[1] Athanase Apartis was born on 24 October 1899 in Smyrna, Asia Minor, son of a tailor who had six children.

In October 1919 he was admitted to the École des Beaux Arts, but stayed there only two months before returning to the Academie Julian, where he studied for two years with Paul Landowski and Henri Bouchard.

[2] There he met Antoine Bourdelle and decided to transfer from the Academie Julian to the Grande Chaumière, where he studied for four years before leaving in 1925 without graduating.

[3] Bourdelle gave Apartis much help in his career, and arranged for his work to be shown in 1923 at the Salon des Tuileries.

[2] Helena Venizelos provided a small grant that let him live in Paris until 1940, with short return visits to Greece.