Yanoulis Halepas: Debits and Credits

A book that celebrates the work and illuminates the life of the great modern Greek sculptor Yanoulis Halepas, published in conjunction with a major retrospective exhibition. Co-produced by Onassis Culture and the Teloglion Foundation of Arts, AUTh.

From Tinos and his father’s marble sculpture workshop to Athens and the School of Arts, the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, the acclaim of the “Sleeping Beauty”, the Corfu Psychiatric Hospital after the troubled years of solitude on Tinos Island, through to the artist’s return to creativity and his universal recognition during the prolific last years of his life, Halepas is a symbol of rise, fall, and rebirth, in a lifelong quest for art. On the occasion of the retrospective exhibition on his life and work, the Onassis Foundation presents a special publication in tribute to the great Greek sculptor. In its pages we witness his turbulent life unfold and get a glimpse into his thinking and creative practice – beyond the myth spun around the artist’s tragic fate.

The title, “Yanoulis Halepas: Debits and Credits” – inspired by the account books of the family business – highlights the reciprocal give-and-take of his creative evolution: citations, loans, inspiration from Greek antiquity and tradition, and from his contemporary artists, as well as his obsessive exploration of elements and principles of sculpture and the creative process. Following closely in the footsteps of the exhibition, the book features 150 sculptures, drawings, casts, previously unseen archival material, and all the surviving drawings by Halepas in his father’s account books. The largest body of the artist’s work is in the Onassis Foundation Collection, as well as in museums and private collections in Greece. His oeuvre is introduced in thematic units, highlighting the underlying relationships and interconnectedness in his output.