Yiannis Poulakas
Poulakas is the first Greek scenographer who worked in Greece,[1] as the art historian and folklorist Fotis Voyiatzis[2] showed in his study of scenography when discussing George Vakalo[3] (1902–1991).
[4] Poulakas worked initially as an apprentice in a workshop for painting, woodwork and production of theatrical sets and later as a scenographer and stage technician in the Hellenic amateur theatre, which was in bloom at the time and in various performances of the leading professional Hellenic theatrical companies that toured in Constantinople.
For two years he worked with Othon Giavopoulos, a folk painter from Vytina (Greece), whom Poulakas introduced to the academic style.
His known early employment includes the following productions: After this, he regularly created scenographies for the Ancient and New Hellenic Theatres at the Municipal Theatre of Piraeus, which was inaugurated in April 1895 with the famous contemporary play Maria Doxapatri by Dimitrios Vernardakis (1833–1907), presented by Tavoularis, with scenography by Poulakas.
The screen of the last act, "Sun’s Chariot", part of his scenography for the tragedy of Medea in 1895, survived in the warehouse of the Municipal Theatre of Piraeus at least until 1970.
Poulakas established his studio in an alley in the port section of Volos and exhibited his work at a central store; soon after he started to give private painting lessons.
He created seascapes (mainly views of the port and the Volos seashore), landscapes, portraits, scenography and icons, as well as teaching.
His landscapes displayed Pelion, Karditsa, Itea and Galaxidi and his seascapes included the islands of Crete, Skopelos, Chios and Corfu.
Only a few notes and family testimonies survive, describing: Merope, a drama by Dimitrios Vernardakis, and When the wife is beautiful, a comedy with a performance by Pantopoulos, presented in the Municipal Theatre of Volos in 1908, as well as Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" performed by the company of Vassilia Stefanou and the revue, Panorama of Volos in the Theater Polytheama in 1910 and 1911, respectively.
Nonetheless, impressionism is evident in some of his published works, such as Attica Shore (1894)[19] and Panormos Seashore in Scopelos (P. Moraitis).
Works include the heroic sailing ship Leonidas that fought in the Greek War of Independence (Leventis), Fishing Boat on Seashore (Museum A. K. Damtsa, Art Center Giorgio de Chirico, Volos) and Brig and Steamer,[20] which appeared on a Greek postage stamp in 1969.
Also in this period he painted the old training sailing ship of the Royal Hellenic Navy, Aris and Acropolis, a view of the Parthenon from the vicinity of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.
Art historians and critics such as Manolis Vlachos,[22] Nelly Missirlis,[23] Manos Stefanidis[24] and others include Poulakas in the small coterie of Greek sea-painters who made a special contribution to the transitional stylistic period of New Hellenic Painting between 19th and 20th century.
