Lameras Lazaros

He came from the island of Tinos. His early studies were with Thomas Thomopoulos at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1932-1938). On an Academy of Athens scholarship, he continued at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris with Jean Boucher, winning the first prize in 1939. The outbreak of World War I forced him to interrupt his studies and return to Greece. He was founding member of the avant-garde group Akraioi (Extremists), led by Alekos Kontopoulos, established in 1949. In 1953, his Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner was awarded at an international competition and was subsequently on show at the Tate Gallery, London. In 1956, he was elected regular member of the International Institute of Letters and Arts and in 1957 received the first prize in sculpture by the Municipality of Athens.