Biography

At the end of the 19th century Patras and Athens were in the same level of intellectual movement, as Athens had close family ties with the coastal city, that was the gateway of Greece to the West, particularly intellectual personalities, such as the distinguished of the second generation of romantic poets Spyridon Vasiliadis (1845-1874), the internationally renowned poet and theoretical founder of Symbolism Jean Moreas (Ioannis Papadiamantopoulos) (1856-1910), probably the greatest Greek poet and most eminent scholar of the time of Kostis Palamas (1859- 1943), to be followed by the theoretical thinker and profoundly in love with Greece Pericles Giannopoulos (1869-1910), with his genuinely admiring views of the Greek landscape, and the also innovative landscape painters Georgios Hatzopoulos (1859-1935) and Vasilios Hatzis (1870-1915), and a few years later the eminent Greek-American painter of the Diaspora George Constantinopoulos, known as George Constant (1892-1978). Epaminondas A. Thomopoulos (31/10/1878-5/1/1976) also emerges from this field. His father Alexios Thomopoulos, from an old urban family, was a merchant of colonial goods, keeping a shop on the ground floor of their house at 25 Kolokotroni Street, and his mother Sofia Tsertidou was of Asia Minor origin from Smyrna. His family had a domain in Agyia, Patras, with fruit trees and vegetables (see T. Iliadou-Maniaki, Epaminondas Thomopoulos, Patras 1992). In 1892-1895 he studied at the high school  “Kapodistrias” in Corfu, where he discovered his aptitude towards music, but mainly his talent for painting, thanks to his teachers of Spyridon Platsaio (1855-1920) and Spyridon Pizani (1870-1920). The Italian-born teacher of Pisanis was in fact, one of those painters, who according to the technocritic Photo Giofyllis (History of Modern Greek Art. 1821-1941, vol. II, Athens 1963, p. 367), together with Pericles Tsirigoti (1860-1924) and Vicentio Boccaciambi (1856-1933), “brought Impressionism from Italy”. After finishing his school studies and after managing to convince his parents to support him in his decision to study painting, E. Thomopoulos moves to Italy to study his favorite art at the Royal School of Naples, next to the famous painter of Italian Romanticism, Domenico Morelli (1823-1901), close friend and mentor of Saverio Altamura (1822-1897), husband and teacher of the first Greek painter Eleni Altamura (1821-1900), who traveled to study painting in Naples half century ago. E. Thomopoulos will also receive lessons from Filippo Palizzi (1818-1899), representative of the rural school of Posilippo, also in Naples, where he will remain from 1896 to 1899, as well as from Francesco Jacovacci (1840-1908) and Antonio Mancini (1852-1930) in Rome (1899-1900), and finally by Emilio Paggiaro (1859-1929), from whom he was taught fresco painting, and Luigi Nono (1850-1918), who specialized in religious subjects , in Venice (1901-1903). Of these not inconsiderable teachers, F. Palizzi was perhaps the next most important influence for the painter  from Patras after Morelli, as he was, among other things, an excellent painter of animals. During E. Thomopoulos' studies in Naples, he was awarded a prize in a nude competition.

