Alexander Iolas
Encyclopedia
Alexander Iolas or Alexandre Iolas (Greek language
, Αλέξανδρος Ιόλας) (25 March 1907 - 8 June 1987) was a Greek
- American gallerist and collector.
He owned galleries in the United States and Europe and contributed in many private and public art collections.
, Egypt
, on March 25, 1907, to Andreas and Persephone Coutsoudis. In 1924, he went to Berlin as a pianist, but soon started studying ballet. He fled to Paris during Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s where he continued to study dance and socialized with artists such as Jean Cocteau
, Giorgio de Chirico
, Georges Braque
, Pablo Picasso
, Man Ray
, Rene Magritte
and Max Ernst
. There he bought his first work of art.
As a dancer he toured extensively in Europe, the United States and Latin America with Theodora Roosevelt
and later with the company formed by the Marquis George de Cuevas
.
In 1944, gave up ballet after an injury and got involved with the art world. In New York, he becomes the director of the Hugo Gallery
, founded in 1944 by Robert Rothschild
, Elizabeth Arden
and Maria dei Principi Ruspoli Hugo
. There, Andy Warhol
has his first solo exhibition Fifteen Drawings Based on the Writings of Truman Capote (June 16 – July 3, 1952)
After working at the Hugo Gallery
, he founded the Jackson-Iolas Gallery in 1955 with former dancer, Brooks Jackson and later opened galleries under his own name in New York, Paris, Milan, Madrid and Geneva.
Alexander Iolas represented in his galleries many artists, among others Andy Warhol
, Rene Magritte
, Roberto Matta
, Ed Ruscha, Jean Tinguely
, Joseph Cornell
, Yves Klein
, Jannis Kounellis
, Takis
, Victor Brauner
, Jules Olitski
, and Niki de Saint-Phalle. In promoting work that initially found few to favor it, he was able to reassure the potential client with his irresistible and often mischievous charm, dazzle them with his flamboyant personality and often sensational mode of dress.
Known primarily for his exclusive representation of the major European Surrealists in the United States- primarily Max Ernst
and Rene Magritte
- Alexander Iolas helped to form more than one important collection. In particular, John de Menil
and Dominique de Menil
, founders of the Menil Collection
, had him as one of their three art consultants, along with Father Marie-Alain Couturier
and Jermayne MacAgy.
In 1972 Iolas takes over Carla Lavatelli's studio on the 75th and 1st str. in New York for an exhibition. It was the first exhibition by a dealer at an artist's studio.
In 1976, he closed all his galleries except the one in New York after the death of Max Ernst
, as he had promised him he would.
In 1984, Alexander Iolas commissioned Andy Warhol
to create a group of works based on Leonardo Da Vinci
's The Last Supper for an exhibition space in the Palazzo Stelline in Milan, located across the street from Santa Maria delle Grazie, home of Leonardo's masterpiece. Warhol exceeded the demands of the commission and produced more than 100 variations on the theme.
From early 1965, Alexander Iolas started traveling to Greece
.
Extending his activities there, he contributed to the opening of some galleries in Athens
, like the Iolas-Zoumboulakis gallery and the Xippas Gallery and he inspired the foundation of the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art
in Thessaloniki
to which he donated a large number of art works from his collection. He is listed as the Museum's 'great benefactor'.
In 1983 he was accused by a former employee for "antiquities smuggling, drug peddling, and the prostitution of young men",
accusations that where circulated by the Greek tabloid newspaper
, Avriani causing a scandal.
By 1984 he was investigated for antiquities smuggling, but he was not charged.
He died of AIDS in Cornell Medical Center in New York City on Monday 8 June 1987.
Alexander Iolas built around 1965 a 1300 square meter villa on a 7000 square meter lot in Agia Paraskevi
, a suburb of Athens
There he stored and exhibited his art collection with the prospect that one day it would become the "Alexander Iolas Museum".
When he died in 1987 the heirs to his property became his sister Niki Stifel and her daughters Sylvia de Cuevas and Lina Nation.
His villa was sold to a real estate developer, but construction plans were held up by the Ministry of Culture that marked it as a site of Greek cultural heritage.
The villa nowadays has been vandalized and most of his collection of art works has been stolen or dispersed.
The present condition of the Villa Iolas has been a recurring issue in the Greek Parliament
, the local Municipality and the Greek newspapers, but also a subject and study-case for artistic and architectural projects.
Villa Iolas was listed in 1998 as a historic monument by the Greek Ministry of Culture, two years later was designated the site for exclusively public cultural activities and recently the re-selling of the estate has been blocked. The Greek State has not expropriated the Villa.
Regarding the derelict state of the Villa Iolas, questions have been raised by members of the Greek Parliament
: Maria Damanaki
, Stavros Benos, Fotis Kouvelis and Kyriakos Mitsotakis
.
Although the Greek State has agreed on the acquisition of the Villa Iolas from its current owner, this has not happened to this day.
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, Αλέξανδρος Ιόλας) (25 March 1907 - 8 June 1987) was a Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
- American gallerist and collector.
He owned galleries in the United States and Europe and contributed in many private and public art collections.
Biography
He was born in AlexandriaAlexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, on March 25, 1907, to Andreas and Persephone Coutsoudis. In 1924, he went to Berlin as a pianist, but soon started studying ballet. He fled to Paris during Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s where he continued to study dance and socialized with artists such as Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
, Giorgio de Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico was a pre-Surrealist and then Surrealist Italian painter born in Volos, Greece, to a Genovese mother and a Sicilian father. He founded the scuola metafisica art movement...
, Georges Braque
Georges Braque
Georges Braque[p] was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor who, along with Pablo Picasso, developed the art style known as Cubism.-Early Life:...
, Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Man Ray
Man Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
, Rene Magritte
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte[p] was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images...
and Max Ernst
Max Ernst
Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
. There he bought his first work of art.
As a dancer he toured extensively in Europe, the United States and Latin America with Theodora Roosevelt
Theodora Keogh
Theodora Roosevelt Keogh O'Toole Rauchfuss was an American novelist writing under her first married name, Theodora Keogh, in the 1950s and 1960s.-Life:...
and later with the company formed by the Marquis George de Cuevas
George de Cuevas
George de Cuevas was a Chilean-born ballet impresario and choreographer who was best known for the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas that he formed in 1944....
.
In 1944, gave up ballet after an injury and got involved with the art world. In New York, he becomes the director of the Hugo Gallery
Hugo Gallery
The Hugo Gallery was a New York gallery, founded by Robert Rothschild, Elizabeth Arden and Maria dei Principi Ruspoli Hugo operated between 1945 and 1955.The Hugo gallery was initially on East 55th Street and Madison Avenue....
, founded in 1944 by Robert Rothschild
Robert Rothschild
Baron Robert Rothschild was a Belgian diplomat. He helped to draft the Treaty of Rome of 1957, the foundation of the European Economic Community in 1958.-Biography:...
, Elizabeth Arden
Elizabeth Arden
Florence Nightingale Graham , who went by the business name Elizabeth Arden, was a Canadian-American businesswoman who built a cosmetics empire in the United States. At the peak of her career, she was one of the wealthiest women in the world.-Biography:Arden was born in 1884 at Woodbridge, Ontario,...
and Maria dei Principi Ruspoli Hugo
Francesco Ruspoli, 3rd Prince of Cerveteri
Francesco, Principe Ruspoli was the 3rd Prince di Cerveteri, 3rd Marchese di Riano and 8th Conte di Vignanello, son of Alessandro Ruspoli, 2nd Prince of Cerveteri and second wife and first cousin Prudenza dei Conti Marescotti-Capizucchi. His uncle was Bartolomeo Ruspoli...
