LE MONT PARNASSE PEINT PAR SPYROS PAPALOUKAS

SPYROS PAPALOUKAS (1892-1957)
Mont Parnasse (2460m)
Grèce 

In Paysage de Delphes,1945.

 La montagne 
Le mont Parnasse / Παρνασσός (2460m) est une montagne du centre de la Grèce, qui surplombe la cité de Delphes, à proximité d'Aráchova. Particulièrement vénéré dans l'Antiquité, il était consacré à la fois au dieu Apollon et aux neuf Muses, dont il était l'une des deux résidences avec le mont Hélicon. Il fait partie des dix parcs nationaux de Grèce. Le Parnasse accueille le principal domaine skiable de Grèce. L'origine du nom est probablement préhellénique. Ainsi, des archives hittites ont révélé l'existence d'un toponyme anatolien comparable : Parnašša Il semblerait que, primitivement, le sommet du Parnasse, comme celui de l'Olympe, fut considéré comme le haut lieu de culte de la hiérogamie du Ciel (Zeus, associé à Ouranos, divinité première du ciel) et de la Terre (Gaïa), car on sait que le sanctuaire de Delphes fut d'abord consacré à Gaïa avant d'échoir à Apollon.   Le Parnasse est un massif calcaire des Hellénides, riche en bauxite, qui a été intensément exploitée depuis la fin des années 1930, ce qui a produit des dommages à l'environnement local, auxquels se sont ajoutés ceux liés aux stations de ski de Kellária et de Phtérólakka ; désormais, la majeure partie du massif constitue un espace naturel protégé.

Le peintre
Spýros Papaloukás /(Παπαλουκάς est un peintre grec de renom, précurseur de la génération des années 1930. Spýros Papaloukás se consacre principalement à la peinture de paysages, bien que tout au long de sa carrière artistique il réalise également des portraits, des nus, des intérieurs et des natures mortes, ainsi que des iconographies.  Il est très familier des tendances artistiques et des artistes de son époque (Cézanne, etc.), mais aussi de l'art antique et byzantin, éléments qui l'influencent.

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2025 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

 

MONT ATHOS PEINT PAR SPYROS PAPALOUKAS

 

SPYROS PAPALOUKAS (1892-1957)
Mont Athos  (2030 m)
Grèce

La montagne
Le mont Athos/  Το όρος Άθωνας ou Άθως taussi appelé « Sainte Montagne », (2030 m)e st une montagne du Nord de la Grèce, à l'extrémité sud-est de la Chalcidique, une péninsule de la région historique de Macédoine. Le mont forme l'extrémité méridionale de la péninsule de l'Aktè, une des trois péninsules qui constituent l'extrémité méridionale de la Chalcidique, dont il constitue le point culminant. C'est également un haut lieu de la spiritualité du christianisme orthodoxe car c'est là que se trouve la communauté monastique du mont Athos qui jouit d'une certaine autonomie au sein de la République hellénique. Au sommet de la montagne se dressent un crucifix en acier, une petite chapelle et un refuge.
Dans la mythologie grecque, Athos est le nom de l'un des géants qui ont défié les dieux grecs pendant la gigantomachie. Le mont Athos serait un rocher massif que ce géant aurait jeté contre Poséidon, mais qui serait tombé dans la mer Égée. Selon une autre version de ce combat, Poséidon aurait créé la montagne pour y enterrer le géant vaincu. Homère mentionne le mont Athos dans l'Iliade. C'est dans cette presqu'île que la tradition fait régner le Thrace Tamyris, connu comme un rival d'Orphée. 

Le peintre
Spýros Papaloukás (Σπύρος Παπαλουκάς est un peintre grec de renom, précurseur de la génération des années 1930. Spýros Papaloukás se consacre principalement à la peinture de paysages, bien que tout au long de sa carrière artistique il réalise également des portraits, des nus, des intérieurs et des natures mortes, ainsi que des iconographies.  Il est très familier des tendances artistiques et des artistes de son époque (Cézanne, etc.), mais aussi de l'art antique et byzantin, éléments qui l'influencent.

