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01
Georgios ZONGOLOPOULOS
Greek, 1903-2004

Thessaloniki International Trade Fair Sculpture / Cor-ten
patinated bronze

signed on the base
circa 1966
height 48.8 cm, width 13.5 cm, depth 13.5 cm


PROVENANCE

private collection, Athens


NOTE

The work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the George Zongolopoulos Foundation.


sold for 7,660.25 €

Georgios Zongolopoulos was born in Athens in 1903.

In 1924 he enrolled at the School of Fine Arts, Athens in the studio of Thomas Thomopoulos where he graduated in 1930.

 

In the 1930s he was employed by the architecture department of the Ministry of Education and worked on schools, museums and churches.

 

He continued his studies first in Paris, on a scholarship from the French government in the studio of Marcel Gimond between 1949 and 1950 and later on a scholarship from the Greek government, studied the techniques of copper casting in Rome and Pistoia between 1953 and 1954.

 

Zongolopoulos' work is characterised by the constant renewal of form, material, medium and its relationship with space. He utilises light and movement, shape and sound, positive and negative space. These qualities are apparent in the architectural landscaping of Omonia Square (1958-1960), his abstract sculptures of the 1960s, his kinetic sculptures of the 1970s, the use of water and lenses in the 1980s, his renowned Umbrellas of 1990. His work is in endless dialogue with space.

 

Zongolopoulos’ large scale sculptures are exhibited in public parks and squares all around Greece. Additionally, he presented his work in a large number of solo and group exhibitions, notably: the Venice Biennale (1940,1956, 1964, 1993 and 1994); the Cairo Biennale (1946); ‘the Grekisk Konst Konstakademien’, Stockholm (1947); the Sao Paolo Biennale (1957); the Sculpture Contemporain Musee Rodin, Paris (1963) and the Salon de la Jeune Sculpture, Paris (1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975). In 2004,
a few months before his death he established the George Zongolopoulos Foundation.

 

His work is found in many public and private collections, notably that of the National Gallery of Greece, the Athens Municipal Gallery, the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, the Teloglion Fine Arts Foundation and the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation.