Spinning Myths, Painting Shadows: Women and the Origins of Greek Art

The Origin of Painting: Greek Women Artists from Antiquity to the Present is a lecture series that sets out to trace the remarkable history of Greek women's contributions to the visual arts over nearly three millennia. According to Pliny the Elder, the origins of painting lie in the gesture of a Greek woman. As her beloved prepared to leave, Kora of Sicyon traced the outline of his shadow on a wall in an attempt to preserve his image. This founding myth of Western art has been revisited by generations of artists, yet the women who followed in Kora's footsteps have remained largely overlooked in art history. In the first lecture of the series art historian Gelly Gryntaki discusses the role of women in mythology and ancient societies. She shines a light on the earliest female weavers and ancient female painters for whom evidence still exists, from Arachne and Penelope to Timarete and Anaxandra. The second lecture, in December, explores the Greek female painters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, women's roles, political and social conditions, and the general difficulties women faced in becoming artists: Eleni Altamoura, Sofia Laskaridou, Thalia Flora-Karavia. Future lectures in 2027 will turn to sculpture and focus on the work of Natalia Mela, Alex Mylona, and Nafsika Pastra. The series will culminate in the bold experimental practices of the late 20th century - performance, installation, and video work by Maria Karavela, Niki Kanagkini, and Klonari/Thomadaki. Each lecture is richly illustrated and densely informative, offering participants an encounter with works, lives, and contexts that have too often been overlooked. Following each session, attendees receive a carefully curated bibliography along with recommendations for films, documentaries, websites, and cultural texts.