Antoine Malliarakis Mayo

Born in Egypt to a Greek father and French mother, Antoine Malliarakis Mayo is known for producing intriguing paintings with a dreamlike quality. Mayo moved to Paris in 1924 with the aim of studying architecture, but after becoming acquainted with several members of the Surrealist movement, including its pioneer André Breton, alongside René Crevel, Robert Desnos and Man Ray, he chose to focus instead on painting. Mayo began exhibiting his work, participating in a show in 1929 at the Galerie des Quatre Chemins with the Italian, Greek-born artist and writer Giorgio de Chirico, but left Paris for Egypt at the beginning of the economic crisis in 1934. He later returned to France and, as well as painting, carved out a successful career as a theatre and cinema costume and scenery designer. Landmark shows included a solo exhibition at the Dina Viemy Gallery (1948), participation in a Surrealist collective at the Charpentier Gallery (1964) and a major retrospective at the Annunziata Gallery, Milan (1972-73). An exhibition of his work at the Institut Français, Athens in 1983 marked the first time that his work was shown in Greece.