The research project aims at the systematic documentation and critical analysis of the fifteen Panhellenic Art Exhibitions, which organised between 1938 and 1987 and were the most important periodical large-scale art exhibition in 20th century Greece. Their significance is evident by the systematic participation of almost all the well-known Greek artists, the large public attendance and the abundance and extent of the art criticisms published in the press.
The project is based on the following research axes: a) Research in the archives of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, as well as in the archive of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece, in order to record and collect the material related to the Panhellenic Exhibitions: i.e. minutes of the Organizing and Jury Committees, correspondence, statutes, photographic material, exhibition catalogues etc. b) Research in the collections of State Art Museums (National Gallery, Benaki Museum, Athens Municipal Art Gallery, Piraeus Municipal Gallery, Ioannina Gallery etc.) and Ministries and public sector bodies (e.g. the collection of the Bank of Greece or National Bank), as well in private collections and artists’ studios, in order to identify the works of art acquired by the Panhellenic Exhibitions and to identify them in the corresponding catalogues. c) Research in the daily and periodical press, in order to find out the articles on the Panhellenic Art Exhibitions as well as photographic material from the exhibitions, exhibited works, etc. d) Research in archives and libraries (National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, The Hellenic Literary and Historical Archive, Library of the Hellenic Parliament, National Library of Greece etc.
This study provides us with essential information about the artistic production in Greece, the means of State intervention in the arts and the trends within the art market. Finally, it will look at the art criticisms, which formed the dominant aesthetic canon, by promoting certain artistic criteria and consequently influencing the reception of the artworks by the public and the new aesthetic and stylistic trends of the artistic production in Greece.
As part of the research project this open-access electronic database is developed at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies (FORTH), which records the data for each Panhellenic Art Exhibition separately. The user can see the catalogues of the exhibitions, photographs, reproductions of the identified works, as well as the relevant articles that were published for each exhibition in digitized form. Moreover, the members of the Organizing and Jury Committees, the awarded prizes and the prices of the artworks are recorded, as well as archive material for the organisation of each exhibition.
A digital Scientific Meeting titled “The Institution of Panhellenic Art Exhibitions, 1938-1987” was organised on October 15, 2021, the proceedings of which published in June 2022 and can be found here.