Biography
The sculptor George Koras (Koutouratsas) was born in 1925 in Florina. In his youth he showed a special interest in music and took violin lessons at the Florina Educational Association “Aristotle”. However, the hanging of his teacher Theodoros Thomaidis by the Germans during the Occupation left a deep mark on him, and he gave up music. He then became involved in painting, participating in amateur art groups of “Aristotle”, depicting scenes and people of the countryside.
In 1948 he entered the Athens School of Fine Arts, where, under the tutelage of Michalis Tombros, he learned to sculpt busts and compositions in marble in an academic and realistic style. During the years of his studies, he faced difficulties both because of his limited financial means and the political circumstances in Greece. He graduated in 1955 and after being discharged from the army he decided to settle in the USA, fascinated by the developments in sculpture on the other side of the Atlantic. Before moving to New York as a war refugee, he visited various museums in Europe, with France as a starting point.
He moved to New York in October 1955 and worked initially as an assistant to Jacques Lipchitz. For five years (1955-1960) he made copies, enlargements and any other work the renowned sculptor suggested. At the same time he continued to study with models at the Art Students League and specialized in metal casting at the Modern Art Foundry in New York (1960-1962). After becoming familiar with the English language, he worked at various private schools and organized his first solo exhibition (Brata Gallery, New York, 1959). In 1966 he accepted an offer of partnership from Stony Brook University in New York, where he remained for a total of 27 years, teaching sculpture and casting, until his retirement in 1992. In 1975 Stony Brook sponsored the sculptor on a scholarship to attend copper casting courses in Italy and Spain. When he returned, he established a foundry on the campus.
Koras worked mainly with copper and bronze, materials that he believed best conveyed the textures, dynamism and expressiveness of his sculptures, as well as the sense of turmoil, fluidity and drama that he often sought. He created allegorical and symbolic compositions, female figures, animals sometimes intertwined with momentum, figures from mythology and literature, and compositions that refer to the human condition or comment on socio-political reality. His works include elements of cubism and abstract expressionism, without sacrificing their figurative qualities. In his late sculptures he also experimented with ready-made objects and sometimes combined different materials with metals. In addition to the lost wax technique and welding, he had also experimented with techniques of his own inspiration.
His work has been presented in solo exhibitions in New York, such as Lee Nordness Galleries, 1961, World's Fair Center, 1962, Tchernov Gallery, 1974, Greek Consulate General Cultural Center, New York, 1979, retrospective at the Staller Center/Stony Brook University, 1992, as well as in group exhibitions, for example: Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1960 (Brooklyn & Long Island Artists Biennial Exhibition, where he received the Abraham and Straus Award for the bronze sculpture Greek Shepherd), Panhellenic, 1987, etc. He received numerous awards, including the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts 1964, Hofstra University 1965, Hudson River Museum (awarded by Marcel Duchamp) and served as director of sculpture at the Audubon Society from 1963 to 1966 and from 1968 to 1971. He died in New York in 2015.
His works can be found, among others, at the EPRMAS, the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Florina Art Centre- Museum of Modern Art, the Vorres Museum, public spaces in New York (e.g. the commissions he received from the New York City Board of Education) and in Danbury (Vietnam War Memorial, Connecticut, 1988). Koras has been quoted in an interview with the Voice of America radio network (New York, 1972) and in the New York State Council Arts television production “G. Koras, Sculptor” (1972).
Xenia Giannouli
Art Historian