«Manolis Kavakos, Greek sculptor and painter.» This is how the artist from Kythira is introduced in authoritative European art dictionaries, which also mention Potamos, the main village of his birth. Throughout his long life «among foreign nations,» he continually enriched his résumé with distinguished academic achievements and participation in exhibitions organized in France, the U.S., and Athens, in 1964, earning significant accolades, culminating in the award of the Silver Cross of the Legion of Honor in Paris. The most prominent Greek artist in America, an ambassador for Greek art, he fought the good fight «for the ideal of Art» and for the Greek name.

And yet. Not a single one of his works is in the Athens Sculpture Gallery. Not a single photograph of his creations appears in entries in Greek art dictionaries or magazines, with the exception of old publications from Kythira. Manolis Kavakos’s permanent residence, primarily in France and the United States, kept him out of the broader Greek public consciousness, to the point that it has been written in Greece that he was born in Boston.

According to documented information, he was born in 1885 in Trifyllianika, Kythira, and was registered as Emmanouil Trifyllis, son of Andreou. Later, however, he chose the well-known family nickname «Kavakos» as his artistic and political surname.

The Years of Youth

In 1901 or 1903, as a teenager, he worked in Baltimore and, shortly thereafter, earned a degree in Painting and Sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Based solely on his recognized talent, he was awarded a four-year scholarship from his new home state to pursue graduate studies in Paris, and he would later receive a scholarship from the French government as well.

In 1913, the annual «Salon d’Automne» in Paris awarded him an honorable mention for his sculptural composition «Aspiration» – The Longing for the Ideal. The entire figure of the adolescent, with its characteristics of archaic plasticity and deep reverie, until recently adorned the foyer of the Baltimore Central Library!

Influence and Work

Kavakos belongs to the school of the great French sculptor August Rodin, the reviver of the Greek classical tradition, yet always in touch with contemporary life. The Greek artist, imbuing his work with his personal touch, rendered «Life» in bronze or marble with composure, rhythm, and musical movement, as seen in his beautiful works: «The Thinker,» «Youth,» «Joy,» «Eros,» and «The Greek Hymn to Liberty,» which stands in a brotherly relationship with Nikolaos Gyzis’s famous «Glory of the Fishermen.» Of course, Kythiros has also left us his own “Aphrodite.” And the dancing women in his work, as creatures of ethereal joy, inspire admiration.

Apart from his very few small works in Greece, we do not know which museums and collections abroad house Kavakos’s works. Manolis Kavakos passed away in 1972 in France… «in a foreign land,» but as a Greek citizen! His remains must be returned to his birthplace, Kythira, just as he wished.

We would like to thank Ms. Adamantia V. Triarchi for providing this brief biography of the great artist Manolis Kavakos.

An appeal by Ms. Adamantia Triarchi, which we endorse:

We appeal to Greeks living in France or the United States to look for M. Kavakos’s work and let us know. We hope that a scholarship will be awarded to a visual artist—by a foundation or a generous private individual—with the aim of publishing a monograph on Kavakos, which is currently missing from Greek bibliography.