On this day in 1849, Périclès Pantazis is born

Périclès Pantazis (Περικλής Πανταζής), born March 13, 1849, was a well-known Greek impressionist painter of the 19th century.

Not much is known about Pantazis' childhood. He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts from 1864-1871 under Nikiforos Lytras, a nineteenth-century Greek painter whose artwork includes the internationally known piece 'The Kiss' in 1878.

He further continued his studies in Munich, where he enrolled at the Academy, and later in Paris, studying under Gustave Courbet, a French painter who led the Realism movement in the 19th century and Antoine Chintreuil, a French landscape painter.

In 1872, Pantazis settled in Brussels. There, he became friends with the painter Guillaume Vogels, a Belgian Impressionist painter and joined up with the avant-garde movements of the time.

The Greek painter took part in many exhibitions in Belgium (Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp, Namur, Charleroi) and in 1878, he participated in the Greek division at the International Exhibition of Paris. In the same year, the Artistic and Literary Circle of Brussels organised his solo show.

In 1880, Pantazis travelled to southern France and Greece, where he took part in the exhibition at the Melas House in Athens, before returning to Brussels in 1881.

In Belgium, he was a founding member of the Circle of Chrysalis (1875) and participated in its exhibitions (1876-1878, 1881), the Circle of Water Colorists and Engravers (1883) and the Circle of XX (1884).

Retrospective exhibitions of his work have been presented at the Town Hall of Saint-Gilles in Brussels (1993), Namur (1994), the Gallery E. Averoff in Metsovo and the National Gallery (1996).

The Greek impressionist painter's creative work includes scenes from daily life, still lifes, portraits and landscapes. His pieces reflected the artistic quests of that period, which is why he was one of the leading figures of modernism at the end of the 19th century.

Périclès Pantazis passed away from chronic tuberculosis on 25th January 1884 at the age of 34.

Source: Gallerease