He attended the Athens School of Fine Arts from 1897 to 1906. Thereafter, thanks to private financial support, he went to Germany and enrolled in the Academy of Munich, studying under Professor Otto Seitz, while he also trained under Walter Thor and Georg Schildknecht. In 1909 he visited Berlin, where he met Max Liebermann. In Munich he became friends with several artists, particularly Heinz Waldmüller, while he had also met Giorgio de Chirico since his student days in Athens. He participated in the exhibitions of both the Kunstverein and the Glaspalast and, starting in 1917, when his expressionist idiom began to take on a clearer shape, he presented his works at the Ritthaler gallery. Later he would exhibit at the Thannhauser gallery in Munich, the Barchfeld gallery in Leipzig and the Chemnitz gallery (1927, together with sculptor Alexander Fischer). Also notable is his 1928 participation in the Munich exhibition of the “Neue Secession” group, of which he was a member. He stayed in the Bavarian capital until 1928, briefly visited Vienna in 1929 and then settle in Paris, until 1932, where he painted a large number of watercolors. It was during that time that he is believed to have written his “Notebook with Aphorisms”, an invaluable source of insight regarding the artist and his work. After returning to Munich for two more years, he finally settled in Athens, after being promised to be hired at the Athens School of Fine Arts – a promise, which, however, was never fulfilled. In 1935, he participated in a group exhibition at the “Studio” gallery. In 1949 he held his only solo show in Greece, at the premises of the Parnassos cultural society. He exhibited his works in Panhellenic exhibitions (1938, 1939, 1952), the exhibitions of the group “Stathmi” (1951-1953) and the “Group of Five” (1957), as well as in exhibitions in Erlangen (1952) and Rome (1953). In 1950 he took part in the Venice Biennale and in 1956 he received the prize for Greece at the Guggenheim International Award competition. After his death, the “Friends of Bouzianis” society organized several exhibitions of, and events about, his work. In 1977, a retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work was held at the Greek National Gallery. 
The most important among the Greek expressionist painters, he shaped the character of his art in Germany during a time when the arts were spearheaded by avant-garde groups, such as “Die Brücke” (The Bridge) and “Der Blaue Reiter” (The Blue Rider), he himself being a member of the groups “Neue Secession” and “Neue Gruppe”. Still lifes, landscapes and, above all, portraits and the human figure in general, made up the main themes of his paintings, where color is employed as a basic structural element and an autonomous value. Adhering to an anti-realist perception, his work goes against any notion of beautification, promoting the conveyance of emotional states, thus becoming a forerunner to abstraction.

• 

  Chair