Vaso Katraki
| Vaso Katraki | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Native name | Βάσω Κατράκη |
| Born |
Vaso Leonardos 5 July 1914 Aitoliko, Aetolia-Acarnania, Greece |
| Died | 27 December 1988 (aged 74) |
| Nationality | Greek |
| Occupation | Painter, printmaker |
Vaso Katraki (Greek: Βάσω Κατράκη, 5 July 1914 – 27 December 1988) was a Greek painter and engraver. She was known for her passionate depictions of the sufferings of the Greek people during and after World War II. In 1967 she was exiled to a barren island by the military junta on the day that it took power. She started with wood engraving, then developed an original and very unusual technique of sandstone engraving.
Vaso Leonardos was born on 5 July 1914 in Aitoliko, Aetolia-Acarnania, daughter of George Leonardos and Theodora Sarlis. She had four siblings. She recalled that her father was a gifted artist and her mother was well known as a weaver. The family home was a house by the sea. In 1936 she was admitted to the Athens School of Fine Arts where she studied painting under Konstantinos Parthenis and engraving under Giannis Kefallinos. She and fellow-students staged a group exhibition with anti-war and anti-fascist material. She graduated in 1940 with a three-month scholarship for painting in the islands. In 1941 she married George Katrakis in Nea Anchialos. During World War II (1939–45) she was involved in the National Liberation Front (EAM) resistance movement opposed to the German occupiers of Greece.
Vaso Katraki and her husband moved to Piraeus in 1946, where they lived for several years with Nikiforos Vrettakos. In 1948 George Katrakis was arrested and exiled to Lemnos for eight months, and then to Makronisos. In 1949 Vaso Katraki was a founding member of the Στάθμη (Level) group, and participated in the first exhibition of this group at the Zappeion. Under the Greek military junta (1967–74) Vaso Katraki was arrested on 21 April 1967, the first day of the coup, and exiled to the barren island of Gioura. She spent nine and a half months on the island, where the exiles suffered from hunger, thirst and beatings. She was released in 1968 after international pressure. She held her last solo exhibition in Athens in 1987. She died on 27 December 1988.
...
Wikipedia