Vlassis Caniaris Greek, b. 1928

A pioneer of the 1960s generation, Vlassis Caniaris went beyond Greek boundaries, exhibiting his works in major shows in Italy, France, Germany and the United States. While conversant with international contemporary artistic movements, he nevertheless developed his own artistic language.

According to Michael Fehr, the great picture-series, "Homage to the Walls of Athens" (see lots 63 & 82) were depictions of the dynamism and the contradictions of 1950s Athens when, following disorders of the civil war, the massive expansion and renovation of this city began at a fantastic speed. In these highly textured paintings Caniaris arrived at a surface on which the paint formed a relief. Eventually, Caniaris arrived at monochrome white surfaces that remained structured within themselves.

Rigas Feraios was born in 1757 in Thessaly near the city of Feres. An outspoken man with a kind manner, he longed for the Greek people to be free from their Turkish oppressors. Rigas first fought the Turks in Mount Olympus and later went to live in Mount Athos before eventually settling in Constantinople. He later travelled to Bucharest where he became aware of the French Revolution and believed a similar uprising could occur in the Ottoman Empire.

RIgas wrote poems and books on Greek history, one of his most famous being Thourio in which he wrote "It's better to have an hour as a free man than forty years as a slave". His words urged Greeks to leave the Turkish occupied cities for the mountains, where they might experience more freedom. He was arrested in 1798 after being betrayed by a Greek merchant and was strangled the night of 13 June 1798.