Lisa Sotilis
Lisa Sotilis | |
---|---|
Born | Athens, Greece |
Nationality | Greek |
Education | Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, Milan, Italy |
Known for | Sculpture, Painting, Drawing, Jewelry |
Lisa Sotilis is a Greek-Italian sculptor, painter and jewelry maker.
Biography
Native of Athens (Greece), she studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, Milan, Italy.
Sotilis's international debut took place at the Berlin Museum, where the 18-year-old artist was presented by Jannasch, as an enfant prodige. On that occasion Lisa met Alexander Iolas, who immediately offered her an exclusive contract and presented her to all his top galleries in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Madrid, Geneva, Athens and Rome, and placed her among the big ones of the last century: Andy Warhol, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, Giorgio de Chirico, Jean Tinguely, Roberto Matta and others.
Salvatore Quasimodo, Nobel Prize in Literature (1959), in his book Visti da Salvatore Quasimodo (1969 edition) writes of Sotilis:“revelation of the influential power of the Greek myth”.
Lisa Sotilis was Giorgio de Chirico's assistant, the only assistant for his large sculptures' projects financed by the art dealer and collector, Alexander Iolas. She was the only one authorized by the Master of the Metaphysical art movement to retouch his waxes before casting.
In addition to painting and sculpture, Sotilis makes jewelry pieces.
Sotilis's attainments include an exclusive contract with Cartier, NY, in the 70s, for the design and execution of the bezels for their watches.
Sotilis also engages in the technique of painting in fresco. She won a contest to fresco the Sant’Antonio da Padova Chapel
at the Church San Giovanni Battista alla Creta, Milan, Italy.
Sotilis's created a 6 meters (19.7 feet) high front door in solid bronze with side decorations in gold plated bay-leaves motifs for the I Papandi Toy Kyrioy (Reception of the Lord at the Temple) Greek Orthodox Church in Amman, Jordan.
Sotilis's sculptures, paintings, jewels, furniture, and home décor accessories are displayed in museums as well as in private collections throughout the world. Among them: Museo Galleria del Premio Suzzara, MAGA, Museo Arte Gallarate, Alexander Museum Palace Hotel, Nathan and Joanne Cummings, Lord Jonathan Moyne and Sue, Lady Moyne, John and Kitty Mills, Mimi and Herman Lay, Mitzi Newhouse, Alberto e Daniela Alemagna, Lucia Rizzoli, Borletti family, Avis family, Andrea David and Nadia and Harry David.
Personal life
Lisa Sotilis is married to Dr. Theodore Vourlas, MD, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, Otolaryngologist.
Selected Works
Sculptures
- Icarus - 1970 - patinated and polished bronze
- Selfportrait – 1973 - patinated and polished bronze
- Samothrace – 2003 - patinated bronze - private collection
- Narciso – 2004 - patinated and polished bronze
- Eva sulla Terra - 2004 - patinated and polished bronze
- Hermes - 2005 - 24kt gold-plated bronze - private collection
- Homage to Phidias - 2006 - 24kt gold-plated bronze
- Homage to Praxiteles – 2006 - 24kt gold-plated bronze
- Adonis – 2006 - patinated and polished bronze
- Olympic Athlete – 2006 - 24kt gold-plated bronze
- Poem To Sapho – 2006 - 24kt gold-plated bronze
- Eve – 2006 - patinated and polished bronze
- Adam – 2006 - patinated and polished bronze
- Beautiful Hellen – 2006 - 24kt gold-plated bronze
- Metamorphosis – 2007 - 24kt gold-plated bronze
- Persephone's Metamorphosis – 2007 - 24kt gold-plated bronze
Jewelry
- Afrodite – 1960
- Cleopatra – 1969
- Imperatrice Teodora – 1970
- Omaggio a Caterina II
- Magic Flower of Eden – 1981
- Theodora the Great - 1987
- Nefertiti - 1990
- Byzantine Dance – 1992
- Libellule – 1993
