Lascaridou, Sofia

Sofia Laskaridu was born in 1882 in Athens in a rich, as well as famous family in the Greek capital. Her father, the wealthy London businessman Laskaris Laskaridis, came from Trebizond and his family roots went back to the Byzantine dynasty of Laskaris. Under the patrimonial emblem of Laskaridis, the phrase “after the gloom I hope for the light” was written ( Greek: μετά σκότους ελπίζω φως ). My father studied in Paris and London and was really a progressive and enlightened person. Laskaridis was a student and follower of the Greek enlightener and philosopher Theophilus Cairis . Mother, Catherine Laskaridi, (maiden name Khristomanu) was born in Vienna, but came from the city of Melnik , then populated by the Greeks, now Bulgarian, and was a sister to Anastasia Christomanosu, professor of chemistry at the universities of Vienna and Moscow and founder of the Athens state laboratory ^[1] Mother grew up in Vienna. Upon arrival in Greece and at the age of 17, she married Laskaridis. Catherine Laskaridi is noted in the history of Greek education as the organizer of a school for young ladies (1864) and a follower of pedagogical ideas of Friedrich Fröbel , who spent her entire fortune on introducing Fröbel's pedagogical methods in Greece. Catherine Laskaridi, following the ideas of her teacher, created a kindergarten (1897) and wrote a number of children's and pedagogical books. The Laskaridis couple had 3 daughters: Melpomene, Sofia and Irina. Irina later devoted herself to the education of the blind in Greece. In 1887, Laskaridis bought a manor in a house in the then suburban suburb of Kalithea on the banks of the river Ilissos . If today it is the most densely populated area of ​​large Athens, then in those years Kalithea was a favorite vacation spot of the Athenian aristocracy. The house was often visited by Athenian high society. Among the guests were George I (King of Greece) and members of the royal family were frequent guests at home.

Sofia showed her talent as a child, painted continuously and at the age of 14 organized her first exhibition in the building of the Society of Art Lovers. Her many hours and many kilometers of hiking with an easel, alone, forced her father to hand her a revolver for self-defense. Some of her biographers describe her as a lady "with a revolver in one hand and a brush in the other." In 1900, Sofia made a six-month study trip abroad. She visited galleries, painting lessons at the Julian Academy , in the studio of Jean-Joseph Benjamin and Jean-Paul Laurent . After the death of her father, Sofia enrolled in the art School of Madame Society of Art Lovers. But the level of this school did not satisfy her and Sofia began to look for an opportunity to enter the Athens School of Fine Arts . The first woman who tried to enroll in the "School", Talia Flora , the conservative board refused only because of her gender. In 1901, at an audience with King George I, Sofia asked for his intervention. But only in 1903, she was allowed to enter the "School", which caused a negative reaction from the conservative circles of society and her fellow students. Sofia studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts in 1903-1907 with Konstantin Volanakis , George Roylos , Nicephorus Litras and George Yakovidis . Litras was pleased with the student and stated that she would make him proud of her student. Her teacher was also Spiridon Vikatos . While still a student, Sofia took part in art exhibitions in Zappion , the Society of Friends of the Arts and the Parnassus Society, as well as the Athens International Exhibition in 1903. In 1906, she exhibited her work with the artist Talia Flora . In 1907, exhibited her work at a solo exhibition in the building of the philological society "Parnas". Sofia finished the School in 1907. After receiving a scholarship from the Bozios Foundation in 1908, Sofia left to continue her studies in Germany. In July, Sofia studied landscape painting in Dachau with the artist Von Haieck. A few months later, she continued her studies in Munich with the artists W. Thor and S. Hollosy. At the same time, Sofia attended composition lessons with Leo Putz and Max Feldbauer at the School of Madame Artists Association (Kunslerinnenverein). In addition, Sofia took part in competitions in Germany and received prizes. However, at the beginning of 1910, the artist felt that studying in Munich could not give her anything more and was going to leave for Paris. The departure was postponed after receiving a letter from her lover, Periklis Yannopoulos ^[2] .

