Man with butterfly wings sitting on his heels, study from life (1965).
Two paintings by Greek artist Yannis Tsarouchis among whose homoerotic works can be found obsessively recurrent depictions of men with butterfly wings. Via Bajo el Signo de Libra.
Winged spirit buttoning his underpants (1966).
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The gay artists archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Butterfly women
;-)
Interesting, I had no idea whether Tsarouchis was well- known abroad. He really is one of the greatest Greek painters of all time. His house is only a few blocks away from my house in Athens (it is now a museum). When I was a child, me and my father ran into him in the neighbourhood drug store. That was shortly before he died and he looked very old and frail. His hands were shaking and he dropped his pills on the floor. My father helped him pick them up. He is a huge admirer of Tsarouchis’ work and was very impressed to actually meet him.
Tsarouchis did the cover to Aphrodite ‘s Child concept album “666” (one of the great prog rock albums). He is mostly famous for his depictions of young men though. That was by far his favorite subject.
Dimitris: I have to admit I hadn’t come across Tsarouchis’s work until I saw pe-jota’s posting at Bajo el Signo de Libra. io9 followed up on this post of mine so together we’ve helped spread the word a little.
I love the 666 album, it’s a berserk masterpiece! Very surprising that he was involved with that.
Maybe, we live thinking about the past of Greece and not in its present