Kostas STATHIS Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1913 - d. 1987

Costas Stathis was born in 1913 in the village of Askas.

At the Pancyprian Gymnasium between 1929 and 1935 where he studied, the teachers Andreas Thymopoulos, Ioannos Kissonergis and Adamantios Diamantis realized his unique talent and both the supported and encouraged him.

In 1934 and 1935 he mounted his first exhibition and Tefkros Anthias wrote "He is a true artist of rare talent, a real genius".

In 1936 he won a scholarship and attended the Athens School of Fine Arts. He attended the workshop of engraver Yiannis Kefallinos.

In 1941 returns to Cyprus and worked for 2 years as art teacher in secondary education.

In 1950 returned to his village Askas where he spent the next 30 years. During this time of the 30s and 40s in Cyprus, when Stathis was doing most of his creative work, being an artist was not seen as a real profession. Because of this Stathis lived through poverty and the realisation that very few people understood his need to exist through his art.

In 2013 a retrospective exhibition was organized in Nicosia at the Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts, accompanied with the publication of the catalogue titled "Costa Stathis the unknown pioneer of contemporary Cypriot art" with an essay by Dr Niki Loizidi, emeritus professor at the Athens School of Fine Art