Georgios Bouzianis Greek, 1885-1959

Panos Georg Bouzianis, the artist's son
purchased from the above by the present owner in 1985

Painted circa 1935-1940.

Widely regarded as Greece's leading expressionist painter, Bouzianis was deeply influenced by the avant-garde currents he encountered while in Munich from 1907 until 1934.

After studying at the Munich Akademie under Otto Seitz and with the German Impressionist Max Liebermann, Bouzianis became associated with the two groups of Expressionist painters: Die Brücke, which counted among its members Ernst-Ludwig Kirchner, Max Pechstein, and Emil Nolde; and Der Blaue Reiter, led by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. These painters explored the passage to a more spiritual existence and the expression of human feeling in the light of what they perceived as an encroaching destructive industrial civilization.

Frau beim Waschen perfectly reflects the artistic vocabulary of the time, which Bouzianis used to give expression to his subjects' inner life. The sitter's activity of washing clothes is really secondary to the mood evoked by the painting, and indeed she seems completely disengaged from her actions. Bouzianis uses this device to heighten the viewer's awareness of her loneliness and introspection.