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Journal of Fine Arts Volume 3, Issue 2, 2020, PP 12-16 ISSN 2637-5885

Socialist Realism and Its Nuances in after World War II: Influences, Conflicts, and Contradictions. The Role of Abstraction

Papanikolaou Panagiota* Harokopeio University of , Greece *Corresponding Author: Papanikolaou Panagiota, Harokopeio University of Athens, Greece

ABSTRACT Greece was liberated from German occupation in October 1944. Immediately afterwards, there followed the national division between pro-Western and pro-Soviet organisations. This division had already existed during the , but it was reinforced in 1946, upon the start of the that lasted until 1949. The Greek Civil War was the result and the dramatic culmination of the . Following the victory of the national forces on the communist guerrilla groups, Greece remained under the umbrella of the West, as represented at that time by the , which had succeeded the British influence. The was implemented immediately afterwards and, through the , Greece secured significant financial aid which contributed to restoring its economy that had been severely hit in the . Nonetheless, the communist ideology was strong in Greece, exerting its influence not only on politics but also on culture. Culture also suffered the consequences of national division. Socialist realism, as an artistic and ideological movement, made a comeback on the Greek artistic scene and exerted significant influence on Greek artists. Conflicts occurred on a daily basis. Abstraction, adopted by many new artists, served as a means to counterbalance socialist realism. This is the general picture of in the 1950s, the period covered in the paper. Keywords: Socialist realism, Abstraction, Cold War, Marshall Plan, Civil War, National Division, Greek post-war art.

INTRODUCTION considered a model of artistic expression, a combination of realistic style and poetic representa- Already in the 19th century, art tion, showcasing “Greekness” and the “Greek had been on good terms with realism. The colour”, as affirmed by author and intellectual artists’ preference for realistic expression and Pericles Giannopoulos (1869-1910), terms that naturalistic morphological aspects, including in would appear in various forms and at different themes having idealistic contents, had been an times, including in the post-war period (Giann- undeniable fact. The well-known “School of opoulos, 1961). Munich”, the first important group of artists with academic background and practical training, For decades, including during the period of having studied in the Academy of Fine Arts in the modernism, which made a somewhat delayed Bavarian capital, determined for the most part appearance in Greece, namely through the so- the type of art cultivated in the last quarter of called “Generation of the 1930s”, Greek art the 19th century and up to the first decade of the expressed itself along those two axes: realism 20th century (Lydakis, 1976). Although the themes and naturalism. Indeed, this period coincided selected varied, the artistic style chosen relied on with dramatic historic national circumstances realism and naturalistic expression, taking the term for Greece, as a result of the , “realism” (much like the term “idealism”) to be a namely the Catastrophe in Asia Minor (1922) reference to the contents of the works, whereas the and the ensuing population exchange between term “naturalism” referred to the artistic medium Greece and Turkey, by virtue of the Treaty of (Schmidt, 1966: 29, Eisenman, 1994). The most Lausanne (1923). This was the painful result of important Greek painter in this period, Nikolaos the conflict between King Constantine I and Gyzis (1842-1901), professor at the Academy of Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos regarding Fine Arts in Munich since 1888, has been the campaign of Greece in Asia Minor to protect

Journal of Fine Arts V3 ● I2 ● 2020 12 Socialist Realism and Its Nuances in Greece after World War II: Influences, Conflicts, and Contradictions. The Role of Abstraction the Greek population that used to live there widely used irrespective of periods, to the extent (Koliopoulos, 2014: 536 ff). that any image is described with verisimilitude and meticulously renders the details of the Those historic events have had a strong impact external world. Undoubtedly, the invention of on intellectuals in Greece, including visual photography has contributed to the development artists, and, in terms of art, it initiated a trend to of the movement also because capturing the “revisit the past” (in French, rappel à l‟ ordre) instantaneous nature of the photographic image or to seek “Greekness”, ideological devices referring to the long history of Hellenism as well and reproducing it required special knowledge as to versions of European modernism (Kotidis, and skills. On the other hand, painters, in 1993: 101 ff, Papanikolaou, 1999: 130 ff). competition with photographers, with the help of imagination and the sense organs, have strived to This trend also persisted in the aftermath of achieve visual accuracy as well as create multiple World War II, including after the appearance of meanings (Arnason, 1986, Eisenman, 1994). abstraction, which was embraced by several Greek artists, in particular those who had studied In Greek art, realism did not have a long past, abroad. The new trend gained the support of other than in the interwar period, where it was several art critics. Others have supported a kind of linked to aspects of the Greek cultural heritage “Hellenocentrism” that brought back ideas and and, to the extent that artists were seeking their views from the past by arguing that art should “ancestral roots”, has served as a gateway to be intelligible to the general public and that history and art. Greek culture would provide the means for an On the other hand, the concept of “Greekness”, authentic art (Kotidis, 2011: 38 ff). which was essentially a vague and messy ideo- The problem was further exacerbated in the logyical device, was the predominant objective 1950s with the manifestation of socialist realism, at the time, in order to express the classical as a result of the national division, and its use as an analogy, the rationality, and the purity of the expression of the ideological conflicts of that classical ideal. This cultivated a kind of academic period, i.e. the Cold War, and as an artistic weapon classicism, recycling at the same time modernist to fight the models of Western civilisation. It is styles and themes using a new expressive worth noting that the cultural perception of the left language (Pavlopoulos, 1994). was in strongly contrast to abstract expressionism, In the wake of World War II, the concept of whereas, on the political level, the communist left of that time, which had triggered the Civil “Greekness” found itself enriched with new War, also opposed the financial aid provided to experiences as a result of the new circumstances, Greece by the United States, through the which arose in Greece following the liberation Marshall Plan, to allow it to deal with the destruct- from the German occupation, and of the tion caused by World War II (Vakalopoulos, tendency to provide ideological support to the 1993: 438 ff). new national situation. The artists at the forefront of this situation were those of the On the political level, during the two decades Generation of the 1930s, former advocates of that followed World War II, the situation in “Greekness” with a strong presence in visual arts. Greece had been difficult, although a clear trend of The difference now lay in the fact that artists improvement could be noticed. National division “returned” to realism to express their reaction to was permanent and had adversely affected all abstraction, with which they had not yet made sectors in the country’s public and private life. The peace. Another concept made its appearance, United States’ involvement in Greece gave rise to “Hellenocentrism”, which was more precise and reactions, but it cannot be denied that the with clearer contents. Indeed, several artists financial aid, which had been requested by the emerged who chose their themes from the Greek Greek government, has contributed, together with visual reality, as well as from aspects of everyday the tireless effort of , in restoring the life, filling them with bright colours and limpid economy in the subsequent years (Vakalopoulos, Mediterranean characteristics with the purpose of 1993: 434 ff). reaching a broader public. The theoretical advocate of this tendency was the then Director REALISM AND “GREEKNESS” of the National Gallery, Marinos Kalligas, who Realism is actually an artistic movement from never missed an opportunity to praise the painters the 19th century, although the term has been who adhered to Greek tradition and were focused

13 Journal of Fine Arts V3 ● I2 ● 2020 Socialist Realism and Its Nuances in Greece after World War II: Influences, Conflicts, and Contradictions. The Role of Abstraction on the object, in line with the requirements of contrary, during the post-war period, socialist realism (Stefanidis, 2003, passim). realism made an impressive entrance into the Given these circumstances, in the early 1950s, Greek artistic stage, taking advantage of the artistic creation found itself at an impasse, at a social and political contradictions which had time when abstract art took its first serious steps emerged with intensity, immediately following on the Greek artistic stage and when, on the other the liberation of Greece from the Nazis, in October hand, for reasons to be addressed immediately 1944. Those artists who embraced socialist realism below, socialist realism made its incursion into did so for two reasons: (a) to counter abstraction, Greek art and unexpectedly politicised it. which represented the culture of the West at that time and which was the diametric opposite of SOCIALIST REALISM VS. ABSTRACTION the views of the Greek left, and (b) to confer a Soon after the end of the German occupation, social message to their images, by selecting Greece found itself caught in the whirlwind of themes from everyday life and using the the Civil War (1946-1949), which resulted in a language of realism as understood by the general national division with immense adverse public. This was demonstrated by the great consequences on the Greek political scene. Indeed, number of participations of realist artists in the it also drove a wedge between figures in the “Panhellenic” Exhibition of 1948 (at the Zappeion cultural field, since the Cold War created a Megaron), as compared to the minimal constant confrontation (from an ideological and a representation of abstract artists (Moschonas, political standpoint) between West and East, 2010, Adamopoulou, 2019). which extended in many areas of public life. Following the victory of the National Army, The spearhead for promoting Marxist ideas in Greece adhered to the West; it was actually the the field of art, as – supposedly – expressed through only country in the to do so. To help it the theory of socialist realism, was “Epitheorisi restore its economy, it was provided with Technis” (1954), a magazine which was part of the significant aid from the United States under the propaganda publications of the Communist Party of “Marshall Plan” and the relevant resolution adopted Greece. According to Mathiopoulos (2008: 25), by the US Congress in 1947 under the presidency “one should also take into account the fact that, of Harry Truman (Kalyvas & Marantzidis, 2015). having the same convictions, i.e. being a In spite of being the defeated side in the Greek propaganda publication for the party, Epitheorisi Civil War, the communist left continued to exert Technis was also controlled by all party members considerable influence on the country’s who considered themselves to be the genuine intellectual life. A large part of artistic output interpreters of the ideological purity of the took sides in the dilemma “realism or abstraction” Communist Party of Greece”. Indeed, the magazine which had a clear ideological connotation. The promoted, through its contents, artists who were climate was polarised, in particular in the 1950s, proponents of the Soviet-inspired socialist realism, including in visual arts. Abstraction, in the form of while strongly criticising abstract artists. either abstract expressionism or art informel, was In Greece, socialist realism reached its pinnacle considered to represent the West, and in particular after the Civil War, in a period where intellectuals the United States, which had undertaken initiatives to promote abstract expressionism in and artists of the left “began expressing Europe. On the other hand, the themselves and demonstrating that socialist carried on its propaganda for socialist realism, realism with its anthropocentrism, its clear realistic which was a kind of “anti-modernist” movement outline, its positive and optimistic spirit, as well as brought back to life from the past, with the other elements, was still alive and could once purpose of “awakening” Western societies again be opposed to the formalism of modernism (Foster et al, 2004: 280 ff). whose main form of expression in Greece, at that time, was abstraction” (Baroutas, 2006: 71). Some In Greece, socialist realism had not exerted any artists, such as Valias Semertzidis, Memos Makris, particular influence in the past. The aforemen- even Diamantis Diamantopoulos, have consciously tioned Generation of the 1930s had used made that choice. tradition and realism while searching for the “primeval” values of Greek culture as well as Indeed, it is worth noting that when, in 1960, seeking to approach aspects of European Giannis Spyropoulos, one of the most important modernism (Papanikolaou, 1999: 88 ff). On the representatives of abstraction in Greece, was

Journal of Fine Arts V3 ● I2 ● 2020 14 Socialist Realism and Its Nuances in Greece after World War II: Influences, Conflicts, and Contradictions. The Role of Abstraction awarded a prize at the Venice Biennale, the “Greekness” and “Hellenocentrism”, which publications of the left, including Epitheorisi conferred a specific character to its development. Technis, disregarded or downplayed the importance Thus, socialist realism found fertile ground for of this award (Roumeliotis, 2006: 137-139). It is its development, also taking advantage of the a fact that many artists, unable to make the general intellectual climate prevailing at that association between artistic life and politics, time in Greece. The conflict with abstraction, and, went to live in countries abroad, where they in broader terms, with the modernist movement, created their own independent world in visual was inevitable. This has affected the development arts. Indeed, some have excelled in their field of art, as well as of the artists themselves, some of (Kounellis, Tsoklis, Kessanlis, Kaniaris). whom have looked for a new future in countries abroad. The politisation of artistic life has been a Nevertheless, it was not possible to reverse the particularly negative phenomenon, because art has course of events. The 1960s are considered to be tended to serve selfish purposes, under the pretence the culminating period for Greek abstraction, in of socialisation and participation of artists in the spite of the polarising climate which prevailed on social process. In any event, the 1960s found Greek the political and cultural level in the aftermath of art moving towards abstraction and embracing World War II. aspects of European modernism, in spite of all the inherent difficulties still prevailing in the country. CONCLUSION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Greek modern art entered into the second half of the 20th century under the worst omens. The This research is co-financed by Greece and the Cold War and the national division which European Union (European Social Fund- ESF) culminated in the Civil War (1946-1949) had through the Operational Programme «Human created adverse conditions for qualitative and Resources Development, Education and Lifelong quantitative output, given that the nature of the Learning» in the context of the project “Rein- division was not only political and social, but forcement of Postdoctoral Researchers - 2nd Cycle” also cultural. At first, art had used realism as a (MIS-5033021), implemented by the State vehicle to promote ideological devices, such as Scholarships Foundation (ΙΚΥ).

