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| Dimitris Mytaras | |
|---|---|
| Name | Dimitris Mytaras |
| Native name | Δημήτρης Μυταράς |
| Birth date | 1934 |
| Death date | 2017 |
| Birth place | Volos, Greece |
| Nationality | Greek |
| Known for | Painting, Drawing |
| Training | Athens School of Fine Arts |
Dimitris Mytaras was a prominent Greek painter and draftsman whose work engaged with figurative tradition, modernist innovation, and sociopolitical commentary. Born in Volos and trained in Athens, he became a central figure in postwar Greek art, connecting Athens, Paris, and international exhibitions while teaching generations of artists. His oeuvre spans portraiture, allegorical tableaux, and public commissions, intersecting with European and Mediterranean artistic currents.
Born in Volos, Mytaras studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts under Dimitris Davis and Yiannis Moralis, later participating in ateliers influenced by Fernand Léger and the circle around École de Paris. He received early exposure to regional culture in Thessaly and urban Athens networks including the National Gallery (Athens) and the Benaki Museum. Scholarships and grants brought him into contact with institutions such as the French Institute of Athens and the British Council, and he attended postgraduate workshops influenced by artists associated with Salon de Mai, Catherine Viviano Gallery, and the Gallerie Maeght milieu.
Mytaras emerged amid dialogues between Greek Modernism, European Modernism, and the legacies of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Lucian Freud. Early exhibitions in Athens connected him with figures from the Greek Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and with contemporaries such as Yannis Tsarouchis, Alekos Fassianos, and Chryssa. He expanded his practice through residencies linked to the Guggenheim Foundation, cultural exchanges with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, and collaborations involving the Onassis Foundation. His career encompassed mural commissions for public spaces tied to the Municipality of Athens and work for cultural institutions like the Herakleidon Museum and the Foundation of the Hellenic World.
Mytaras developed a figurative language echoing Byzantine iconography while conversing with Expressionism, Surrealism, and Neo-Expressionism. Signature paintings and cycles—often titled in Greek vernacular and shown alongside works by Rothko, Francis Bacon, Georges Rouault, and Max Beckmann in comparative exhibitions—feature densely worked surfaces, bold contouring, and psychological intensity. Important series include narrative canvases that evoke the social tensions of Metapolitefsi, the cultural shifts after the Greek junta (1967–1974), and references to Mediterranean mythologies such as Odysseus and Medea. Critics have compared his draughtsmanship to Alberto Giacometti and his color sensibility to Willem de Kooning and Egon Schiele.
Mytaras exhibited extensively at venues including the National Art Gallery (Greece), the Greek National Museum, the Kunsthalle Bern, the Biennale di Venezia, and the Tate Modern in thematic shows pairing Greek art with European trends. He participated in group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Pompidou Centre, and the Hirshhorn Museum through international loan programs, and had solo shows at galleries like the Emerson Gallery and the Gallery Kalfayan. Awards and honors include accolades from the Hellenic Republic, prizes associated with the Athens Biennale, and recognition by the Academy of Athens. His work featured in cultural festivals such as the Athens Epidaurus Festival and was discussed in symposia at institutions including the University of Athens and the National Technical University of Athens.
As a professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts, Mytaras taught cohorts who later became notable artists in Greek contemporary art circles alongside names like Takis, Dimitris Harissiadis, and Vassilis Vassiliadis. He lectured at the California Institute of the Arts, the Royal College of Art, and guest-taught at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and the Slade School of Fine Art. His pedagogical methods linked studio practice with theoretical discussions found in texts by Joubert, exhibitions at the Benaki Museum, and debates within the Greek Artists' Union. Former students and curators from the State Museum of Contemporary Art (Thessaloniki) credit him with shaping curricula and mentoring artists represented in collections of the National Gallery (Athens).
Mytaras' works are held in major public and private collections including the National Gallery (Greece), the Benaki Museum, the State Museum of Contemporary Art (Greece), the Museum of Cycladic Art, the National Museum of Contemporary Art (Athens), the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and corporate collections like those of the Onassis Foundation. Posthumous retrospectives and catalogues were organized by institutions such as the National Art Museum of China in collaborative programs with Greek cultural bodies, and major auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s have handled his paintings in sales of modern Greek art. His legacy persists in scholarship at the University of the Aegean, curatorial projects at the Benaki Museum, and public commissions preserved in Athens municipal collections.
Category:Greek painters Category:20th-century painters Category:21st-century painters