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Arts & Communication Hack the art: Yanoulis Halepas

this educational initiative. After receiving feedback and lesson, highlighting the artist’s relationship with his family,
permission to implement the action, they finalized all historical context, and broader developments in the field
the relative competition documents and published them of sculpture during his lifetime. 25-27 Halepas’ life journey –
publicly through press releases, newsletters, and posts on from his birthplace in Tinos to his studies in Munich, his
all Onassis Foundation’s websites, platforms, and social return to Athens, the unfulfilled love with Marigo, health
media networks. Participation in the competition was free challenges, confinement in a psychiatric hospital, return
of charge. to Tinos, impoverishment, and recognition of his work
before the end of his life – resembles a cinematic narrative
6.1.1. Supporting materials
of a tragic hero undergoing catharsis.
In the context of the educational program, the scientific Tranquil and serene, Halepas left behind a collection of
collaborators and partners of the competition were over 150 works, including sculptures and drawings, along
committed to collecting all the supporting material with the enduring myth of a man who, overcoming illness,
related to the competition theme (video recordings,
notes, optional scenarios, bibliography, digital exhibitions, the stigma of mental instability, and the pain of lost time,
editions, documentaries, references, and examples). They managed to “resurrect” artistically. He was celebrated by the
also produced six Moodle lessons, offering rich theoretical artistic community and, most importantly, reconciled his
sources and helpful case studies for further development small and large self, expressing everything that circulated
by the school teams. The challenge for the scientific in his mind and heart in what he was born to do – art.
collaborators in choosing the subject matters and preparing The above presentation aimed to familiarize the
the supporting material was to select interesting topics and students’ teams with the renowned sculptor and inspire
concepts for youngsters and transform or present them in them to create their own narrative based on his life and
attractive ways. The six lessons created on Yanoulis Halepas work.
are as follows:
c) The three phases of Yanoulis Halepas’ art
a) Yanoulis Halepas and his time
In this lesson, school teams had the opportunity to
In this lesson, the artistic range of Yianoulis Halepas explore the three periods that characterize Halepas’ work,
was examined in reference to the art currents of his time as identified by most scholars. These periods are marked
in Greece and Europe. The broader historical context by crucial turning points in his life and stylistic differences
of sculpture during his time was exposed. Through art in his creations. The first period, spanning from 1870 to
history, we understand the intersections and influences 1878, encompasses his youth in the schools of Athens and
between his art and European art of the late 19 and Munich, as well as his creative phase on returning to Athens
th
early 20- centuries. The transition from the Classicism of in his father’s workshop. This period extends until the onset
the Munich School to works with aspects of cubist and of his illness. The second period, from 1918 to 1930, covers
primitivist art is remarkable. The art of Halepas reflects the years he lived and worked on the island of Tinos after
influences from Antonio Canova (1757 – 1822), Leonidas his return from the psychiatric hospital in Corfu. Finally,
Drosis (1836 – 1882), and Alexander Porfyrovych the third period, from 1930 to 1938, includes the years he
Archipenko (1887 – 1964), showcasing a wide spectrum spent in Athens until his death.
of pictorial references. Renowned works of Yianoulis
Halepas are mentioned, such as Sleeping Beauty, Satyros d) The impact of fairytale and myth in the artwork of
and Eros, and Oedipus and Antigone. The technique of Yanoulis Halepas
transferring plaster casts to marble, a procedure not done The supplementary materials regarding the
by the artist himself, is briefly analyzed in the context of incorporation of myth and fairy tale elements in the works
Sleeping Beauty. This explains the mystery of Halepas’ later of Yanoulis Halepas were designed to assist participants
signature, chiseled on Sleeping Beauty in 1913. In addition, by furnishing comprehensive content. They elucidated the
other artists, such as Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890), distinctions between myth and fairy tale, offering examples
who were affected by mental illness were presented. The from Greek mythology, and European and Greek oral and
main reason for choosing this particular subject was the written storytelling traditions. In addition, the materials
great interest in the evolution of his art, viewed through a presented various depictions spanning from ceramics to
historical perspective. the 19 century.
th
b) The life and work of Yanoulis Halepas Halepas, drawing inspiration from diverse myths,
The life and work of Yanoulis Halepas were presented crafted an artistic body of work centered around them.
in a straightforward and comprehensible manner in this While art schools in 19 -century Europe often focused
th

Volume 2 Issue 4 (2024) 6 doi: 10.36922/ac.2557