Content area
Full text
Abstract
Nelly's, or Elli Sougioultzoglou-Seraidari, produced a series of photographs in the 1920s and 1930s, which seem to idolize ancient Greece. Her themes (naked men and women, landscapes, archaeological monuments) as well as her aesthetics are indicative of contemporary political influences on her work. The main political ideologies identified in her neoclassical photos are those of Greek nationalism, Greek fascism, and German Nazism. Hers was a national and a transnational fascist aesthetic. In all instances, though, she remained consistent in following conservative (to each place) artistic movements in the choice of her themes, her techniques, and her aesthetics. Through her work and her continuous employment in governmental posts, she became an advocate of Greek nationalism and German fascism. As a consequence of her artistic choices, she soon became one of the approved artists of Metaxas's fascist regime and a favorite of 1930s Athenian bourgeois society that viewed itself as cosmopolitan.
(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)
Introduction
Nelly's, otherwise known as Elli Sougioultzoglou-Seraidari, was born in 1899 in the city of Aidini in Asia Minor. She came from an affluent family that had been expelled from Turkey (along with the rest of the Greek population) during the 1923 Asia Minor Catastrophe. While her parents established themselves in Athens, Nelly's went to Germany to study photography under the expert guidance of Hugo Erfurth and Hanz Fiedler. When she returned to Athens in 1924, she opened her own studio in Ermou Street and soon became the photographer of the city's wealthy bourgeois families. Her most prominent works are the portraits of members of the Athenian Society. From 1927 onwards she traveled across Greece to photograph its landscapes, antiquities, and people. The trips were either self-funded or supported by the Ministry of Culture. Nelly's is probably one of the best-known Greek photographers of the twentieth century. She is not only respected among her peers, but she holds an almost iconic place in the hearts of modern Greeks. She played a significant role in the promotion of Greek culture in Europe and the United States from the 1920s until her death in 1998. Nelly's is responsible for the creation of a series of nude photographs in ancient Greek setting, while she also took photos of archaeological monuments...