Ideological Legacies in Greek Art of the 1970’s: Shaping the ‘Idea’ Amid Heroism and Romanticism

Abstract

An extremely powerful ideological mesh with direct repercussions to the cultural phenomena was evident in Greece after the end of the dictatorship in 1974 and during the 1970s. Poetry, music and the fine arts became the means through which the introverted and conservative notions of the Greek tradition were reproducing the patterns of the myths, accumulating a wide range of symbolisms in the social body. Due to the local political circumstances the heroic element was promoted as glorification of the essence and the ideals of western romanticism, codifying the national 'Idea' into visual, verbal and written patterns. At the same time, it was used as a physiological barrier towards the European political orientation of the country and its' forthcoming participation in the European Common Market. The political fights and the victory towards dictatorship revived as an analogy to Christ's sufferings and His resurrection and, thus, shaped politicized artistic expressions. Taking into consideration the above context and given the use of culture and aesthetics during the junta, any aesthetic innovation in visual arts was identified primarily as a reaction against certain political ideologies and only secondarily was it interesting as pure and unbiased aesthetic quest.