Semertzides Valias

The Painter, Engraver Valias Semertzidis was born in 1911 in Krasnodar, Caucasus, to a Greek father and a Russian mother. In 1923 he came to Athens with his parents. In 1928 he enrolled in the School of Fine Arts, where in 1932, 1935-1936 he had a teacher, K. Parthenis. After his first participation in the TIF in 1935, he began to systematically exhibit his work as a member of the group "Free Artists" since 1937. Decisive events for the development of his painting were the war of 1940 and his active participation in the Resistance through the lines of EAM, he even collected, from his stay in the mountains, valuable material, which he later used in large compositions.

In 1946 he took part in the important exhibition of Greek art at the Royal Academy in London, while his first solo exhibition was at the Parnassos in 1957. The Alexandria Biennale and the International Leipzig Exhibition, Hermitage and Moscow followed. In Russia he held 25 exhibitions in various cities. In Ferrara in 1974, in the National Gallery in 1977 and many more. Shortly after the end of the war he began to engage in engraving. His apprenticeship with K. Parthenis is evident in the early phase of his work, especially in his landscapes. Another thematic area of ​​the period 1936-1940, portraits, moves in a purely idealistic context and often reveals his psychographic skill. He uses oil-tempera steadily - except for a few works in pastel - and often borrows engraving techniques to make the painting surface of his works rougher.
From 1964 until his death, in February 1983 he lived in Rhodes. Here he will find all the liveliness, beauty, mystery, variety and wealth he needed for his work. The eastern and mainly the western side of the island with the natural beauties the strong contrasts, the hinterland, the people gave Semertzidis many inspirations to create new works, to complete his older compositions, to create murals for hotels and public buildings.

In the late 60's and early 70's, a small album called RHODES was published, which included 8 engravings of his last work with a then new technique in metal and printed directly from the plates he carved.

In this edition, in the text written by the late Archaeologist Grigoris Konstantinopoulos, he states: experience, with knowledge, collection and strength and anticipation. The eyes of the painters and, I would say, the living flame of their soul, stirred the colors and made it volumes and shadows, so as to catch the trace of the place and its people, the toil and the purpose, when all this together they spoke to their souls. In this orbit to take a new step. The painter and engraver V. Semertzidis. The craftsman betrays himself through our images, which is both coarse and strong, both hot and hot. Where he met Rhodes, his soul carved his diava with the line either in Attaviros, or in the Castle, or in Lindos or in the dance. "Everywhere he invites us of his own flame to see the form and the texture, as the people and the breath of an island, Rhodes, moved his hand".
In 1983, a few months after his death, the Municipal Council approved the request of the naming committee and awarded him the highest honor, giving his name to one of the streets of the city of Rhodes.
The exhibition of Valias Semertzidis' permanent collection was inaugurated on December 1, 2020.