Young girl in prayer

By Lameras Lazaros (1913 – 1998) He was born in 1913 in Athens. Coming from a family of marble sculptors in Tinos island, he studied sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1932-1938) with Thomas Thomopoulos and Constantinos Dimitriadis. A scholarship from the Academy of Athens enabled him to continue his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, in Jean Boucher’s studio. Ηe was awarded for his performance in 1939 and he returned to Greece after the war declaration by Italy (1940). He participated in the Pan-Hellenic exhibitions organized by the art groups Techni, Free Artists, etc. while he was a university student. By then, it had already become apparent that, in addition to figurative sculpture, he experimented with modern abstract forms. He was regarded as the first sculptor who exhibited abstract works in Greece (1948). In 1949, he co-created the art group "Oi Akraioi", along with Alekos Kondopoulos and other artists tending to abstraction. However, he never abandoned figurative sculpture, (busts and monuments). His polymorphus creations include ceramics, constructions with diverse materials, kinetic sculptures and many more. One of his awarded works is the "Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner" (international contest of the London Institute of Contemporary Arts, 1953). In 1959, he won the 1st prize in a sculpture competition of the City of Athens and in 1961 he was awarded the Commander of the Order of the Phoenix medal, for his work Bizani Fighters (Bizanomachoi). In 1956 (or 1957) he was elected as full member of the International Institute of Arts and Letters (IIAL) and from 1960 to 1978 he became professor in the Plastic Arts Dept. of the School of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens. In 1969, he published a study entitled Plastic Art and in 1975, he published the Location diagram of the City of Athens’ sculptures in Modern Greece. He participated in many group and international exhibitions, the Biennale of Sao Paulo (1955 and 1961) and Venice (1960). In 1979, he presented a solo exhibition at the Athens National Art Gallery, titled Touch-Art-Child. The exhibited works were mainly kinetic constructions for blind people and children. He died in Athens in 1998. A large exhibition of his work was held at the B. & M. Theocharakis Foundation, in 2010. http://dp.iset.gr/en/artist/view.html?id=1649