Supervisors info:
Μαριάνθη Καπλάνογλου, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια Λαογραφίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Κατερίνα Κορρέ-Ζωγράφου, Ομότιμη Καθηγήτρια Λαογραφίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Βασιλική Χρυσανθοπούλου, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια Λαογραφίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
The subject of this research involves going back in the time and connecting the past with the present through popular art. It is divided in two parts: the first part concerns the frescos (wall-paintings) and the interior decoration of the bourgeois mansions of the 18th and 19th century in Siatista. This small town in Western Macedonia (county of Kozani) is a place of reference as its bourgeois mansions have witnessed its financial and consequently, cultural flourishing. The second part concerns the art of a contemporary popular artist who lives in Siatista and is the father of the writer of this study.
At the beginning of the project, there is mention in folkloric approaches concerning the subject of popular art and painting. Then, there follows a presentation of the social–financial and historical–ideological conditions which favored the construction of the bourgeois mansions of Siatista and the creation of their wall decoration. An analysis of the interior decoration of these mansions, called "archontika”, follows in the idea of measuring what is possible. At the end of the chapter, the popular artists who were active in Siatista in the 18th and 19th century are included with a reference to their technique.
Then, the reader delves into the main subject of the study: the popular artist and father of the researcher, Konstantinos Tsanasidis, who lives in Siatista but has his roots in Pontos (north of Turkey) and whose ancestors arrived in Greece as refugees at the beginning of the 20th century. Through the narration of his life (histoire de vie), we formulate a better understanding about his values, his memories, his mentality and his cultural identity. All these elements of the popular artist ‘s personality reflect the way of life of his ancestors, not only in the area of Pontos, but also in Siatista. These are portrayed on various surfaces with the help of his paintbrush. Subsequently, the various themes of his works are examined: the artist uses his imagination as a source of inspiration. He invokes his memories in order to select the appropriate themes and forms with the purpose of organizing them all in a painting ensemble. From the one side, we can see the pictures of the agricultural and bucolic life presented in the frame of a pre-modern village. From the other side, there are pieces of work in which the popular artist mixes the traditional with the modern and the local with the global as he depicts images of immigration, football games or just some tourists astonished by the natural landscape and life in the village.
After that, we examine the colors, the special materials and the techniques employed in his art and we search for an answer to the question of whether the popular artist is adapting himself to an artistic framework or not.
Konstantinos Tsanasidis’ pictures signify an absolutely personal style, mainly in connection to the way that he associates the natural, social and contemporary reality with symbols. At the same time, they imply his individual interpretation of the world. He uses his “popular” artistic virtuosity in order to give form to the interior bonds of pre-modern society by means of several narrative representations, sometimes in a realistic way, while at other times in a more lyrical or poetic way. He tries to express his personal conception of the world. His goal is to transport himself and surely, the viewer of his paintings into the pre-modern society so that it can be idealized by both of them.
The popular artist, Konstantinos Tsanasidis, idealizes and continues the tradition which he perceives as being present time. At the same time, he tries to express himself in a modern manner. His way of creating art could be considered a form of active survival and continuance of tradition.
Keywords:
popular art, popular paint-work, greek commercial bourgeois social class, Siatista, bourgeois mansions, popular artists, memory, narration of life, Pontos, agricultural-bucolic life, pre-modern society