Already in 1896 the painter will exhibit in Patras at the Industrial Exhibition and in 1899 at Zappeion. In 1901 he designed a religious performance with a “mystical-symbolic” style for the metropolitan Church of Evangelismos of Patras, wanting “to escape the common art that dominates our churches”. In the same year, he participates in Paris International Exhibition, with the work of Odalisque. The work was published in the exhibition catalog together with the work Bad News by the acclaimed Orientalist painter of the Diaspora, Theodoros Rallis (1852-1909). 1901 is also the year of the death of Morelli's Italian teacher, whose words he will always keep as gospel: “think a year and execute in 8 days, and be careful as much as you can to avoid fashion and commerce in art » (ca. Pinakothica, no. 7, September 1901, p. 167). In 1904, he founded a School of Painting in Patras, where he would also maintain his workshop at 26 Riga Feraiu Street. He also maintained a workshop in Diakofto, Aegialia. In the same year, he organizes his first solo exhibition in Patras at the Philharmonic Hall. After that he will exhibit almost every year, in individual exhibitions mainly in Patras (1907; 1910, “Introductory Association” Hall; 1911; 1913; 1964) and more in Athens (1914, showcase of the Eleftheroudaki Bookstore; 1916, honorary organization by the Hellenic Association Artists in Zappeion ∙ 1917 ∙ 1919, “Geo” Hall ∙ 1920 ∙ 1923, “Parnassos” Philological Association; in the Archaeological Museum; 1948; 1949, Zachariou Exhibition Hall; 1951, 1952, 1954 and 1966, “Parnassos”), but also in New York (1906), Corfu (1908), and Thessaloniki (1950). From the group exhibitions in which he takes part stand out the exhibition of the “Circolo Artistico Internationale” in Rome (1901), the artistic exhibitions of the Society of Philotechnos in Athens (1901; 1902, Hotel “Aktaion”, Neo Faliro), the artistic exhibitions of “Parnassos” (1902, 1903, 1905), his participation in an exhibition in Hamburg (1905), in the exhibitions of the Artistic Society in Zappeion (1907; 1908, where he occupies an entire room), as well as in the artistic exhibitions of Zappeion in the following years (1909, Exhibition of the “Association of Editors”; 1910; 1912, Second Artistic Exhibition of S.E.K.), but also in Alexandria in 1909, at the exhibition of the Artistic Association of Cairo. Particularly significant is the representation of Greece by Thomopoulos at the International Exhibitions of Paris in 1910 and Rome in 1911. He will also participate in the next S.E.K. exhibitions in 1915 and 1917 in Zappeion, in a group in Corfu in 1914, in the “Hellenic-French Exhibition” in 1918 in Athens, as well as in the same year in “Parnassos” for the fire victims in Thessaloniki. His participation in the following exhibitions will stand out: in Cairo 1928, in an exhibition organized together with Umberto Argyros (1882-1963) at the “Strategopoulos Hall” 1937, at the New York World's Fair in 1940, at “Parnassos” in Athens in 1946, in the “Panhellenic Exhibition” of 1948, and in 1963 in the 7th Panhellenic Exhibition in Zappeion, while he participates in almost all Panhellenic exhibitions from 1938 to 1975. The highlight of all these presentations of his work is the representation of Greece by E. Thomopoulos at the Venice Biennale in 1934 and 1936, when he organized the Greek stand. His works are in the National Gallery, the Municipal Gallery of Athens, in the Municipal Library, in the Municipal Art Gallery as well as in the Patras City Hall, where he donated a large group of his works (see the 2003 album: Epaminondas Thomopoulos. The painting of the Patras City Hall), in the Thessaloniki Art Gallery, in the Averof Art Gallery, in the Art Gallery of the Holy Foundation of Evangelistria in Tinos, in the Collection of ASKT, in the Municipal Gallery of Larissa, in the Koutlidis and Leventis Collections, in the National Bank Collection, etc.

His marriage with Anna Rigopoulou, from a wealthy family of Patras, contributed to the stabilization of his financial situation and his further dedication to his art. They will have a daughter, Sophia, who will often accompany him on his travels. After all, the path to his establishment was not easy. In fact, in 1911 Thomopoulos was expelled from Zappeion along with other painters, who maintained a workshop there. It is worth mentioning that in 1914 the painter from Patras created works from the battlefields. 1915 is a landmark year for his carrier as he becomes a professor at the School of Fine Arts, in the course of “outdoor studies” and he will teach there until 1949. A little later he got involved with the case of the Russian Revolution of 1917 with sketches and cartoons in Rizospasti. In 1919 he is on the electoral committee of the 4th Permanent Art Exhibition of Zappeion. In 1920 he received an honorary distinction from the School of Fine Arts and in 1927 the Excellence in Arts from the Academy of Athens for his work Theristes. In 1930, the Academy elected him its presiding member following the proposal of George Iakovides (1853-1932), on the grounds that Thomopoulos “has created his own Greek school, the school of the Greek countryside”. In 1931 he was awarded the Italian Order of the Crown and in 1935 he became the first president of Patras Rotary Club, while he was also President of the Philharmonic Society of Patras. He also received the following honors: Order of George I, Order of the Phoenix and Order of the Italian Republic. He painted the portraits of many prominent figures of his time, such as King Constantine (1868-1923) ―in 1917 after a request from the National Bank―, the Greek politician Dimitrios Gounaris (1867-1922), Dimitrios Aeginitis (1862-1934) and Kostis Palamas (1859-1943). He also illustrated Ypapanti, the metropolitan church of Kalamata (1903) and donated the symbol of the two labor unions of Patras. In 1935 he settled in Athens. Until then, the main stimulus for his artistic creation were the mountains and in general the picturesque parts of Achaia, such as Helmos (Aroan mountains), Kalavrytohoria, Mountain Panachaiko, the villages of Kerpini, Metzaina (Platanovrysi), Zachlorou, the Great Cave, Chalandritsa, as well as the suburbs of Patras: Glavkos, Ities, Pratsika. Then his topics will be inspired from Tolo, Arachova, Delphi and Hydra. In 1943 he succeeded Kostantinos Dimitriadis (1879-1943) as deputy director at the Academy of Fine Arts, and in 1944 he was elected director. In 1949 he became a regular member of the Academy and in 1962 he was president. He had a close relationship with the also academic painter and professor of the School of Fine Arts Pavlos Mathiopoulos (1876-1956). He loved literature and was inspired mainly by the poet of the Greek countryside Costas Krystallis (1868-1894), by the Erotokritos of Vincetzos Kornaros (1553-1613), by the poems of Kostis Palamas, Georgios Drosinis (1859-1951) etc. He was named Kostas Krystallis of the painting art.

His works are initially distinguished by an allegorical and idealistic character, influenced by the Symbolism movement that prevailed in Europe at the time. He will quickly choose his thematic field, which is topography combined with an ethnographic trend, with his heroes the anonymous and unnamed villagers that he locates on the provincial area mainly of Achaia. He faces backlash for his style, as he is initially considered a radical, unrestrained colorist, using broad strokes. Nevertheless, he establishes himself with his personal style, making nature familiar through his bright colors and the almost pantheistic dimension he gives it, making the Greek landscape a space with almost local characteristics. He had a particular method of working, as he used the method of a fresco painter in the sense that he worked on each part of the work separately before moving on to the next. Although he did not spare colors, he remained faithful to the landscape he wanted to render, as N. Kalogeropoulos emphasizes (ca. Pinakothica, box 183, May 1916, p. 42), “the Greek landscape, especially the Achaiko, was rendered faithfully and artistically ». The same technocritic will be the first to compare him to Krystallis, precisely for his tendency to render the Greek countryside without additional or foreign elements: “Nothing fake, the Europaizon. Thomopoulos is familiar with the Greek light. He feels it. And it delivers with sincerity. He is the Krystallis of painting” (ca. Pinakothica, no. 224-5, Oct.-Nov. 1919, p. 71). Alexandros Philadelfeus will consider Thomopoulos the “genuine descendant of Theocritus, Moschos and the other bucolic writers and poets of ancient Greece”, as thanks to his brush “rural life” and the peaks of Ziria are revived. His bold coloring will initially be recognized by Zacharias Papantoniou, as he emphasizes (Embros newspaper, 4/30/1917), he is “the most uncompromising colorist we have; the Venetian of colors. He works mainly with a rural tool, the spatula.” Pavlos Nirvanas will underline the apt choice of the human types that dominate his works: “he knows how to place the typical Greek form in the landscape”. These are human characters who exude with their pride “a memory of the ancient beauty and greatness of our past”. In his painting, influences from the Italian symbolist painter Giovanni Segantini (1858-1899) are easily detected, mainly in the use of his characteristic strokes with strong and clear colors. The intense descriptiveness and standardization of his subjects becomes more evident after 1920 with the appearance of an Art Group opposed to him. Together with Umberto Argyros, he opposes Papantoniou in the 30s, as Papantoniou's opinion towards him had become critical. During the occupation, Thomopoulos creates a series of symbolic subjects, inspired by mythological themes, as he could not paint outdoors as he used to, due to the extreme conditions of the occupation that Greece was experiencing, it was his only way out “in the middle of hunger and death that filled everything in our beloved homeland”, as he declared. In these works, painted with pastels, the rich interiority of the painter is highlighted, which is also appears in his rural works. In the last decades of his life he returns as far as his powers allow to the thematic field and style of the pre-war period, with a recession in his color intensity and more unstable design lines. His work is completed, serving the colorful richness of the Greek countryside. He was one of the first in Greece, together with Kostis Parthenis (1878-1967), to use the pointillist technique, “he directly conveys to his painting what he feels (…) with the aim of pleasing the viewer's vision”, as underlined by Aggelos Prokopiou (History of Art. 1750-1950, vol. II, Athens 1969, p. 500). As his fellow artist Panagiotis Tetsis (1925-2016) used to say, “cobalt is the bread of the countryside”, the stamp of his painting.

Anestis Melidonis
Art Historian
Scientific Associate of the Hellenic Diaspora Foundation