REFERENCES [8] Koliopoulos, I. (2014) The Modern Greek History. 1797-1980. : Vanias Editions (in [1] Adamopoulou, A. (2019) Art and Cold War Greek) diplomacy. International art exhibitions. Thessal- [9] Kotidis, A. (1993) Modernism and „Tradition‟ in oniki: University Studio Press (in Greek) Greek post-war and contemporary art. Vol. A’. [2] Arnason, H. H (1986) History of Modern Art. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography. [10] Kotidis, A. (2011) Modernism and „Tradition‟ in New York: H. N. Abrams the Greek art of the interwar period. Vol. B’. [3] Baroutas, K. (2006) Socialist Realism in Greek Art. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press Social and Aesthetic Concerns. Athens: Oistros [11] Lydakis, S (1976) The History of Modern Greek Edition (in Greek) Painting (16th-20th centuries), Athens: Melissa (in [4] Giannopoulos, P. (1961) The Greek Line. Athens: Greek) Ermeias (in Greek) [12] Mathiopoulos, E. (2008) (ed.) George Petris. [5] Eisenman, F. S. (1994) Nineteenth Century Art. A Epitheorisi Technis. ), Athens: AICA-HELLAS (in Critical History. London: Thames & Hudson Greek) [13] Moschonas, S. (2010), Artistic unions and groups [6] Foster, H., Krauss, R., Bois, Y.-A., Buchloch, H. in Greece during the first half of the twentieth D., B. (2004) Art since 1900. London: Thames & century: their significance and contribution Ph.D., Hudson 2 vols., National University of Athens (in Greek). [7] Kalyvas & Marantzidis, (2015) Civil Passions. (https://www.didaktorika.gr/eadd/handle/10442/25 Athens: Metaehmio Editions (in Greek) 761)

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[14] Papanikolaou, M. (1999) Art History in Greece. [17] Stefanidis Emm. (2003) The Work of the Painter Painting and Sculpture of 20th Century. Vol. 1. Diamantis Diamantopoulos and Social and Athens: Adam Edition (in Greek) Aesthetic Context, Ph.D., Aristoteleion University [15] Pavlopoulos, D. (ed.) (1994) In Search of of Thessaloniki (in Greek) (https://www. Didakt- “Greekness”. The Generation of the 30s. Athens: orika.gr/eadd/handle/10442/13641) Aenaon (in Greek) [18] Schmidt, G. (1966) Umgang mit Kunst. Ausge- [16] Roumeliotis, I. (2006) The Sources of Painting waehlte Schriften, 1940-1963. Olten/Freiburg Abstraction in Greece, Ph.D. Aristoteleion University of Thessaloniki (in Greek). (https:/ [19] Vakalopoulos, A. (1993) Modern Greek History. /www.didaktorika.gr/eadd/handle/10442/19676) 1204-1985.Thessaloniki: Vanias Edition (in Greek)

Citation: Papanikolaou Panagiota, “Socialist Realism and Its Nuances in Greece after World War II: Influences, Conflicts, and Contradictions. The Role of Abstraction”, Journal of Fine Arts, 3(2), 2020, pp. 12-16. Copyright: © 2020 Papanikolaou Panagiota. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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