THE NIKOS SOFIALAKIS CENTER OF NEOCLASSICAL SCULPTURE
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SOFIALAKIS BROCHURE.pdf
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The contents of this website are made available to the public for educational purposes and personal, non- commercial use, in the hopes that everyone - the student, the researcher, the lover of art - will find something of interest. Any use of the materials from this site (text & multimedia) must preserve the original copyright, and attribute the source to the Center. We encourage the use the following format in your citations:
The Nikos Sofialakis Center of Neoclassical Sculpture - Date of archived item or other material -
Title of item being referenced - Date information is retrieved and URL address it is retrieved from.
For example, to cite an article on the Kore with Grapes, the reference should read as follows:
The Nikos Sofialakis Center of Neoclassical Sculpture. (October 25, 1960). The Pan-Hellenic Artists Exhibition , in "Athinaiki". Retrieved on May 1, 2011 from http://archives.sofialakis.org/#/content/Statues/ ATHINAIKI 1960 GIRL GRAPES.jpg
To request materials for academic research, please contact the Center for more information.
LIST OF SOFIALAKIS WORKS.pdf
Sofialakis Works in Public Places.pdf
Short Biographical Note Where to find his works in Greece & Cyprus
Nikos Sofialakis was born in Erfous, Rethymnon, Crete, in1914 and passed away in Athens in 2002. At the age of 10 he came to Athens and from 1925 – 1937 he apprenticed under the neoclassical sculptor Georgios Bonanos. He continued his training with a scholarship from the Athina Stathatou Legacy Foundation, entering the School of Fine Arts of the National Technical University of Athens in1938, where he studied under sculptor and Professor Michalis Tombros. During the course of his studies he received four recognitions and two first place awards.
More on the works
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Follow the links to see the works at the Photo Gallery
In 1944 he won the First Prize in Sculpture for his diploma presentation at the Polytechnic with the piece Maternity. The piece served as the model for the later Maternity in black granite that was acquired by the Bank of Greece and donated to the Alexandras Maternity Hospital of Athens in 1951. This enabled him to purchase his own atelier , and from the inception of his professional career, Sofialakis became the preferred artist of the archons and important personas of the country. Notable examples include Prime Ministers Eleftherios Venizelos , Nicholaos Plastiras (1950) and Sophocles Venizelos (1964), Queen Frederica (1954), Princess Alexandra (1954), and Dr. George Papanikolaou (1962), many of whom sat for him in person.
Maternity
Teracotta Study, 1944
First Prize in Sculpture
Athens School of Fine Arts
Prime Minister
Eleftherios Venizelos
More than 70 fine examples of his work grace public venues and museums in Greece, most notably his El Greco (1948) in Heraklion, Crete, and his Battle of Crete (1969), an18m long x 0,90m high composition in marble depicting the famous battle, set as the metope of the Cretan National Resistance Memorial Museum in Heraklion, Crete, among many others. Of his greatest compositions are the statue The Defender (1948), now at the War Museum in Chania, Crete, and the marble high-relief Child of the Occupation (1948), inspired and proposed by the great author and friend of the artist, Nikos Kazantzakis.
Battle of Crete , 1969
Sofialakis would go on to achieve acclaim outside of Greece as well, participating in international exhibitions abroad and requested by invitation to present his works in the United States, receiving many distinctions for his craft. In particular, his theme of 70 marble pieces entitled The Gods of Greece earned him such praise at the Fine Arts Festival of Mediterranean Countries in New York (1967), and Denver, Colorado (1970), that he was presented with the Medal of Recognition by the University of Louisville, Kentucky (1967). While in the United States, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York requested his assistance with the restoration of antiquities on exhibit at the museum (1967). He was subsequently named an honorary citizen of the city of Alexandria, Virginia (1970) and was distinguished by the Governor of Colorado, John Love (1970) for his contribution to art.
Sofialakis continued to produce vigorously until, and throughout, the 1970s, presenting his works across Europe; his marble high-relief Mother and Child earned him the first prize in Oslo at the Exhibit of Greek Artists in Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Oslo (1947), as did his Babe with Bonnet at the International Exhibition in Cairo (1947). His later exhibits in Hamburg (1975) and Vienna (1980) were a resounding success.