- Homage to Agamemnon - 1994
- Mycenae – 1995
- Homage to Tutankhamun – 1998
- Il Fiore di Baudelaire - 2008
- Costa Smeralda – 2009
Paintings
- Autoritratto metafisico - 1959
- Maschera della guerra – 1960
- Il professionista - 1961
- Moschea blu - 1963 - private collection
- Alla foce dell'Ebro – 1965
- Terra di Agamemnone - 1969
- Afrodite – 1970 - private collection
- Interno con ananas - 1972
- Egle nel giardino degli Dei – 1973
- 146 A.C. Cartagine in fiame – 1980
- Le due atlete – 1980
- Danzatrici orientali – 1982
- Kore – 1986
- Esplosione vitale - 2008
- Sacerdotesse di Dionysus - 2012
- Rapimento d'Europa – 2013
Awards
- Michetti Prize - 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962
- Città di Gallarate Prize - 1959
- Feltre Prize - 1960
- Suzzara Prize - 1961
- San Fedele Prize - 1961
- Ramazzotti Prize - 1961
- Arezzo Prize - 1961
- Ramazzotti Prize - 1961
- Diploma of Honor Corridonia city - 1961
- Gold Medal of the Academy of Carrara - 1961
- Premio Ramazzotti Gold Medal - 1961
- Melegnano Prize - 1962
- Città di San Marino Prize
- Cobiati Prize
- Giorgione-Poussin Prize
- Gold Medal of the President of the Italian Republic
- Cesare Da Sesto Prize
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions 1961 - 1965:
- Armos Gallery, Athens, Greece,1959
- Galleria Russo, Rome, Italy - 1960
- Galleria Gian Ferrari, Milan, Italy - 1961
- Galleria Gian Ferrari, Milan, Italy - 1962
- Galerie Anna von Becker, Frankfurt, Germany - 1963
- Staadliche Museum, Berlin, Germany - 1964
- Mercurio Gallery, Biella, Italy -1966
- L'Annuciata Gallery, Milan, Italy - 1966
- Galerie Burdeke, Zurich, Switzerland - 1966
- Torbandene Gallery, Trieste, Italy - 1969
- Nechemia Glezer Gallery, Washington DC
1965 -1985 Exclusively for Alexander Iolas:
Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Milan, Athens, Madrid, Rome, Venice, Geneva, Tokyo, Beirut
1985 - Major solo and collective exhibitions:
- Petocchi & Gorevitch Gallery, New York, USA
- Galleria Astrolavos, Athens, Greece
- Galleria Vourkariani, Kea, Greece
- East Carolina University, North Carolina, USA
- Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Milan, Italy
- Galería Iolas-Velasco, Madrid, Spain - 1968
- Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia "Leonardo da Vinci", Milan, Italy
- Museo Civico, Volos, Greece
- Galleria Pananti, Florence, Italy
- Artemisia Art Gallery, Monte Carlo
- Musei Civici di Palazzo d’Avalos, Vasto, Italy
- Biennale di Parma, Italy
- Quadriennale Nazionale d’Arte, Rome, Italy
- Nechemia Glezer Gallery, Washington DC, USA
- Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Milan, Italy
- Biennale Nazionale di Milano, Milan, Italy
- Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris, France
- Musée Municipal, Nevers, France
- Modern Art Gallery "A. Bonzagni" Cento, Italy - 1975
- Galleris d'Arte "San Michele", Brescia, Italy, 1994
- National Museum of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia - 2001
- Centro d’arte e cultura, Trieste, Italy - 2002
- The Municipal Art Gallery of Larissa - G.I. Katsigras Museum - 2005
- Museo Fondazione Luciana Matalon - 2008
- 41° Premio Vasto di Arte Contemporanea - Metamorfosi del fantastico - 2008
- Galleria Nazionale, Urbino, Italy - 2009, produced by Pierre Kaloussian Velissiotis
- Casa Raffaello Sanzio, Urbino, Italy - 2009 produced by Pierre Kaloussian Velissiotis
- Teatro Rossini, Pesaro, Italy - 2009, produced and curated by Pierre Kaloussian Velissiotis
- The "Ermoupolia 2010" and the Art Gallery of Cyclades, Syros, Greece - 2010, conceived and produced by Pierre Kaloussian Velissiotis
- Spazio Tadini, Milan, Italy - 2012, Curated by Pierre Kaloussian Velissiotis and Melina Scalse
- Museo Fornace Pagliero in Castellamonte Spineto, Italy - 2012
