Danil Panagopoulos, Composition, 1989, Large Oil on Jute, Framed

This is a large and powerful oil on toile de jute by Greek artist Daniel Panagopoulos, dit Danil, dated 1989 on the back. It’s been framed with an oak wood shadow box matching the jute color. The size includes the frame, the jute being 52 inches x 36.2 inches.

Danil started off studying medicine in 1943 but he gave it up and turned to the School of Fine Arts where he studied painting in the studio of Konstantinos Parthenis in 1944. In 1954 he went on a scholarship to Paris where by 1957 he had completed his studies in painting and learned the art of the mosaic. In 1964 he presented his first solo show at the Galerie J in Paris which was followed by solo shows in various towns of France, Greece and other countries. He also took part in group and international exhibitions such as “Three Proposals for a New Greek Sculpture” in 1964 at the Teatro le Fenice, in Venice, in the framework of the Biennale, the Sao Paolo Biennale of 1965 and the Europalia of 1982. Acquainted with abstract art at first hand, he adopted its doctrines right from his early years of residence in Paris, creating his first series of boxes using cheap, common materials which he painted in ordinary colors, and punctured, tore and crumpled. Later he created compositions influenced by hard edge, optical and kinetic art, and then returned to flat surfaces.