Πινακάς Β. Γερμενή

Vassos Germenis (1896 - 1966) was a Greek painter and sculptor of the 20th century. Germenis was born in Fiskardo, Kefalonia, in 1896, but grew up in Corfu where he received his first painting lessons at the Corfu Art School. He later continued his studies in Athens where, alongside the Law School of the University of Athens, he attended the Athens School of Fine Arts (A.S.F.A.) with teachers such as Georgios Roilos, Georgios Iakovidis, Spyridon Vikatos, and Dimitrios Geraniotis in painting, and Thomas Thomopoulos in sculpture. At a certain point, he abandoned law to devote himself to artistic studies. After completing his studies, he traveled through Europe and the Greek provinces. He stayed for five years in Ethiopia, as the official painter of Emperor Haile Selassie, decorating his mausoleum and painting the Church of the Holy Trinity in Addis Ababa. He organized three solo exhibitions of his works and participated in many group exhibitions. Vassos Germenis' paintings are primarily seascapes, landscapes, portraits, and genre scenes, imbued with an academic perception and the colorfulness of late impressionism. Alongside his painting work, Germenis was also involved in sculpture. In 1950, he created the "Memorial to the Fallen of the Royal Navy" in Skaramagas. He also sculpted numerous busts in a realistic manner, including those of Dionysios Solomos, Lorentzos Mavilis, Andreas Laskaratos, and others. A marble bust of Dionysios Kokkinos (1883 – 1967), an academic, historian, novelist, and playwright, created by Vassos Germenis, has been placed in the garden behind the National Library in Athens. Germenis received honorary distinctions such as the Gold Cross of the Order of the Phoenix and the Gold Cross of George I. He passed away in 1966 in Athens.