"The Fortress", 1988
By Rallis Kopsidis (1929-2010)
Oil on canvas, 45Χ75 cm.
Inv. No.: P-51

Born at Kastro on the Island of Limnos, Rallis Kopsidis studied at the School of Fine Arts (1949-1953) with Andreas Georgiadis, but abandoned his studies at the fourth year in order to continue with Photis Kondoglou (1953-1959).  He had his first one-man exhibition in Athens (1958) and had shown his work in several Greek cities at other solo and group exhibitions, including a number of Pan-Hellenic ones.  He has painted in a contemporary perception the hagiographies of the Patriarchal Center at Chambesy (Geneva) and has written and illustrated several literary books.  He was one of the main representatives of the Hellenic style and his work contains elements of the naive and Byzantine painting.  Rallis Kopsidis passed away  in Athens (2010).

P.D.Cangelaris, Reflections upon Greek Contemporary Painting, The Cangelaris Collection, vol.1, Athens 1991