Andriadou Julia (1937)

Born in 1937 in Athens, she took her first lessons in painting and drawing at the Painting School of Costas Iliadis (1956-1959), at the same time working in graphic design (H. Karmiris). In 1959 he went to Paris to study at the Académie André Lhôte and then at the École des Beaux-Arts, under Maurice Brianchon. She also took classes in history, language and culture at the Sorbonne.
She presented her first solo exhibition in 1968 in Athens (Astor Gallery). Her early works displayed certain abstract trends, obviously influenced by the modern movements she had known while in Paris. Her subject range includes lone human figures, objects and urban landscapes, usually with an aura of reflection or sadness. Over the years her painting acquires more realistic elements which enable her to approach the social reality in a critical mood. She uses simple forms to depict the graceless aspect of contemporary life in the grey urban settings, with clear allusions to the impact of the environmental degradation on the human soul.
In more recent works realism recedes in favour of a poetic and dreamy element. The images of the environment become at once more disturbing and lyrical, the landscape are almost imaginary and the human presence is rare.
From 1960 to 1971 she worked as a makeup artist in Greek and foreign films. She has written and illustrated children’s books, and designed covers for literary and academic books and albums. She collaborated also with Lexi magazine as art editor.
She has presented 15 solo exhibitions in Greece and participated in over 100 group shows in Greece and abroad. These include Panhellenic Exhibitions (1960, 1963, 1967, 1971, 1987), the 3eme Biennale des Jeunes (Paris, 1963), Peinture Grecque 1968-1988 (Brussels, 1988), Contemporary Greek Art, Review of a Collection 1975-1987 (National Gallery, 1988), etc. A book with her paintings and texts was published by Eurasia Publications in 2010. Her works can be found in public and private collections in Greece.