|
|
 He was the most popular artist
working in the direction of a Greek Style in painting. A
student of Nikolaos Lytras at the Athens
School of the Arts with an indirect apprenticeship in
Baroque and Flemish art with F. Kontoglou
and D. Galanis he turns from an early
stage towards the description of the familiar, the close
ant hand, the specific, remolding them with lyrical
realism. His world had \already been formed during the
30’s, and enriched during the 40’s by the
experiences gained during the occupation 9a period which
provided us with many engravings with national themes),
developing itself still further during successive
decades. The three works contained in the Municipal
Gallery of Rhodes are especially representative of his
art. The First Monday of Lent is surely one of his
ouvre’s best. At this, as well as at Monastiraki,
both done in early 50’s, we can see the
artist’s love for simple, everyday things, for
objects which express a world which is in the process of
disappearing, and for whatever is at first sight
insignificant. The traditional food on the table and
objects in junk shops acquire a symbolic meaning inspite
of their humility and their simplicity. From another
angle, his relationship with Byzantine (cylindrical
forms) as well as Baroque art (genre subjects) is obvious
in his work.
S. Vassiliou was the first artist who took art depicting
traditions and customs out of the landscape and into the
urban  environment, to Athens,
which during these decades is constantly changing. it has
been said that he produced art resembling pop art well
before the middle of the 1950’s when it appeared in
England. His treatment of everyday life has a lyrical,
tranquil quality about it. |
