Artist’s CV
Giannis Gaitis (1923-1984) was a Greek painter, engraver and sculptor. He is known for “People”, figures who have no individual characteristics and are identically dressed in a striped suit and hat. A special feature in protest against the massification of modern man.
He initially studied at A.S.K.T. and then to Paris. Among his teachers was Konstantinos Parthenis. In 1954 he went to Paris to complete his studies at the School of Fine Arts and the Grande Chaumiere Academy. At the same time, he organized exhibitions in Athens and in the French capital, where he settled with his wife, Gabriela Simosi. He took part in several individual and group exhibitions, both in Greece and abroad. In 1967 he presented for the first time “People”, the characteristic feature of his work. He continued to deal with this feature in the following decades, making it a type and means of irony and social criticism. Gradually, from 1975 the stylized forms multiplied and consolidated resulting in the creation of human landscapes. He died in July 1984, a few days after the opening of the retrospective exhibition of his work at the National Gallery of Athens.
