It wasn’t the first time Elli Soyoultsoglu-Seraydariknown by pseudonym Nellie, photographed the landscape of Greece. Her interest arose immediately after she settled in Athens, at the end of 1924, with her trips to Santorini and her first visits to the Greek countryside. However, in the 1930s, her involvement with this particular topic was very specific.

“Don’t forget that Nellie has worked hard in her life to earn a living from her profession and has tried to expand the scope of her work as much as possible, from portraits, which have always fascinated her, to images for postcards and commissioned photographs in the studio or outside,” says photo historian Aliki Tsirgialou, head of the photo archive of the Benaki Museum.

Our discussion takes place after visit “K” in a photographer’s retrospective Benaki Piraeus Museum, launch today. This is a complete, tasteful exhibition of particular importance for the museum, which, on the one hand, is the custodian of the photographer’s valuable works, and, on the other hand, this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of the creation of its photographic archive. This particular presentation pays homage to the Aidini-born Greek photographer who, as Ms. Tsirgialou says, “changed the aesthetics and technique of photography in Greece during the interwar period, creating commercial yet high-quality works that combine the composition of the frame. with the aesthetic effect of the image. Meticulously documented after years of research at the Photo Archive, the exhibition re-acquaints the artist with contemporary audiences and develops around the three cities in which she formed her photographic vision: Dresden, where she studied in the early 1920s, Athens and a dynamic presence in the city’s photographic events and New York, where she settled in 1939. Her arrival in the USA coincided with her participation in the design of the Greek pavilion at the New York International Exhibition with 5 of her works.

But already from the beginning of the 1930s, turning her lens back to the landscape, in collaboration with the EOT, she tried to “give visual content to the concept of Greece”, as the curator of the Photo Archive of the Benaki Museum, Irini Buduri noticed, and Heraclis Papaioanna, curator of MOMUS – Museum of Photography in Thessaloniki, mentions in his text about this particular period in Nelly’s career. The subject matter was already known to her from earlier works, and she was able to perfectly combine the human form with the environment, emphasizing the beauty of the place, combined with its ancient Greek and Byzantine past.

The photographs of this period were staged, focusing on rural figures engaged in agricultural or pastoral work, and on moments of relaxation.

Tasks

Between 1935 and 1939, Nelly worked on assignment from the Deputy Minister of Press and Tourism (propaganda). She has traveled to Epirus and Crete and, as she wrote in her Self-Portrait, the editors of the foreign-language Greek travel magazine En Grèce traveled with her on tours, perhaps to guide her shots to some degree, Ms. says. Tsirgialow in his text for the exhibition catalogue. The magazine, in English, French and German, was addressed to potential foreign visitors to Greece and created an idealized image of the country that, after all, fit the silky political narrative.

All photographs of this period were staged. They focused on rural figures, often dressed in traditional clothing and depicted at agricultural or pastoral work or in moments of relaxation. People smiled and looked to the future with optimism. According to her, in the tour of Crete, the state wanted to demonstrate, along with the treasures of Minoan culture, the rugged beauty of Sfakia as a tourist destination, while highlighting the authentic Cretan way of life.

As part of her collaboration with the Ministry of Press and Tourism (propaganda), Nelly photographed in 1938 the celebration of the anniversary of the regime on 4 August and the great celebration at the Panathenaic Stadium with a parade of regional delegations and dancing. edited by Kula Pratsik.

The exhibition “At Nelli’s” and the publication of the same name are dedicated to Emilia Gerulan and the late Angelos Delivorrias. Duration until 23.07.