In 1975, he exhibited fourteen pieces in marble at the Gallery Agape in Blankeneser,
Hamburg, at which Gallery a piece of his, a marble crest was enwalled.
Mother and Child , 1947
Though many of his works were commissioned portrait pieces, Sofialakis’ love for children, who frequently figured as his subject matter, as is apparent in the works Babe With Bonnet (1943), The Bound Babe (1946), Mother and Child (1947), The Twins (1947), and Maternity (1952) rendered him a master of the infant form in marble. His greatest devotion, however, was to Greek mythology, and it is here that the most prolific output of his work lies. His Odysseus, a high-relief in Pendelic marble, was presented by the University of Athens to Queen Sophia of Spain (then Princess of Greece) in 1962 on the occasion of her wedding.
Twins, 1947
Odysseus, 1962
In particular, his characteristic micro-sculpture in marble with Greek mythological motifs attracted collectors
from all over the world, and many of his works are now found in museums and private collections in
Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Cairo, Frankfurt, Vienna, Paris, London, Sydney, Korea, and the United States.
Sofialakis synthesized two very distinct modes in his art, bearing the influence of his great maestro, Bonanos and his professor at the School of Fine Arts, Tombros. From the former, he gleaned the sculpting techniques characteristic of the Canova school, in which Bonanos had received his training; from the latter, he discovered the modernist impulse in the manner of Maillol, who had influenced Tombros during his studies in Paris.
The resulting style of classical realism was wholly unique to Sofialakis, who used his erudition and creativity to bridge the gaping divide between rationality and pathos in his work.
Sofialakis would continue to honor the tradition of the Atelier method, by which he had been trained, in receiving students and apprentices without charge throughout the course of his lifetime.
Three Archaic Figures, 1967
The Artist working on a microsculpture piece, 1978
The Nikos Sofialakis Scholarship Award was established in honor of Sofialakis' contribution to his craft andwith respect for the principles of Apprenticeship and Scholarship, and their significant impact on the Artist's life.Click here to learn more about the Award, offered through the Prince's School of Traditional Arts in the United Kingdom.
Visit the Archives
for more photos from the Artist's life & work
A Word from the President
Our Purpose
From the Atelier to the Center of Neoclassical Sculpture
See how the old transforms into the new, and how the Atelier with its entrance on
Taxilou Street became the Center of Neoclassical Sculpture on Gazias Street
FOREWORD
While studying the archives of Nikos Sofialakis I discovered, amid the myriad letters, cards and telegrams, a single postcard that drew my attention. It had been posted from Antibes, France, on the 26th of November, 1954, and read:*
“My dear friend,
Your letter and the brilliant pictures were a great joy. I am pleased that
you press on, with Cretan words and Cretan determination. May the
God of Crete with the mighty hand be with you always. I wish to be able
to cross the threshold of your atelier, and to give the ram’s bell a ring.
So long,
Nikos Kazantzakis”
These words told me that the sculptor’s place of inspiration and creativity must not be lost, but also that his creations, which we possess in our family’s private collection, must be set in the place wherein they came to life. It is thus that our family decided to construct this contemporary edifice on the very site where the atelier of our father, N. Sofialakis, had stood, to preserve his work and to provide the lovers and students of Art with the opportunity to study his work and to appreciate art in general during their visit.
The Nikos Sofialakis Center of Neoclassical Sculpture aspires to be worthy of his work but also of his conviction that “every piece of marble holds within it a work of art that waits upon the sculptor who will release it”.
President
Georgios P. Chraniotis
* This card is N. Kazantzakis’ reply to the letter N. Sofialakis had sent to him with pictures of his new works, posted on October 25th 1954.
The Nikos Sofialakis Center of Neoclassical Sculpture was founded on February 4th 2004, and is a private, not-for-profit corporation in accordance with its founding charter, serial no.2083, First Instance Court of Athens.
PURPOSE
The Center aims to study, promote and cultivate community interest in Neoclassical Sculpture and the Fine Arts in general.
