Artist’s CV
Giannis Tsarouchis was born in Piraeus in 1910, being the second son of the merchant from Arcadia Athanasiou Tsarouchis and Maria Monarchidis originally from Psara. The neoclassical building in which it first saw the light, at the junction of Vasileos Georgiou Avenue and Louka Ralli Street, no longer exists. Part of his childhood (1920-1925) was spent in the mansion of the Metaxas family, near his aunt Despina Metaxas, who was his mother’s sister. Although the Tsarouhis family moved to Athens in 1927, Piraeus took deep root in the artist, both for the metropolitan environment in which he grew up and influenced him artistically, and for the poor working-class neighborhoods where he often made escapades during his childhood. In 1938, two years after his return to Greece, he held his first solo exhibition at the Alexopoulos store on Nikis Street in Athens with works that presented a special personality that were praised by the then techno critics Papantoniou and Kapetanakis.
In 1940 he enlisted and served in the Engineers. During the years of the Occupation, he founded a private painting school, where several young people studied for a short time, who later became apprentice painters, such as Kosmas Xenakis, Minos Argyrakis, Nikos Georgiadis, and also Rosita Sokou. In 1947 he held 2 solo exhibitions with watercolors and theatrical drafts. In 1950 he went to Paris again where a year later, in 1951, he exhibited in Paris and in London at the “Retfri Gallery”, while in 1953 he signed a contract with the Iolas gallery in New York. In 1956 he was nominated for the Guggenheim Prize and in 1958 he took part in the Venice Biennale. In 1967 he settled in Paris. In 1982, the Yannis Tsarouchis Museum was inaugurated in Marousi, in the artist’s home, which he himself converted into a museum by donating his personal collection of his works. At the same time, the Tsarouhis Foundation operates with the aim of disseminating the painter’s work.
He was a member of the Greek Chamber of Visual Arts (EETE).
Along with painting, Yiannis Tsarouchis was also involved in theater directing and in fact from 1928. He designed sets and costumes for the theaters “Ethniko” (“Royal”), “Kotopoulis”, “Dimotiko” in Piraeus and others. especially prose, as well as for the classic play “Romeo and Juliet” which was staged in 1954 in the then Royal Garden.
In the work of Yannis Tsarouchis, the joy and wonder of life is mainly expressed. He tried to balance the great traditions and capture the eternal artistic values. His paintings assimilate many popular and folklore elements, especially of the port of Piraeus. He is considered one of the greatest contemporary Greek painters with international prominence, especially in France. At the same time, he also worked as a scenographer in both Greek and foreign theaters with great success. It is to him that the presence of the sailor, whether dancing or not, was established, in almost all the scenes of the Greek cinema that were shot in popular centers, considered necessary. In 1977, he himself staged Euripides’ Troades in his own modern Greek version, with his own teaching and scenography.
