[1] He established the modern model of the global art business, operating successful galleries in Paris, Geneva, Milan and New York.

[2] Iolas was born on March 26, 1908, in Alexandria, Egypt, under the name Constantine Coutsoudis (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Κουτσούδης), to a well-off family of cotton traders.

[3] He graduated from Averofeio highschool, where he was a pupil of Glaukos Alithersis, a Cypriot physical education teacher and poet, who introduced him to Constantine Cavafy.

There, Iolas began to associate with an artistic circle of people such as Kostis Palamas and Angelos Sikelianos, who would play a mentoring role in his life, as well as Eva Palmer-Sikelianos.

He started by exhibiting works of European surrealist artists, such as René Magritte, Max Ernst, Giorgio de Chirico, and Victor Brauner.

He also collaborated with the younger generation of Greek artists, such as Kostas Tsoklis, Pavlos, Takis, Akrithakis, Fassianos and Mara Karetsos, who had already started a career abroad.

Iolas also published art catalogues, prefaced by, among others, André Breton and Pierre Restany, as well as collectible books of artists and poets in a limited number of copies (Max Ernst, Giannis Ritsos, Odysseas Elytis et al.).

The fact that, during the '70s, many artists from the old guard died, people by whom Iolas had been nurtured and for whom he had deep love and respect, must have also played a significant role in his decision.

On the initiative of Costas Gavras, there has been, from abroad, an attempt to defend Iolas, which was co-signed by many internationally recognized personalities, such as the Byzantinologist Helene Glykatzi-Ahrweiler.