Klearchos Loukopoulos
Κλέαρχος Λουκόπουλος
1908-
1995
Sequences, 1977 by Klearchos Loukopoulos
(Currently in the park
beside the National Sculpture and Art Gallery in Goudi)
Sequences might also be a good way to describe the career of Klearchos Loukopoulos
who has two works in Athens First Cemetery. He was as multi-faceted an artist as Leonardo,
almost as if his mind was too fertile to settle down and plough one particular
artistic field. First came drawing lessons, then Law School concurrently with drama
study at the National Theatre of Greece and music at the National Conservatory
of Athens, all before he finally settled on life as a visual artist. He studied
painting and drawing before finally setting up his first sculpting studio in
1939! During this long process of
becoming, he got to know some of the great Greek painters like Yiannis Morales,
Yiannis Tsarouchis, and Nikos Hatzikyriakos-Gkikas, along with architects
the likes of Demitris Pikionis. It was a
wonderful era to be a Greek artist.
Hard at work in 1973
We first came across his work in the First Cemetery.
Plaza, Number 83
In bronze, rather than the more usual marble, it depicts actress Marika Kotopouli as Iphigenia and was commissioned by her husband Georgios Helmi in
1960. I did not particularly like it,
truth to tell. I don’t know if the fact that it was apparently originally
gilded would have helped. (1)
Of course I looked him up and I was
surprised to discover that he was not
only one of the pioneers of abstract sculpture in Greece, but that his artistic
oeuvre is just breathtaking – not bad for a child who was born in one of the more remote
villages of Aetolia in western Greece.
His Life
Klearchos
Loukopoulos was born in Thermo, Aetolia, in 1908. This is an isolated
plateau on the north eastern end of Lake Trichonidas, 34 kms east of Agrinio
and the back door to Karpenisi. Even
today, going to Thermo means going out of your way. His father, Dimitrios,
although not a town native, was a much loved school teacher there for over 30
years and a folklorist of national acclaim before his death in 1943.
Aside from an annual livestock fair, Klearchos’
home town had one other attraction, its archaeological site. Ancient Thermon
had been a very important ancient city. That is how, at 13, he found himself taking
drawing lessons from painter Konstantinos Maleas who was on site in 1921 to
record the excavated finds for archaeologist Konstantinos Romaios.
A quick sketch of our artist as a young man made by
Maleas
This was a lucky
opportunity for a lad with artistic leanings. Maleas is considered one of the fathers
of modern art in Greece.
The plain of Thermon, as
painted by Maleas in 1921
The artifacts uncovered
in Thermon were stunning, many with the paint still fresh, and would have
excited the imagination of anyone who saw them, let alone a boy with an
artistic bent. I know because I examined many of them in a dusty storeroom long
before today’s museum was built. Critics say that his early contact with
Myceaean art became quite an influence on his work.
At the beginning of his career, he was influenced by
his teachers at the Athens School of Fine Arts, particularly by the work of
Thomas Thomopoulis (Θωμάς Θωμόπουλος), and by sculptor
Thanasis Apartis (Θανάσης Απάρτης) in whose workshop he apprenticed. Travel in
Europe in the 30s allowed him to follow classes at the Academie Colarossi in Paris. In 1938-9 he
studied painting with Pericles Vyzantios but by 1939, he made a decision. That is the year he set up his first
sculpture studio.
In 1945,
he was briefly exiled to Africa for six months after having been arrested
during the infamous Dekemvriana clashes in Athens.
In 1949,
he took part in the Armos Art Group (1949-1953) along with such art luminaries
as Yiannis Morales, Nikos Nikolaou, Yiannis Tsarouchis, and Nikos Hadzikyriakos-Ghika.
Woman with a Pannier 1954
|
His second monument in the First Cemetery dates
from his early Period.
Section
14, Number 145
The
monument of the Mandela (Μαντέλα) Family Το πρωτότυπο του Κ.
It is a rendering in marble of a work he
completed in plaster called Mourning at the Grave (Επιτάφιος θρήνος) (1945-55), so it is definitely an example of his early aesthetic.
 |
In 1956, along with Michael Tombros, Georgios Zongopoulos,
Achilleas Apergis, and others, he represented Greece at the Venice
Biennale. Unfortunately there is not a
complete archive of the work he produced for the Venice Biennale.
The Sea
Change
It was during the late 50s that he abandoned
limestone in favour of metal and abandoned his representation style for
abstract representations.
This reclining figure was created in 1962 and is
now in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art in Thessaloniki.
His work would become more abstract, as time passed.
Although experts insist that there is a definite continuity from his early
work, I have trouble seeing it.
The 60s gave him the opportunity to work with
architect Aris Konstantinidis to create sculptures for EOT, the Greek National Tourist
to decorate their Xenia Hotels in Chalkidiki,
Volos, and Larissa.
Created for the Xenia Hotel, Larissa.
In 1963 he was chosen for the
International Art Critics Award Greek
Division, 1966 saw him again at the Venice
Biennale, and 1971 saw him awarded a Ford
Foundation Scholarship.
In 1972 the Greek Military Junta
wanted to award him the National
Excellence Art Award but he declined because of the dictatorship.
Over the years he showed his work in Greece, France, The United States,
the United Kingdom, Japan, and Cyprus, and wrote many articles about art.
In 1976 he joined the Group for Communication and education in Art and was its president
for four years.
He remained active and inventive into his 80s, experimenting with materials such
as polystyrene, zinc and wax – a renaissance man to the end!
Σηματα Δομών Signs of Structure
in Ilissia ( Plateia Brazilias)
Athens
|
Column (Στήλη)
bronze, 1976. Now in the Athens Metro Station: Ethniki
Aminas.
His private life remains a mystery, at least to the
general public. The articles we have read are all so alike that it seems the
same skimpy source was reused again and again. Perhaps it is time for someone to
consider a biography of this wonderful artist.
Klearchos
Loukopoulos died in Athens in 1995.
Map
Footnotes
(1) I was not
the only person underwhelmed by Marika’s statue. Set designer Georgios
Anemoyianni who had belonged to Marika’s troupe wrote that he felt depressed
whenever he visited her grave because he
felt it had been violated. He was unhappy with the use of metal apparently. (Nea Estia, issue 1382, p 196)
Sources
1. Εθνική Γλυπτοθήκη Άλσος Ελληνικού Στρατού, Γουδί
https://www.nationalgallery.gr/el/gluptikh-monimi-ekthesi/sculpture/aphairesi-gluptikh/epallila.html
2. http://thoasaitolos.gr/thoas/?p=641
4. Η Νέα Εποχή, Εφημερίδα
Αγρινίου στο διαδίκτκυο http://www.epoxi.gr/%CE%A0%CF%81%CF%8C%CF%83%CF%89%CF%80%CE%B1/persons77.htm
5.https://parallaximag.gr/thessaloniki/anakalypse-ta-glypta-tis-polis-keklimeni-morfi-tou-klearchou-loukopoulou
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