Project Summary

Nikos Engonopoulos was an artist who served poetry and painting equally. His phrase "I am a painter and a poet" encapsulates his avant-garde artistic position that combines two traditionally competitive arts. The important creator was dedicated to his oeuvre, undertook the full supervision of its publication, and recorded with great care every significant response to it. His attentive collection of relevant material resulted in a rich archive which can be undoubtedly considered a national capital.

Engonopoulos’ archive came into the possession of Panteion University and the Athens School of Fine Arts in September 2022, through Mrs. Herietti Engonopoulou, daughter of the poet and artist. Specifically, the archive is managed under the responsibility of Elisavet Arseniou (Professor of Modern Greek Philology at the Department of Communication, Media and Culture of Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences), Costas Christopoulos (Associate Professor of Fine Arts in the Department of Fine Arts of the Athens School of Fine Arts) and Yannis Stogiannidis (Associate Professor of History at the Department of Archival, Libraries, and Information Systems, University of West Attica). The interdisciplinary cooperation between the above scientists and universities offers the indispensable expertise in the management of such archives, while ensuring the integrity of the result.

On this occasion a model is created in terms of the methodology for managing, digitizing, and documenting archives originating from visual artists, as the relevant experience in Greece is quite limited. Nikos Engonopoulos’ archive is expected to be deposited and arranged in an open and accessible archival space.