Ioannis Kissonergis (1889-1963) Artist

In 1907 graduated from the Pancyprian Gymnasium and sometime later went to Athens where he studied medicine for three years.  During the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) worked as volunteer doctor for the Greek Red Cross in Thessaloniki.

After the end of the war gave up his medical studies and enrolled at the Higher School of Fine Arts in Athens.  After studying for one and a half years he became ill and was forced to give up the Polytechnic University and return to Cyprus.  For fourteen years worked as art teacher at the Pancyprian Gymnasium, also at the English School in Nicosia.  In 1953 settled along with his family in Johannesburg where he died in January 1963.  Is one of the fathers of Contemporary Cypriot art and his contribution to its evolution was substantial.

The themes witch truly inspired Kissonergis, from the period of his studies ematil his death, and which from the greater part of his entire creation, are scenes from daily life and landscapes.  For their depiction he used oil, and mostly water colours

Landscapes form the greater part of Kissonergis’s watercolours.  These are landscapes from all over Cyprus, urban, rural, marine or mountainous.  Although they are very descriptive, they all have a poetic, meditative mood, both lyrical and sensitive.  His landscapes are always balanced in their com, position, his drawing is clear, his colour structure is built on a gentle conversation of warm and cool colours lit by sensitive lighting.

Source: Kypriaki Gonia