Giannis Moralis

Yiannis Moralis was born on the 23rd of April 1916 in Arta, Greece, the second of four children, the rest being Olga, Theodora and Yiorgos. Six years later in 1922, his family moved to Preveza, where Moralis's father, Konstadinos Moralis was appointed headmaster of the local Gymnasium there and five years following that [ in 1927] they settled in Athens. By that time, Yiannis had already decided that he was going to be a painter, and so, along with his regular schooling, he attended Sunday classes at the Athens School of Fine Arts with his father. Not long after turning 15 years old in 1931, he studied under painter Yiannis Yeorgopoulos and later his brother-in-law to prepare for the Athens School of Fine Arts entrance examination, where he passed and enrolled in the Preparatory Class under painter Dimitris Yeraniotis, where, soon afterwards, he was admitted to the studio of Umvertos Argyros. The coming year [in 1932], he took part in the Athens School of Fine Arts Students Exhibition where there was enthusiastic critical notice over his work. In 1933 he began attending afternoon classes at the recently opened engraving workshop of Yiannis Kephallinos which was also attended by other students. Not long After in 1936 he graduated from the Athens School of Fine Arts and throughout his entire time there, he had been noted for his dedication and industry and was at the receiving end of a plethora of awards and commendations. Later that year he took part in the Exhibition of Greek Engraving in Czechoslovakia, where his wood engravings attracted a considerable amount of attention. He ended up winning the competition for a scholarship awarded to him by the Academy of Athens (modern) from the Ourania konstadinidou legacy, for studying mosaic out of state. In March 1937, his father died. He was a figure who had greatly influenced the formation of Yiannis's character and majorly affected his decision to pursue a career in art. Three months later on June 16 he left for Rome, accompanied by fellow student and painter Nikos Nikolaou in fulfillment of their friendly pact that if either of them were to win the scholarship they would travel abroad together to continue their studies. Five months following his move to Rome on November 17 he settled in Paris where he would enroll at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts and attend a class in painting taught by Charles Guerain and in fresco taught by Dicaut de l' Ail. He simultaneously studied mosaic under Professor Mani at the Ecole d' Arts et Professions. Two years following his move to Paris in 1939, with the outbreak and inception of the Second World War, Moralis abandoned his studies [in Paris] and in September, he returned to Athens and exhibited a series of engravings with the Free Artists Group in Piraeus. The coming year in 1940 he is called up for military service but participates in the last pre-war Panhellenic Exhibition at the Zappeion, displaying works such as "Nude", "Camela", "Portrait of Th. Ch." and :Studies of heads". A year later in 1941 he got engaged to Maria Roussen. Moreover, during the years of the occupation his art mainly took the form of portraiture to earn a living while continuing to work rigorously for his constant development and improvement as an artist. In 1945, four years later, he and Maria got divorced, and just two years following that, he married sculptor Aglaïa Lymberaki, with whom his first and last child Konstantinos was born. The same year he is elected Pr