Horses

Βάσω Κατράκη
120 x 155 cm
MCA.MMCA.C234
Engraving

Vasso Katraki was born in 1909 in Aitoliko, Messolonghi, where she spent her youth. She studied painting and engraving at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1936-1940) with Konstantinos Parthenis and Yannis Kefallinos as her teachers. During the Resistance and the Occupation she designed and printed illegal publications, one-sheets and albums and was an active member of the EAM artists. She initially chose woodcut for book illustrations and to depict scenes from everyday life, was greatly influenced by German expressionist printmaking and gradually developed a technique of her own, using the sandstone of Sitia. Having a socially critical attitude as her attitude in life, she was exiled to Gyaros for 9.5 months during the dictatorship (April 1967-February 1968), where she recorded the first testimonies of this period, painting pebbles with a marker. The main theme of her work already from the previous years was the human figure, which was transformed into a symbolic figure. After 1975 her compositions became more emotional, her forms became less angular and aggressive while at the same time acquiring highly personal characteristics. She was an active member of the groups Stathmi, Art and Cutting and in 1965 he became a member of the Accademia Fiorentina del Arte del Disegno in Florence. She participated in important international events, including the Biennale of Engraving in Ljubljana (1956-1977) and Tokyo (1960-1970), the Biennale of Alexandria (1957), Sao Paulo (1957) and Venice (1966), representing Greece in the engraving section, receiving honorary awards. She died in Athens in 1988 and in 2006 the Municipality of Aitoliko, wishing to honour the artist, founded a museum to house her works.