Biography

Vasso Katraki was one of the most significant Greek engravers, dedicating her life to the art of engraving with devotion, moral integrity, and deep humanism. Born on July 5, 1914, in Aetoliko, a small island town, her childhood was shaped by the harsh daily toil of the people in her homeland—an experience that left an indelible mark on her consciousness. Her connection to the world of art began early, and in secret, she dreamed of becoming a painter. In the late 1930s, she moved to Athens and studied at the School of Fine Arts, where she was mentored by Konstantinos Parthenis and Yiannis Kefallinos. By 1940, she had graduated, already standing out as a talented engraver.

During the 1940s, the Occupation, the Resistance, and the Civil War left deep scars on Greece and on Katraki herself. She was not a passive observer of history; on the contrary, she actively participated in social struggles, and her art became a cry of protest. Engraving became the medium through which she documented human suffering, deprivation, and the will to survive. Her dedication to the values of freedom and justice led to her exile. Even there, under the most adverse conditions, Katraki never stopped creating. The works from this period are among her most powerful—silent yet potent testimonies of an era of persecution and unspeakable sorrow.

By the 1950s, Vasso Katraki had already established herself as one of Greece’s leading engravers. Her first solo exhibition in 1955 marked the beginning of a brilliant career. While she initially worked with wood, she soon felt the need to explore a new medium that could better convey her vision. The discovery of sandstone, a stone with a rough surface and untapped possibilities, radically transformed her approach to engraving. Instead of using fine engraving chisels as traditional techniques dictated, she employed sculptors’ tools, turning the stone into a living canvas. The rough relief of the stone gave her works a tangible, almost sculptural dimension, filled with light and shadow, silence and outcry.

Katraki’s fame soon transcended Greece’s borders. She held exhibitions in Athens, Thessaloniki, Beijing, and Budapest, participated in three Panhellenic exhibitions, and took part in numerous group exhibitions both in Greece and internationally. Among her most significant international appearances were exhibitions in Cairo and Stockholm in 1947, Rome in 1953, Geneva in 1954, the São Paulo Biennale in 1957, the Alexandria Engraving Biennale and Lugano in 1958, Tokyo in 1960, the 33rd Venice Biennale and the Balkan Countries Exhibition in Bucharest in 1977, as well as Stuttgart and Nicosia in 1978 at the “Contemporary Greek Painters and Engravers” exhibition. Additionally, she had already won the first prize for Engraving at the Mediterranean Biennale in Alexandria, the Lugano Prize in 1958, and in Venice, she was also awarded the International Lithography Prize “Tamarind.”

Despite her international success, her art remained deeply connected to her social consciousness. To her, art was not an elitist activity but a dialogue with the world. Even in the later years of her life, she never stopped seeking new expressive possibilities. She remained open to experimentation without ever betraying the essence of her work: the depiction of human experience through art. In her homeland, the Vasso Katraki Engraving Arts Museum in Aetoliko houses her invaluable legacy. Her work does not belong solely to art history; it belongs to the people. It speaks of pain, exile, struggle, but also of hope, resistance, and the unyielding will to live.

Georgia Dimopoulou
Classics Scholar – Editor