Before entering the Athens School of Fine Arts , during one of her artistic walks, Sofia met a young writer and journalist Periklis Yannopoulos. Acquaintance became mutual love “at first sight”. Yannopoulos was a famous intellectual and a zealous admirer of the "Greek spirit." In the language issue, he supported the conservative Kafarevus . Yannopoulos believed in the rise of the Greek nation, through Hellenic-centric education, and rejected all alien ideas and customs. Contemporaries describe Hannopoulos as a handsome and favorite of secular Athens. Yannopoulos lived for 2 years in Paris , revolved in Parisian literary and artistic circles, was friends with Jean Moreasomu . The death of his father (1892) caused a nervous shock and put an end to his Parisian entertainment. An eight-month stay in London brought him closer to the course of symbolism, but worsened his mental health. Returning to Athens (1893) helped him, to a large extent, restore peace of mind and find a worthy place in Athenian society. However, the Athenians ignored his manifestos of the “New Spirit” (1906) and “The Appeal to the Pan-Hellenes” (1907), which he distributed free of charge, with the aim of disseminating their nationalist ideas. "Lover of the Greek light," he sought him in his walks on the Acropolis of Athens and the environs of Athens. In the thin and tall Sofia Lascarid, he found the embodiment of his ideals. Sofia shared his worship of the "Greek light" and her outdoor work became an occasion for daily joint walks. But Sofia was a modern woman and determined to become an artist. When Yannopoulos invited her to marry him, Sofia refused. But their relationship continued throughout the years of Sofia's studies at the Athens School of Fine Arts . When Sofia was about to go to Germany, Yannopoulos, in turn, refused to follow her. Yannopoulos called the Western European capitals "the navels of Erebus ." The lovers continued to correspond, awaiting the return of Sofia. But melancholy defeated Yannopoulos and he carried out "perfect suicide", as he described it to his friends a few years earlier. On April 8, 1910, riding a white horse, Yannopoulos entered the sea and, having retired a sufficient distance, shot himself in the head ^[3] .

The body of the suicide was washed ashore in 10 days. Sophia, alarmed by the last letter of Yannopoulos, was returning to Greece and found out about the death of her lover in the train. A few days after the funeral, Sofia also tried to commit suicide, but was saved by the timely intervention of her mother. Sofia left to continue her studies in Paris.

In Paris, Sofia opened an atelier, together with her friend, the Greek, Lena Scordelli, and continued her studies at the Grand Schaumier and Colarossi Academies (1911-1912) and with the artists L. Simon and O.Bonaska (1910-1914). During her years in Paris, Sofia exhibited her works at official Salons and group exhibitions. José Belon, of the thousands of artists who exhibited works in the Salon des Indépendants 1911, notes a few, including Sofia Laskarida and Laurencin, Marie . The artist painted mainly landscapes and, less commonly, portraits. Sofia also made several trips ( England in 1911 and Venice in 1912), in which she gained additional themes for her work. Despite her aristocratic origin, Lascarida proudly wrote in her memoirs that her Parisian atelier was visited by both members of the Greek royal family and the Greek Prime Minister, “our great Venizelos ”. But already in 1913, in a letter from Baden-Baden, Sofia wrote: “... I will return to Paris for a few months. Then I will leave for Greece. My place is there. There I must live and die ” ^[4] .

After the death of her mother in 1916, Sofia returned to Greece and headed the "School of Preschool Teachers", which was once founded by her mother. Here Sofia also taught drawing and painting for 31 years. At the same time, she gave private painting lessons. In 1951, she published a book, A Series of School Drawing and Painting, in which she introduced her teaching system. Sofia continued to paint and take part in exhibitions (1917, 1919, 1924, 1927). The 1927 exhibition, where she was exhibited with her students, also showed her pedagogical work. The subjects of the artist's works included genre scenes, portraits, still lifes and landscapes, executed in a manner of impressionism . Sofia's choice to give her paintings titles in dimotics , involving her in a polemic of the language issue. S. Daphnis wrote that he was more admired by the titles than by the very pictures of Sofia. At the same time, Kafarevus supporters were outraged by her statement that titles in a conservative language make the theme of paintings cool. Since 1930, her participation in exhibitions has become rare. In addition, she began to exhibit mainly paintings of past years. In 1953, Sofia Laskarid was awarded the Athenian Academy of Sciences for her contribution to Greek painting. In 1955, Sofia published her autobiographical book, From My Diary. Memoirs and Thoughts ”, where, mainly, she described the years of her studies in Munich and Karig . After 5 years, in 1960, she published the book “From my diary. Addition: Great Love ”, where she described her love and relationship with Pericles Yannopoulos. Her love story was what the artist wanted to leave behind. In the last years of her life, she “lived completely in this retrospective love” with remorse about the death of her lover. The last years of her life, the artist lived in solitude in her house in Kalithea , receiving visitors only on the first Sunday of each month. The artist died on November 13, 1965 ^[5]

For many years, the Laskaridis house, in the once suburban Kalitee , now the most densely populated area of ​​large Athens, was abandoned. The neighbors scared the children with the ghost of an artist who wandered around the abandoned house at night. Given the fact that the house was one of the first buildings of Kallithea, was built according to the project of Ernst Ziller and was associated with the Laskaridis family, the municipality of Kalithea decided to restore the house. In 2002, in the restored Laskaridis house, the Kalitei Municipal Gallery - Sofia Laskaridu was opened. The opening ceremony was attended by the President of Greece and the Speaker of Parliament. The museum organized the Sofia Laskaridou Museum and an exhibition of her works, entitled "The History of the First Greek Artist - Sofia Laskaridu - A Coup in the Establishment" ^{[6] [7]} .

The art critic H. Grammatikopoulou entitled “From Reality to Myth” entitled her work on the artist, believing that this is the most characteristic example of this in Greek art. She writes that the memory of Lazarida remained alive, although her works remained forgotten for a long time. The art historian writes that when she “brought to light” 339 works of Sofia, discovering the artist’s secret experiments with cubism , abstractionism and surrealism , the phrase was constantly present: “Is it not Lazarida that ...”. Sofia was known not only as an artist, but as a person who came into conflict with the foundations of her era. Her personality, from the beginning of her activity, has aroused the interest of contemporary journalists and artists, and this interest of them still affects the artist’s assessment. Gradually, personalities began to attach increasing importance, as a result of which interest was shifted from the artist's works to herself. 40 years after the death of the artist, her work went into obscurity, while she herself is a well-known personality-myth, through television series, theater productions, novels and articles. Sofia played a key role in this process, focusing in her autobiography on her life rather than on her work. The art critic notes that when Sofia took part in exhibitions of the late 19th century, “middle” Greek critics were not ready for radical expressions of modernism, but were ready to accept its “milder” expression, where the manner was free, but the topic was not “unreadable”, which fully relates to the work of Sofia. Although criticism wrote until 1907 that her work was “most likely modernist and unusual for the average public,” her paintings easily found buyers. Criticism reviews were favorable. There were also negative reviews about “this color of eczema” and about “anomaly of a smear that gives an anomaly of inspiration”. D. Galanis noted the technique of Sofia, when "the paint laid in kilograms sticks out of the canvas, gives life and strength to the work." Simeon Savvidis believed that in the works of Sofia "there is a lot of poetry." Talia Flora wrote that the works of Sofia "were original and she was recognized as a pioneer of impressionism ." Colleagues immediately noticed Sofia and saw in her work elements that became clear to the public only after the first decade of the 20th century. At the beginning of her career, the artist turned to the landscape. This is due to the fact that she lived in suburban Kalithea, and the fact that she began to write and only then received an art education sufficient to appeal to the human figure. In that era, landscape played a large role in the search for "Hellenic" and the formation of a special, Greek art. Her contemporaries believed that the essence of "Hellenism" comes from the Greek landscape, a blinding light that neutralizes almost all colors and simplifies the contours. For critics of the era, the Greek landscape carried an ideological burden and included the "unchanging soul of Hellenism for centuries." "Greek light" was represented as a separate entity, with a special symbolism. Sophia, who expressed herself mainly in light and color, managed to capture this light, which did not go unnoticed: “nowhere can the Greek light be captured so confidently and truthfully as in the picture of Lascarid.” This recognition is of great weight in the era of the search for special, Greek art. Critics noted that most artists studied abroad and adopted a manner alien to Greek tradition and reality. They believed that they should break with the West, because "the West is already paralyzed and there, one-day schools dictate fashion." Sophia was praised for choosing “Greek themes” and for how she wrote them. It was noted that her landscapes were the result of trips all over Greece and the work of en plein air. They admired her courage to work alone, outside the studio, not paying attention to the canons of women's behavior. The artist’s gender was not critical. But the observation that her work is “masculine and serious” suggests that she was accepted as an exception in male art. Critics occupied her appearance (tall, with a strange hairstyle), seeing in her a figure that itself comes from the picture of modernism. Her image was identified with the image of the “new woman” in literature and painting. This image over time created the myth of Laskarid. After her departure to Germany in 1908, newspapers reprinted Sofia's success stories from Western newspapers, despite their wariness for new artistic movements. When Sofia returned to Greece in 1916, she was already a recognized artist. In the interwar period, Sofia's work is noted by critics as an expression of the previous era. After 1927, Sofia organized a solo exhibition only in 1952. During this period, public interest shifted from her work to her life, taking on a mythological character. Interest in Sofia reappeared in the 50s. But it was more interest in her life and past era than in her works ^{[8] [9]} .