Title: ALÈXANDROS KOROGIANNÀKIS 1906-1966. CHARAKTIKÈ [ALEXANDROS KOROGIANNAKIS 1906-1966. PRINTMAKING]
Authors: Irene Orati, Eleni Gonou-Stylianides
Publisher: Bank of Greece (Centre for Culture, Research and Documentation )
Year of publication: 2017
Number of pages: 240
Dimensions: 29 x 24 cm
Book type: Album
ISBN: 978-960-703 2-80-5
Central distribution:
a. National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation (ΜΙΕΤ) in Athens (13 Amerikis Str., tel.: +30 210 3614143) and Thessaloniki (11 Tsimiski Str., tel.: +30 2310 288036)
b. Ι. Nikolòpoulos & Co. SA – Ekdòseis tou Eikostoù Pròtou (9 Ζaloggou Str., Athens, tel.: +30 210 3800520).
Alexandros Korogiannakis, painter, printmaker and banknote designer, created a rich body of paintings and prints, themed around his firm choice to always place man at the heart of his artistic creation. The album focuses on his printmaking work and presents material from the Numismatic Collection of the Bank of Greece, as well as from a variety of other sources that provided us with woodcuts, engravings and lithographs of the artist.
To facilitate the reader, the album is divided in two parts. In the first, many of Korogiannakis’s prints from all the periods of his oeuvre are presented, either it be independent works or tailor-made prints for illustrations. Korogiannakis was self-taught and had literally no experience of the developments in Europe: this made him a reserved experimenter, who however managed to create his own imprint. As Irene Orati describes in her introduction: “[Korogiannakis’s] contribution is undisputable. [He] is one of the first Greek printmakers with an oeuvre that has sprang from his personal interest and his
struggle with the material”.
The second part contains sketches, preliminary designs and banknotes that the artist
created during his time at the National Mint of the Bank of Greece. According to Eleni
Gonou-Stylianides, all “show the effort of the painter-designer to render his compositions
as best as he could, trying out a number of combinations until he reached the desired
result, both in terms of aesthetics and in terms of banknote security”. This part also
contains greeting cards made by Korogiannakis, as a notable series of small-dimension
engravings.
The album culminates in a richly illustrated chronology of the artist’s life and work,
drafted by Dimitra Nikoloù, who also had the general coordination of the material in the
album.