. There, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
has his first solo exhibition Fifteen Drawings Based on the Writings of Truman Capote (June 16 – July 3, 1952)
After working at the Hugo Gallery
Hugo Gallery
The Hugo Gallery was a New York gallery, founded by Robert Rothschild, Elizabeth Arden and Maria dei Principi Ruspoli Hugo operated between 1945 and 1955.The Hugo gallery was initially on East 55th Street and Madison Avenue....
, he founded the Jackson-Iolas Gallery in 1955 with former dancer, Brooks Jackson and later opened galleries under his own name in New York, Paris, Milan, Madrid and Geneva.
Alexander Iolas represented in his galleries many artists, among others Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Rene Magritte
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte[p] was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images...
, Roberto Matta
Roberto Matta
Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren , better known as Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art....
, Ed Ruscha, Jean Tinguely
Jean Tinguely
Jean Tinguely was a Swiss painter and sculptor. He is best known for his sculptural machines or kinetic art, in the Dada tradition; known officially as metamechanics...
, Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell was an American artist and sculptor, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage...
, Yves Klein
Yves Klein
Yves Klein was a French artist considered an important figure in post-war European art. He is the leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by the art critic Pierre Restany...
, Jannis Kounellis
Jannis Kounellis
Jannis Kounellis was born on March 23, 1936 in Piraeus, Greece. He studied in art college in Athens until 1956 and at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome....
, Takis
Takis
Vassilakis Takis is an artist living in Greece. Adopted by France, his works can be found in many public locations in and around Paris.-Life and work:1940–1950...
, Victor Brauner
Victor Brauner
Victor Brauner was a Romanian Jewish painter of surrealistic images.-Early life:He was born in Piatra Neamţ, the son of a timber manufacturer who subsequently settled in Vienna with his family for a few years. It is there that young Victor attended elementary school...
, Jules Olitski
Jules Olitski
Jules Olitski was an American abstract painter, printmaker, and sculptor.-Early life:Olitski was born Jevel Demikovski in Snovsk, in the Russian SFSR , a few months after his father, a commissar, was executed by the Russian government...
, and Niki de Saint-Phalle. In promoting work that initially found few to favor it, he was able to reassure the potential client with his irresistible and often mischievous charm, dazzle them with his flamboyant personality and often sensational mode of dress.
Known primarily for his exclusive representation of the major European Surrealists in the United States- primarily Max Ernst
Max Ernst
Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
and Rene Magritte
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte[p] was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images...
- Alexander Iolas helped to form more than one important collection. In particular, John de Menil
John de Menil
John de Menil was an American businessman, philanthropist, and art patron. He was the founding president of the International Foundation for Art Research in New York.-Life:...
and Dominique de Menil
Dominique de Menil
Dominique de Menil was a French-American art collector, philanthropist, founder of the Menil Collection and an heiress to the Schlumberger Limited oil-equipment fortune...
, founders of the Menil Collection
Menil Collection
The Menil Collection, located in Houston refers either to a museum that houses the private art collection of founders John de Menil and Dominique de Menil, or to the collection itself...
, had him as one of their three art consultants, along with Father Marie-Alain Couturier
Marie-Alain Couturier
Père Marie-Alain Couturier, known as Father Couturier was a Dominican friar, designer of stained glass windows, famous for his modern inspiration of Sacred art.-Life:...
and Jermayne MacAgy.
In 1972 Iolas takes over Carla Lavatelli's studio on the 75th and 1st str. in New York for an exhibition. It was the first exhibition by a dealer at an artist's studio.
In 1976, he closed all his galleries except the one in New York after the death of Max Ernst
Max Ernst
Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
, as he had promised him he would.
In 1984, Alexander Iolas commissioned Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
to create a group of works based on Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
's The Last Supper for an exhibition space in the Palazzo Stelline in Milan, located across the street from Santa Maria delle Grazie, home of Leonardo's masterpiece. Warhol exceeded the demands of the commission and produced more than 100 variations on the theme.
