- 33
Georgios Zongolopoulos
Estimate
25,000 - 35,000 GBP
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Description
- Georgios Zongolopoulos
- Umbrellas
- signed lower right on the plinth
- metal and plexiglass
- 125 by 125 by 84cm., 49¼ by 49¼ by 33in. (overall)
Provenance
Private Collection, Athens
Catalogue Note
...I had started my work from a very young age with a lot of weight, with marble, the material, with metal, and gradually as I get older, things become heavier in my body not on me, and lighten in my soul and my works...' (Zongolopoulos, cited from the Zongolopoulos Foundation website).
Very early in his career Zongolopoulos distinguished himself with small-scale studies for monuments. The sweeping vertical lines, supporting dramatically ascending umbrellas of the present work have been seen in several different configurations and sizes, gracing the front of the European Council building of the European Conference Centre in Brussels (1995), in Thessaloniki in celebration of its year as the Cultural Capital of Europe in 1997 (fig. 1), on Kifissias Avenue in North Psychico (1998), and the in the 'Atrium' in the Syntagma station of the Athens metro (1999).
The umbrellas are one of the most recognisable forms in Zongolopoulos' oeuvre, and started appearing in his work after 1983. The artist himself stated: 'We all hold umbrellas. We think that they protect us...'
Working beyond the creative process of creating sculpture, Zongolopoulos was always aware of the architectural presence of his work and how it would affect its environment. This ethereal, complex construction and sharply-defined linearity and geometry of the present work define his work of the 1990s, and indeed his later work.
Zongolopoulos attended the Athens School of Fine Art between 1924-30, studying under Thomas Thomopoulos. Following working for the Greek Ministry of Education between 1926-40, Zongolopoulos was given a grant by the French government to work in the studio of the sculptor Marcel Gimond in Paris. He represented Greece in five Venice Biennales (1940, 1956, 1964, 1993, 1995), and participated in many other international exhibitions, inaugurating the Zongolopoulos Foundation in 1994.
Very early in his career Zongolopoulos distinguished himself with small-scale studies for monuments. The sweeping vertical lines, supporting dramatically ascending umbrellas of the present work have been seen in several different configurations and sizes, gracing the front of the European Council building of the European Conference Centre in Brussels (1995), in Thessaloniki in celebration of its year as the Cultural Capital of Europe in 1997 (fig. 1), on Kifissias Avenue in North Psychico (1998), and the in the 'Atrium' in the Syntagma station of the Athens metro (1999).
The umbrellas are one of the most recognisable forms in Zongolopoulos' oeuvre, and started appearing in his work after 1983. The artist himself stated: 'We all hold umbrellas. We think that they protect us...'
Working beyond the creative process of creating sculpture, Zongolopoulos was always aware of the architectural presence of his work and how it would affect its environment. This ethereal, complex construction and sharply-defined linearity and geometry of the present work define his work of the 1990s, and indeed his later work.
Zongolopoulos attended the Athens School of Fine Art between 1924-30, studying under Thomas Thomopoulos. Following working for the Greek Ministry of Education between 1926-40, Zongolopoulos was given a grant by the French government to work in the studio of the sculptor Marcel Gimond in Paris. He represented Greece in five Venice Biennales (1940, 1956, 1964, 1993, 1995), and participated in many other international exhibitions, inaugurating the Zongolopoulos Foundation in 1994.