The Woman with the Octopus, one of Yannis Pappas’ most expressive works, was created in 1959, when he was director at the School of Fine Arts. Freedom of movement is evident, and it is worth noting the geometry characterizing it as well as the triangles formed between the hands and feet, which deliberately lengthen it, thus offering charm and sensitivity to the composition. The right hand supports the body weight, while the left one grasps the octopus. The fingers are also elongated, becoming the extension of tentacles. Observing the sculpture, we see a circle which is formed, both visually and conceptually, and conveys the flow of energy from the human body to the octopus, then back to earth again to the woman.
Yannis Pappas was born in 1913 in Istanbul. He graduated High School in Athens and in 1929 left for Paris. There, he studied philology and philosophy for one year, and continued law studies at the University of Paris for the next three years. At the same time, he took classes at the School of Fine Arts, at Jean Boucher’s studio and was awarded a gold medal at the Paris International Exposition. Drawing and sculpture won him over and the following years he participated in many exhibitions, gaining several distinctions. In 1953, following his stay in Egypt, he returned to Greece, where he was elected a full professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts. In 1978 he represented our country at the Venice Biennale.
The key feature of his art that paves the way for sculpture is drawing. Throughout his creative career, he was influenced both by the movements dominating in Western Europe and the Egyptian and Greek art. Although he started his work with a realistic perspective, later he followed a simplification of shapes and lines. Since the beginning of his career, Yannis Pappas dealt with the human body as well as the face. Also, he did not content himself with realistic rendering but tried to reach the inner content of the subject. Through anatomy, he studied form in depth, giving complete freedom of movement to the composition, while at the same time he sought ways to renew his morphoplastic vocabulary and to enrich his work with new elements, always remaining open to the pursuits of contemporary art. His statues are a characteristic series of works from full-body sculptures, distinguished not only for their monumental dimensions but also for their internality.
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