Froso Eftimiadi Menegaki
(ΦΡΟΣΩ ΕΥΘΥΜΙΑΔΗ ΜΕΝΕΓΑΚΗ)
Born circa 1916 Died
1995
archives.gr
Froso
Efthimiadi Menegaki, was a cosmopolitan and much traveled sculptress, one of
the few women whose work is represented in The First Cemetery of Athens. (1) She is
rightly numbered among the most original artists modern Greece has
produced. Her evocative figure of Lot’s Wife
is a signature work and adorns her family grave.
This year marks the centenary of her birth.
This year marks the centenary of her birth.
Her Life
Froso Menegaki was born in Constantinople and moved to Athens with her
family in 1922 in the wake of the Asia Minor catastrophe.
In 1947, at the age of 31, she then traveled to Argentina where, for two years, she studied the art of the Incas.
In 1954 she again left Greece, this time for America, Egypt, Japan, India,
Thailand, Bali, China, Cambodia, Nepal and Persia, returning to Greece in 1967,
an amazing odyssey even by today’s standards.
Until the mid 1950s Froso Efthimiadi Menegaki
worked exclusively with clay, concentrating on busts and figures, mainly of
animals. She is the first sculptor in Greece
to have concentrated on animal figures. In
1955 she turned to the medium of metal as well and adopted a freer technique,
without ever abandoning her love of natural forms.
She presented her work in the International Exhibition
of Ceramics in Cannes in 1995, in The International Exhibition of Modern
Scupture at the Rodin Museum in 1956 and 1961, The Biennale of San Paulo in
1959, the Panathenaia of Modern Sculpture in Athens in 1965, and the New York World’s Fair in the
same year. The list goes on to include The Salon of New Sculptors in Paris in
1968 and 1969. Her wonderful work “Bird”
won first prize both in San Paulo and in Alexandria in 1965.
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Night Hawk (Νυχτοπούλι) was created in
1961 and is apparently perched in the First Cemetery.
For more of her
works in the National Gallery in Athens, see
In 1974 Froso Menegaki was honoured by the Academy
of Athens for the body of her work and
in 1980 she was the first woman to be
nominated to become a member of the Academy. She would eventually become a board
member.
Her studio and home at 10 Gripari Street in
Athens (Kipriadou area) was left in her will to be turned into a studio and
place for exhibitions.
Wikipedia
Her Grave
The sculpture which adorns her family tomb in the First Cemetery is arresting
and unique.
Section One, Number 248
Called The Wife of Lot, it was
created by Menegakis in 1962.
It is not at all a grand sort
of monument set high on a pedestal as many in the cemetery are. It is presented on a very human scale. Because it
confronts us on our own level, any barrier between sculpture and viewer seems
to disappear, inviting both our attention and our empathy.
One critic said it reminded
him of an extremely rapid movement that was at the same time a suspension of movement,
capturing an eternal moment.(3)
Map showing the Menegakis grave:
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Footnotes
(1) Just as a matter of interest, other sculptresses are represented in the cemetery.
(a) Irini
Hariati (Ειρήνη Χαριάτη, born 1918)
who created the grave marker of Athanasios Kanellopoulos on the west side of
the Plaza.
Plaza, Number 82
and (b) Bella Raftopoulou (Μπέλλα Ραφτοπούλου - 1902-1992 who created
this monument:
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| Section 4, Number 61 |
(3) Σύγχρονες Ελληνίδες Γλύπτριες: Ειρήνη Γρηγοράκη http://ikee.lib.auth.gr/record/136306/files/GRI-2015-14244.pdf
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