From 16.07.2025
National Glypthotheque
In Modern Greek sculpture, the human form reigns as the principal subject of representation. Animal figures, though featured, have remained a secondary theme, occasionally pursued by certain sculptors.
The National Gallery Sculpture Collection features representative works by artists including Polygnotos Vagis (1894-1965), Thanassis Apartis (1899-1972), Bella Raftopoulou (1902-1992), Christos Kapralos (1909-1993), Euripides Vavouris (1911-1987), Antonis Karachalios (1919-2009), Kostas Karachalios (1923-2007), Natalia Mela (1923-2019), Yiannis Antoniadis (1935-2001) and Nikolas Dogoulis (1937-2013). These pieces reflect a lesser-seen yet vital strand of their artistic expression. The only sculptor to have systematically dedicated herself to animal subjects was Frosso Efthymiadi Menegaki, while Euripides Vavouris was the first to systematically deal with animal figures.
Among the collection’s many animal and bird-themed works, The Farm showcases only those pieces whose size and material are suitable for outdoor installation. Works by Bella Raftopoulou, Antonis Karachalios, Yiannis Antoniadis, Nikolas Dogoulis, especially, however, by Frosso Efthymiadi Menegaki create an evocative and vibrant visual world populated by domestic and wild animals and birds, familiar or unfamiliar, at rest or caught in motion, set within a real-life context – the natural landscape, flora, and fauna of the sculpture park. At the same time, however, they reveal the relationship, the emotions and the unique perspective of each artist towards the animals or birds he wanted to depict: the tenderness for his own pet or for the pet of a neighbor, but also for the unknown animals he used as models. The intimacy with the animals that are common images of his daily environment, as well as the admiration aroused by the dynamism, the magnificence, and even the mystery hidden by wild animals and birds.
The Farm, which will be on permanent display at the open-air space of the National Glyptotheque, invites visitors to engage with this seldom explored realm of artistic creation, while also tracing, through the evocative subject of animals, the broader evolution of 20th-century sculpture.
Curator: Tonia Giannoudaki
