic Mr. Stefanopoulo

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