From early 1965, Alexander Iolas started traveling to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
Extending his activities there, he contributed to the opening of some galleries in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, like the Iolas-Zoumboulakis gallery and the Xippas Gallery and he inspired the foundation of the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art
Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art
Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art is a contemporary art museum in Thessaloniki, Greece.-History:The Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art Thessaloniki was founded in 1979 by a group of visionary citizens of Thessaloniki...
in Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
to which he donated a large number of art works from his collection. He is listed as the Museum's 'great benefactor'.
In 1983 he was accused by a former employee for "antiquities smuggling, drug peddling, and the prostitution of young men",
accusations that where circulated by the Greek tabloid newspaper
Tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism tends to emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories, astrology, gossip columns about the personal lives of celebrities and sports stars, and junk food news...
, Avriani causing a scandal.
By 1984 he was investigated for antiquities smuggling, but he was not charged.
He died of AIDS in Cornell Medical Center in New York City on Monday 8 June 1987.
Villa Iolas
38°1′2.7"N 23°50′8.7"EAlexander Iolas built around 1965 a 1300 square meter villa on a 7000 square meter lot in Agia Paraskevi
Agia Paraskevi
Agia Paraskevi , is a suburb of Athens, Greece, in the northeast of Athens, about nine kilometers away from the city centre. It is linked to Athens by Mesogeion Avenue, a major road in the greater Athens area. It is a municipality within Attica region....
, a suburb of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
There he stored and exhibited his art collection with the prospect that one day it would become the "Alexander Iolas Museum".
When he died in 1987 the heirs to his property became his sister Niki Stifel and her daughters Sylvia de Cuevas and Lina Nation.
His villa was sold to a real estate developer, but construction plans were held up by the Ministry of Culture that marked it as a site of Greek cultural heritage.
The villa nowadays has been vandalized and most of his collection of art works has been stolen or dispersed.
The present condition of the Villa Iolas has been a recurring issue in the Greek Parliament
Hellenic Parliament
The Hellenic Parliament , also the Parliament of the Hellenes, is the Parliament of Greece, located in the Parliament House , overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece....
, the local Municipality and the Greek newspapers, but also a subject and study-case for artistic and architectural projects.
Villa Iolas was listed in 1998 as a historic monument by the Greek Ministry of Culture, two years later was designated the site for exclusively public cultural activities and recently the re-selling of the estate has been blocked. The Greek State has not expropriated the Villa.
Regarding the derelict state of the Villa Iolas, questions have been raised by members of the Greek Parliament
Hellenic Parliament
The Hellenic Parliament , also the Parliament of the Hellenes, is the Parliament of Greece, located in the Parliament House , overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece....
: Maria Damanaki
Maria Damanaki
Maria Damanaki is a Greek politician, former president of the Synaspismos party of the radical left and currently a state member of the Hellenic Parliament within the Panhellenic Socialist Movement ....
, Stavros Benos, Fotis Kouvelis and Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Kyriakos Mitsotakis Kyriakos Mitsotakis Kyriakos Mitsotakis (born 4 March 1968 is a Greek politician with New Democracy.Born in Athens, he is the son of the former Greek prime minister and honorary president of the New Democracy political party, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, and Marika Giannoukou....
.
Although the Greek State has agreed on the acquisition of the Villa Iolas from its current owner, this has not happened to this day.
Sources
- Obituary in the New York Times by John RussellJohn Russell (art critic)John Russell CBE was a British American art critic.-Life and career:John Russell was born in Fleet, Hampshire, England, in 1919. He attended St Paul's School and then Magdalen College, Oxford....
- published 12 June 1987 - Alexander Iolas and MMCA - Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Greece
- Alexander Iolas - The American College of Greece Art Collection
- Alexandre Iolas and his Greek tragedy by Gary Comenas
- Alexander Iolas biography by Nikos Stathoulis, Livanis Publications 1994
- 'The fall of the house of Iolas' by Marina Varouta -in Greek language
- Villa Alexander Iola - by Andreas Angelidakis
- Alexander Iolas projects by Omada Filopappou