- Serres, Greece - 2013
- The Archaeological Museum of Serres, Greece - 2013, produced and curated by Pierre Kaloussian Velissiotis
- Giorgio de Chirico – L’Enigma di Edipo with Lisa Sotilis creations, Palazzo Pisani, Lonigo 2014-2015
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lisa Sotilis. |
- The Getty Research Library - Visti da Salvatore Quasimodo, 1969 edition
- University of Texas Libraries, Lisa Sotilis, Alexander Iolas, - Sotilis: Alexandre Iolas Gallery/catalogo a cura di Yotis Skinas, 1970
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas J. Watson Library, Tommaso Paloscia - Il sogno ininterrotto del linguaggio metafisico di Giorgio de Chirico : i bronzi del centenario, dalla raccolta delle sculture di Lisa Sotilis / testo introduttivo, 1993
- UCLA Libraries and Collections, Rachele Farina - Dizionario biografico delle donne lombarde: 568-1968, 1995, p.1033, ISBN 8880890859
- AbeBooks.com, Floriano de Santi - Sotilis, Le Figure della Seduzione, ISBN 8842217999
- Video, Lisa Sotilis's art exhibition, 1962, Galleria Gian Ferrari, Milan, Italy - Le muse in galleria
- Il Resto del Carlino article, June 27, 2007 - Gli "archeologi" di de Chirico a guardia della cita' di Urbino
- Lisa Sotilis's art exhibition, Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro, Italy, 2009, Il Giornale - Pesaro, la musica di Rossini incontra le opere di Lisa Sotilis
- Interview with Lisa Sotilis, Il Giornale, 2009 - Da De Chirico a Warhol vita tra arte e personaggi
- Lisa Sotilis's art exhibition at the Alexander Museum Palace Hotel, Pesaro, Italy - press release
- Art Catalog, Spazio Tadini, 2012 - Ritorno al Mediterraneo, Dalla cultura greco-romana alla cultura dell’ euro: Quale ricchezza per l’ umanità?
- La Repubblica article, April 28, 1989, p. 23 - ECCO IL DE CHIRICO SCULTORE
- Corriere della Sera article, April 30, 1995, p. 25 - Quando l’ artista e’ un replicante
- The Jakarta Post, June 10, 2001 - Free-spirited, passionate artiste celebrates nature
- Vivere Pesaro - La Musa di De Chirico torna a creare
- Syros Today - the Art Gallery of Cyclades - The thousand eyes of the Sphinx
- Information about catalogue: 41° Premio Vasto di Arte Contemporanea - Metamorfosi del fantastico 2008
- ATHENS PLUS article, August 13, 2010, p. 19 - A master reunites with his pupil, Works by Giorgio De Chirico and Greek-born Lisa Sotilis exhibited on Syros
- Art catalog - Floriano de Santi, Hotel Real Fini, Modena, Italy, 2013
- The Public Central Library of Serres, Serres, Greece
- Archaeological Museum of Serres, Serres, Greece
- Centro Culturale Caradium, Carrè (VI)from 25 April 2014 at 11 May,Vicenza, Italy, 2014
External links
- http://www.sotilis.com/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYncNM2EUyk
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvwtTJZpETM
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vG05XXGj60
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEPSLx1c-oQ
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAeJEdhA0QQ
- http://guide.supereva.it/marche/interventi/2009/08/premio-%E2%80%9Csanzio-e-raffaello%E2%80%9D-a-pupi-avati-e-lisa-sotilis-pesaro-2
- http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/pesaro-musica-rossini-incontra-opere-lisa-sotilis.html
- http://www.serrelib.gr/sotiliscat.pdf
- http://www.serres-politismos.gr/event/2013-paraliloi_dialogoi/
- http://milanoartexpo.com/2012/02/13/georgios-nikitiadis-vice-ministro-alla-cultura-della-grecia-apre-a-milano-la-mostra-ritorno-al-mediterraneo-lisa-sotilis-vivien-dimitrakopoulou-genny-kodonidou-dimitris-hordakis-athena-nikolaou/
- http://www.comune.urbino.ps.it/id/287/3848.aspx
- http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/de-chirico-wahrol-vita-arte-e-personaggi.html