These objectives will be met by the following activities:
• Permanent exhibit of the work of Nikos Sofialakis from the founders’ private collection
• Organziation and presentation of lectures, simenars and discussions regarding the Fine Arts with an emphasis on Scultpure
• Publication of high quality materials regarding the life and work of N. Sofialakis in printed, digital, audio and visual media
• Publication and support of research and studies regarding Neoclassical Sculpture in printed, digital, audio and visual media
• Hosting of organized educational visits for students
• Hosting of visiting exhibits and guest lectures
In addition, the Center will also:
• Grant an annual monetary award to a scholar of the School of Fine Arts for excellence in Sculpture
• Annual public auction of a sculpted work that the owners of the collection will freely offer in the interest of philanthropy
to financially support children’s health organizations
• Auction of sculpted work that the owners of the collection will freely offer in order to financially support Art programs
For half a century, the artist’s ‘realm of ideas’ was a modest space wherein every angle and line embodied the purpose for which it was created. The rectangular white-washed structure, turned inward from the outside world, afforded him the solitude and the absence of distraction his creative focus required. The inner walls, lined with trees of his native soil – Crete - kept him in daily touch with his beloved homeland. The open roof of this unconventional building exposed everything below to the warmth of the Attic sun, so well suited to the glimmer of marble. From the engraved pathways in the garden, to the ram’s bells hanging from the grapevine beams, everything in this moderate space personified the artist who flourished within it.
The Artist with his daughter, overlooking the Atelier, 1952
The atelier of Nikos Sofialakis was carefully fashioned to insulate its master’s sensitivity and to provide a haven for his artistic vision. In it, he dreamed alive his greatest pieces, working with passion and determination; in it, he received countless students over the years, freely imparting to them his craft as it had been passed on to him by his master, Georgios Bonanos. The aesthetics of the atelier were thus expressly suited to its function as a sacred space of creation, inspiration, and learning. The delicate complexity of the internal space was balanced by the almost doric simplicity of its exterior to evince the classical axiom so dear to Sofialakis: “All things best in moderation".
The Artist, in the doorway of his Atelier on Taxilou Street, 1952
After his passing in 2002, it became our family’s steadfast commitment to sustain his hope that his life’s work might be preserved in a “museum-private collection”, thereby keeping the viewing public in constant contact with his work. This aspiration proved challenging, however, because a different aesthetic was now necessary to address the new considerations of structure, space, and above all, function.
The Artist preparing his Atelier for an exhibition, 1950s
Architect Sofia Tsiraki, and supervising architect, Professor Tasos Biris, recall the particular challenges implicit in orienting the space of the new building, first, in relation to the art works within, and second, with respect to its active external environment:
“Defining the appropriate relationship between the (sculpture) exhibition space and the verdant park directly across from it was not at all an easy affair. Initially, the idea that the former should have a maximal view of the latter was considered the patently obvious choice, the park being such a rare yet vital, open area embedded into the dense urban landscape. Ultimately, however, we opted for a more constrained view facing the park, with only a few openings, very specific in terms of their size and shape. [The Center] ought to delineate its own area clearly, both in terms of its exterior and interior space, where strong, clear walls will act as surfaces that accentuate the sculptures. The structure should thus orient the viewer’s attention inward, focusing on the art itself, undistracted by outlets to external scenes.
Views of the Center from
Gazias Street, 2004
" ...orient the viewers attention inward, focusing on the art itself..."
Instead, the exhibition reveals itself to the park through the symbolic accent of an unusual, round window that ‘conceals’ the happenings within [the Center] with its sandblasted glass, eliciting in this way the curiosity of the casual observer. We were quite concerned to present this proposal to Mr. and Mrs. Chraniotis, our employers in this venture and closest relatives of the late artist. We were quite certain that they would prefer the opposite of what we envisioned, namely, that the Center should powerfully project unto the park.
The 'unusual round window' of the new building
Oh what wonder that their reaction was not as anticipated; they proved to be ardent and well-read supporters of the internal orientation of space with few – if any – apertures!
In fact, they reminded us that the master himself had preferred to sculpt all of his pieces within the austere lines of the ‘hermetically sealed’ atelier that once stood where the Center stands today, having only a single, visual ‘gateway’ to the small garden within its walls, and this, because as Sofialakis often noted, the park would not let him focus his thoughts to work in peace.
