Georgios Bouzianis (Γιώργος Μπουζιάνης; also transliterated Jorgos Busianis, Jorgos Busianis or George Bouzianis), born 1885 in Daphni I died 1959 in Athens) was the greatest Greek expressionist painter and belongs as well to German expressionism.
He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum with teachers such as Nikiphoros Lytras and Konstantin Volanakis. In 1907 he moved to Munich to continue his art studies with Otto Seitz. In 1910 he went to Berlin, where he was taught by Max Liebermann. In 1917 he has already adopted elements of German expressionism movement in his own very individual artistic style. He became soon a respected artist in Germany and had his first contract with the Barchfeld gallery in Leipzig. In 1927 in Chemnitz there was a large exhibition of his work. 1929 he travelled to Paris and lived there until 1932 with financial support of the Barchfeld gallery. In this time he was very familiar with all known fellowartists in Paris, which was the accepted center of the art world. His kind to draw and to paint was very unique and he was admired for his attribution to expressionistic style. This time at the end was very successful for him, but due to the financial crisis across Europe he had to return to Eichenau near Munich, where he had built a house. Unfortunately, expressionism was gradually fading away in Germany with the rise of nazism in Germany’s politics.
In 1934 he had to return to Greece. To his own disappointment he failed to take a position at the School of Fine Arts of Athens. Initially, Bouzianis was treated with hostility from the Athenian artistic circles who just started to appreciate his oeuvre after his exhibition at Parnassos gallery in 1949. In 1950 finally he represented Greece at the Venice Biennale and in 1952 he was awarded with the Guggenheim prize.
His house in Athens has been converted to a museum after his death.
The drawings, watercolours and paintings of Bouzianis have to be seen as an important contribution to European expressionism as well as to German expressionism. His works are in prime private and public collections in Europe, Russia, Japan and the US. They are exhibited permanently in the National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum and in many other museums in Greece and abroad.
LINKS: