Inauguration of the ancient Library of Arts

By Katerina rip van winkle
The Athens School of Fine Arts, μεταστεγάζει the historical library, the new building with the donation of Stavros Niarchos Foundation. With each of the solemnity will be the event of the…
Monday 23 January, at 12 noon in the presence of the President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos. A new state of the art building, will house the premises of the oldest Art library in Greece.
The event will greet the ministers of Education and Religious affairs Costas Γαβρόγλου and Culture and Sport mr. Lydia Koniordou.

The Athens School of Fine Arts, Library, exterior
But what is the history of the school of FINE arts[1];
“The Athens School of Fine Arts has a history parallel with that of the modern Greek state. Precursor form of the… was the Σχολείον of the Arts, founded in Athens by a decree of 31 December 1836 (12 January 1837, with the new calendar).
According to the decree, the Σχολείον of Arts included three departments: (a) School on Sundays and Holidays for the basic vocational training of craftsmen, (b) a Daily school for the teaching of Industrial Arts and (c) a Daily school for teaching the Fine Arts.
The School of Fine Arts, which was launched as a daily in 1840, was one of the newest art schools in Europe of that time, and until 1872 was housed in the residence Βλαχούτση, in Pireos street, bringing together students of different ages, with a variety of grammatical and professional knowledge. By 1843 the director of it was the Bavarian captain Frederick von Τσέτνερ.

The Athens School of Fine Arts, βιβλιθήκη εωτερικά
In 1840 the Duchess of Plaisance, who was installed in Greece, has contributed to the upgrading of the School, reinforcing it with art supplies and μετακαλώντας, with costs, the French painter Μπονιρότ, student Ένγκρ, to teach the lesson of oil painting for three years, until 1843.
In 1843, by royal decree, the Σχολείον of Fine Arts, he was promoted to upper School five-year education, with a new director, the brilliant architect Lysandros Kaftantzoglou (1844-1862). The first Greek teachers of the School were the painters brothers Philip and George Margaritis, from Naples, Italy had come Raffaello Ceccoli, who taught without pay for the first three years, while in Bavaria they arrived a little later, the sculptor, Christian Siegel and the painter Louis Θείρσιος.
During the period 1844 – 1862, the program of instruction was formed under the standards of the Academies of Fine Arts of Europe, which followed the current of neoclassicism. At the time of Kaftantzoglou, the School passed in a mature phase, and students who distinguished themselves then became the future teachers, such as Nikiforos Lytras, Nikolaos Gyzis, etc… at The same time, the School opened to the outside world, organised exhibitions and artistic competitions, while there were large donations to the Polytechnic School, such as Nicholas Stournari and Michael and Eleni Tositsa.

The Athens School of Fine Arts, the library internally
In 1872, with a donation of Georgios Averof, completed the erection of a new building in Patision avenue, which later was named Technical university of Athens, to house the School of Industrial Arts and the School of Fine Arts.
In 1901, the School accepted its first student, the Wisdom Laskaridis and so established finally the joint attendance (4 students). By a law of 1910, the School gains its independence from the University and is attached directly to the Ministry of the Church and of Public Education.
1925 – 6 established the Laboratories and the student had the right to choose as a teacher, the director of a laboratory. In 1929, the Ministry of Education has appointed professor Konstantinos Parthenis, who incorporated in his painting lessons from the greatest artistic centres of Europe. The teaching was mainly based on the analysis of the visual and plastic transcription of the data of perception. In 1930, the School of Fine Arts was upgraded to High School, with the name Athens School of Fine Arts. The same year the sculptor Kostas Dimitriadis, was appointed by Venizelos, director of the School, a position he retained until 1943. On his own initiative created the institution of the Artistic Stations. In 1932, John Κεφαλληνός, he was appointed Professor of Engraving. 1939, is institutionalized officially the chair of History of Art, which occupied, succeeding Zacharias Papantoniou, the literary scholar and art historian Pantelis Prevelakis, who taught for 35 years.

The Athens School of Fine Arts, library auditorium
In 1947, Yannis Moralis has succeeded Parthenis at the age of 31 years and taught in School also for 35 years. During the period 1950-1970 teachers as the painter George Μαυροΐδης, the engraver Constantine Γραμματόπουλος, the painter Spyros Papaloukas, the sculptor Giannis Pappas, Dimitris Καλαμάρας, Thanasis Απάρτης as well as the architect Paul Mylonas, have enriched with their presence and their teaching School. In the 1960s, founded the workshops of applications, the following elective workshops, and at the time he taught at the Mosaic Workshop Ellie Βοΐλα-Lascaris, the first female presence in the teaching staff of the School… During the transition, the teaching staff of the School was renewed with artists such as Panayiotis Tetsis, Demosthenes Kokkinidis, Nikos Kessanlis, Dimitris Mytaras, Georgios Nikolaidis, Ilias Δεκουλάκος, Thanassis Exarhopoulos and the architect Savvas Kontaratos, so that represented all the trends of contemporary art and the free art to be a matter of concern, both in the theoretical space (which was enriched with the creation of a course on Introduction to Philosophy and Aesthetics, which he taught Paul Christodoulidis) and in the Laboratory.
In place of Pantelis Prevelakis, who left in 1974, he was elected the historian of the art Marina Lambraki-Plaka, the first woman member of the Association of Teachers of the School. He was elected in 1992 and the first woman Director of the Laboratory, the painter Rena Papaspyrou.
Large incision to the development of the School, is the concession of the old factory of Αγγλοελληνικής material available “Foundation”, by the then Minister of Education George Σουφλιά to the then Dean Panayiotis Tetsis, which was received and made use of the next Dean of Nikos Kessanlis. He has created and the Exhibition Space of the School, “the factory”.
Today in the School there is the school of Visual Arts, which includes the following four areas: Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking, Theoretical Studies”.
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