Internal view of the old Atelier, 1960s
And so, here lies a good lesson: quite often, the “patently obvious” certitudes regarding what
architecture “ought” to do conflict with what the individual inhabiting that daily space truly knows, desires, and needs…”
The Nikos Sofialakis Center of Neoclassical Sculpture came into being in 2004, erected at the very location of Sofialakis’s original atelier. The new building (designed by architect Sofia Tsiraki and supervising architect Tasos Biris, and with structural and electromechanical design and construction by civil engineer Stavros Polychronakis) is an unquestionably modern structure that confronts many ‘patently obvious’ beliefs about the proper use of cultural space. Above all, it is an aesthetically purposeful structure that Sofialakis would have appreciated, and this because it projects its new aesthetic from within as from without.
Internally, the building conforms to its new function as a place of viewing, sharing, and learning, in a manner that draws attention to, rather than distracts from, the sculpted works on display. In its external presentation, the building orients itself masterfully to its outer environment and projects its own merit to the world, having won several commendations for its design, most notably in the 5th Biennale of Young Greek Architects (2005) and the Pan-Hellenic Architecture Awards of the National Association of Architects (2005).
Internal view of the new Center, 2000s
Click here to view
more photos of the historical Atelier and of the Center that stands in its place today
SCHOLARSHIP
The Nikos Sofialakis Center of Neoclassical Sculpture believes in Art education in its broadest sense, in keeping with its mandate to 'cultivate community interest in the Fine Arts', and to this end it supports Art programs in a variety of ways, as outlined in its statement of purpose. One such way is to provide talented individuals with the means to nurture their artistic potential and the opportunity to further develop their craft.
At the present time, there is only one such award in effect, however the Center hopes to expand its projects in the future to include a variety of scholarships in the arts. Please check back periodically for updates.
The Nikos Sofialakis Scholarship Award
The Nikos Sofialakis Scholarship Award is an annual monetary award established by Vice Admiral Georgios Chraniotis, founder of the Nikos Sofialakis Center of Neoclassical Sculpture, in honor of the Greek sculptor, Nikos Sofialakis. The Scholarship is awarded to a student of the Prince's School of Traditional Arts in the United Kingdom, and is open to those students enrolled in the Icon and Wall Painting Diploma of the Liturgical Arts Program .
The purpose of this award will be to support the dual concepts of Apprenticeship and Scholarship, as experienced by the artist himself during his lifetime, and above all in furtherance of such educational efforts to promote the traditional arts, which the artist himself held in high regard.
For more information on the Scholarship as well on these programs, please contact Ms. Margot Stone at the Prince's School of Traditional Arts.
12 Gazias & Taxilou Street, Ano Ilissia, 15771 Athens - Greece
Tel: ++30 210 7772077 Fax: ++30 210 7772629
Email: info_sofialakis.org Website: www.sofialakis.org
GUIDED TOUR
If you would like to arrange for a guided tour, please fill out the form.
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considerations or needs, kindly specify these in the message box.
ACCESSIBILITIY
The Nikos Sofialakis Center
of Neoclassical Sculpture is
fully accessible to persons with mobility difficulties.
DIRECTIONS
HOW TO VISIT US
By METRO
Blue line, Station MEGARO MOUSIKIS,
The Center is within a walking distance of 650m
By BUS
- From Terminal Akadimias Str.
Bus #220 to the 2nd Stop in Ano Ilisia
Bus #221 to the University Student Dorms
Stop on Oulof Palme Ave., Ano Ilisia
- From Terminal at Ag. Konstantinou Sqr. Glyfada
Bus #140 to the University Student Dorms
Thank you for your interest in the Nikos Sofialakis Center of Neoclassical Sculpture.
This page is currently under construction, however be sure to check back here for more information on the many ways you can help the Center with your support and patronage.
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COMPLIMENTARY DOWNLOADS
Welcome to Complimentary Downloads, where you may download informative and educational materials. The materials require Adobe Acrobrat Reader. If you do not already have it installed you may download it here: http://get.adobe.com/reader/
SOFIALAKIS EXHIBITS AT THE ZAPPEION PANHELLENIC ARTISTS EXHIBITIONS.pdf
An online index of of Greek museums
Thematic Trails: Greek Sculpture and the Human Body
