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Yannis Tsarouchis (Greek, 1910-1989), in spite of his major contributions to 20th century art, died in exile and remains relatively unknown outside of Greece. Tsarouchis  was born in idyllic Piraeus before studying at the Athens School of Fine Arts, working in theater and costume and set design. With ties to Matisse and Giacometti, he, alongside his Grecian contemporaries, has been credited with the introduction of a sharply contrasted color palette in the modernization of contemporary painting.   

Deeply influenced by his country’s rich history and classical heritage, Tsarouchis intertwined mythology with modernity in his vividly colored figurative works, of which Untitled (Seated Man), c. 1953-54, is a stunning example.  Lyrically and emotionally colored, Tsarouchis’ homoerotic paintings challenged societal norms in their honestly and profound understanding of intimacy. His works reflect homosexual desire in a sexually inhibited society, his muses disarming in their steadfast gazes was, perhaps, this directness that attracted his dealer, the legendary Alexander Iolas.  

Tsarouchis' work reflects the profound social and societal cultural shifts in Greece during the 1950s, but it was his dealer, Iolas, a pillar of modern art in his own right, who is responsible for disseminating Tsarouchis' work to a wide audience. 

Born into a wealthy family as Konstantinos Koutsidis, Iolas was described as “Greece’s greatest art collector,”-- his pseudonym a reference to Iollas, a friend of Alexander the Great who likely poisoned him. The name change was at the urging of Theodora Roosevelt (the president’s granddaughter), a lover whom Iolas met while training as a professional dancer at the Metropolitan Opera of New York. Shifting from performance to visual art following a debilitating injury, he entered a collaboration with the Hugo Gallery in 1946 with the help of Elizabeth Arden, showing the first U.S. exhibitions of works by Max Ernst (1946), Rene Magritte (1947), and Andy Warhol (1952). He took over sole proprietorship in 1952, renaming the establishment the Iolas Gallery. Iolas expanded both his roster and presence quickly, adding names like Klein, Raynaud, Oppenheim, Wols, Matta, and a staunch retinue of up-and-coming Greek artists – alongside new galleries in Geneva, Paris, Milan, Zurich, and Rome, with their accompanying catalogues authored by André Breton and Pierre Restany.  

Iolas was hierophantic, good looking, and charismatic, amassing a large personal collection of artworks. The Greek press, however, could not forgive the fact that Iolas was openly gay, and he became a persona non grata with various disparaging assignations. He succumbed to the AIDS epidemic in 1987, with his extensive art collection falling victim to extensive vandalism and looting throughout the years. 

Iolas’ promotion of Tsarouchis’ work was pivotal to the artist’s career, and acknowledgement of the beauty in their shared identity. Tsarouchis’ work was, in turn, unflinching in its honesty, albeit for a world unready to accept its truth.