Nikolaos Lytras

Nikolaos Lytras, the second son of the academic painter Nikiforos Lytras, was born in Athens in 1883. He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1900–06) under his father Nikiforos and Konstantinos Volanakis, Georgios Roilos, and Georgios Iakovidis. In 1903 he contributed his painting "Young Man with a Fez" to a group exhibition at the Parnassos Literary Society. Two years later, he established his first studio on Patission Street in partnership with the painter Umbertos Argyros. He continued his training at the Academy of Munich (1907–10) under Ludwig von Löfftz. In 1909 he illustrated Penelope Delta’s historical novel "For the Fatherland". In 1910 he joined the newly founded Association of Greek Artists, and that autumn he returned to Athens. In 1912 he collaborated with the journal "Illustrated Parnassos" and that same year enlisted in the army, serving as a reserve officer in the Balkan Wars. In 1917 he rallied progressive Greek artists and played a leading role in founding the group "Techni" (Art). With his close friend, the sculptor Grigorios Zevgolis, he opened a studio on Ipeirou Street. In September 1919 he took part in the group’s final exhibition at Galerie La Boétie in Paris. That same year he married the painter Maria Hors, with whom he had two daughters. In 1923 he was elected professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts.

His portraits and landscapes are distinguished by a profound understanding of the subject, the materiality of his bold brushwork, and carefully considered chromatic relationships. He used the technique of impasto to creat works rooted in the dialectic between the visual and the tactile. He died of tuberculosis in December 1927. In spring 1929 a major retrospective of his work was organized at the Zappeion Exhibition Hall. His paintings were later shown at the Venice Biennale in 1936 and at the Hall of Greek and Asia Minor Art in 1954. In 2008, the National Gallery in Athens presented a major retrospective of his work, curated by Aphroditi Kouria.