Kontoglou, Photis (1896 Aivali, Asia Minor - 1965 Athens)
Growing up without a father, he took on his maternal last name instead of the paternal “Apostolellis”. He attended the High School of Kydoniai. In 1913, he enrolled in the third year of study at the Athens School of Fine Arts, but two years later he interrupted his studies to travel around several countries before settling in Paris, in 1919, where he wrote his book Pedro Cazas. When he returned to his hometown, he gave French and art lessons to High School students. After the Asia Minor catastrophe, he fled as a refugee, first to Mytilene and then to Athens, where he worked for the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Eleftheroudakis. In 1923, he visited Mount Athos and came into contact with Byzantine painting. That same year, he exhibited together with Konstantinos Maleas, presenting his works at the Lyceum Club of Greek Women in Athens. He worked as a conservator-restorer at the Byzantine Museum of Athens (1930), the Coptic Museum of Cairo (1933) and the Museum of Corfu (1934-1935), and, from 1936 onwards, he worked on the conservation and cleaning of the murals at the Perivleptos of Mystras. In 1932, assisted by Yannis Tsarouchis and Nikos Engonopoulos, he painted the fresco murals at his home, which are currently on display at the National Gallery, and, in 1933, he received his diploma from the School of Fine Arts. He participated in the Panhellenic art exhibitions (1938, 1948, 1957), the Venice Biennale (1934) and the 2nd Biennale of Alexandria (1957). During the years 1937-1939, he painted Byzantine-style the murals of the City Hall of Athens. In 1960, he was awarded the Academy of Athens prize for his two-volume work Ekfrasis, igoun istorisis tis pantimou orthodoxou agiografias (Ekphrasis, i.e. study of the much-honored orthodox religious painting), which was released by Astir Publications. That same year, he was pronounced a Commander of the Order of the Phoenix, and in 1965 he received the Greek National Award for Excellence in the Arts and Letters of the Academy of Athens. He painted the holy icons of many churches, including the Kapnikarea in downtown Athens (1942-1953), as well as many portable icons, while he also took on the illustration and writing of books. Retrospective exhibitions of his work have been held by the National Gallery (1978), the Cultural Center of the City of Athens (1983) and the Macedonian Center for Contemporary Art (1986).
Focusing his artistic endeavors around Byzantine and folk painting, but at the same time studying the creations of preceding periods, such as the Fayum portraits, he emerged through his work as a key proponent of the quest for authenticity of the Greek ekphrasis, while also having a decisive contribution in the shaping of modern-day ecclesiastical painting.