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2025 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

 

 

MOUNT PARNASSUS BY SPYROS PAPALOUKAS

SPYROS PAPALOUKAS (1892-1957) 

Parnassus (2, 457m - 8,061ft)

Greece

In Landscape, Mount Parnassus, watercolor on paper, The National Gallery - Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Greece 

The mountain
Parnassus or Mount Parnassus (2, 457m - 8,061ft), in greek Parnassos (Παρνασσός) which means "the mountain of the house of the god", is a mountain of limestone in central Greece that towers above Delphi, north of the Gulf of Corinth. According to Greek mythology, this mountain was sacred to Dionysus and the Dionysian mysteries; it was also sacred to Apollo and the Corycian nymphs, and it was the home of the Muses. The mountain was also favored by the Dorians. Parnassus is one of the largest mountainous regions of Mainland Greece and one of the highest Greek mountains. It spreads over three municipalities, namely of Boeotia, Phthiotis and Phocis, where its largest part lies. Its highest peak is Liakouras.
This relation of the mountain to the Muses offered an instigation to its more recent "mystification", with the poetic-artistic trend of the 19th century called "Parnassism". The Parnassic movement was established in France in the decade 1866–1876 as a reaction to Romanticism with a return to some classicistic elements and belief in the doctrine "Art for the Art", first expressed by the poet Theophile Gautier. The periodical Modern Parnassus issued for the first time by Catul Mendes and Xavier Ricard contained direct references to Mount.Parnassus and its mythological feature as habitation of the Muses. The Parnassists, who did not exceed a group of twenty poets, exercised a relatively strong influence on the cultural life of Paris, particularly due to their tenacity on perfection of rhyme and vocabulary. Parnassism influenced several French poets, such as Baudelaire, but it also exercised an influence on Modern Greek poets, particularly Kostis Palamas and Gryparis.
The name of the mountain, (Mont Parnasse in french), was also given to an area of Paris on the left banc of the Seine, where artists and poets used to gather. Montparnasse is nowadays one of the most renowned quarters of the city and in its cemetery many personalities of the arts and culture are buried.

The painter
He studied at the School of Fine Arts (1909-1916)  winning seven first prizes during his attendance. In 1917 he went to Paris where he continued his studies at the Julian and Grande Chaumiere Academies but stopped in 1921 to take part in the Asia Minor Campaign as a war painter along with Periklis Vyzantios and Pavlos Rodokanakis. The works he painted there were exhibited at the Zappeion Hall in 1922, but were later lost in the destruction of Smyrna.
During 1923-1924 he stayed in Mt. Athos where he studied nature and Byzantine art and painted a series of works he exhibited at the end of 1924 in Thessaloniki. Having won the contest for the illustration of the Cathedral of Amfissa in 1926, he worked on the decoration from 1927 to 1932 while from 1932 to 1933 he painted an apartment building in the Exarcheia section of Athens, known ever since as the Blue Apartment House. His activity as a hagiographer and decorator continued with the illustration of other churches and the decoration of the Archaeological Museum of Herakleio; in 1926 his interest in set design commenced and he did sets for the performances at the National Theater, the Kotopouli Theater and elsewhere. He taught freehand and decorative drawing at the Handicrafts School, starting in 1925, decorative arts at the Sivitanideio Institute starting in 1936 while in 1940 he was appointed decorator of the Town-Planning Service of the Ministry for the Administration of the Capital and the Technical Service of the Municipality of Athens. At the same time he assumed the management of the Municipal Gallery. From 1943 to 1951 he taught freehand drawing at the Architectural School of the National Technical University and in 1956 was elected professor to the painting studio of the School of Fine Arts.
During the period 1935 to 1937 he published the avant garde Greek magazine Το Τρίτο Μάτι. A founding member of the Art Group and member of the League of Greek Artists, he took part in their exhibitions, in group shows in Greece and abroad as well as in Panhellenies.

In 1976 his work was presented in a retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery and in 1982 at the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Athens.
He was involved with portraiture and still life, but landscape is what dominated his painting which he rendered after having fully assimilated the doctrines of Byzantine art as well as certain post-impressionistic trends: Paul Gauguin, the Nabis and Pointillism in particular. In his portraits he adopted various techniques while in his iconography he endeavored to combine traditional Byzantine types with elements derived from modern artistic trends.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau