Title: De Langue Rouge Au Chapeau

Artist: John Christoforou (1921-2014)

Dimensions: 46 x 55 cm.

Year: 1985

Details: John Christoforou was born in 1921 in London, but his parents were of Greek descent from Smyrna. At age nine, he returned with his father to Athens. In 1935, he entered the Athens Academy of Fine Arts. Several years later, he returned to London and, after World War II, devoted himself to painting. His first solo exhibition was held in 1949 at the Twenty Brooke Street Gallery in London. Over the next sixty-two years, he presented his work in over fifty solo exhibitions and participated in more than a hundred group exhibitions throughout the world. John Christoforou is recognized as an important pioneer of the Nouvelle Figuration (New Figuration), an international movement that emerged in the early 1960s from the abstract art movements of the previous decade and included leading artists such as Francis Bacon and Willem de Kooning. His works are in many important public collections, including the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Montpellier, the Cabinet des Estampes de la Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, the Tate Gallery in London, the Contemporary Art Society in London, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens, the Elise and Basil Goulandris Foundation in Athens, and the National Art Gallery in Athens.