Picture story about Eleftherios Venizelos (1962).
Fokion Dimitriadis, also known as Fokos Dimitriadis, was one of the most influential Greek political cartoonists of the 1950s and 1960s. Contributing mainly to the daily Ta Nea, he also appeared regularly in the newspaper Macedonia with picture story serials about historical subjects.
Early life and career
Fokion Dimitriadis (Φωκίων Δημητριάδης) was born in 1894 in Contantinople (present-day Istanbul), capital of the Ottoman Empire. At age 17, he began publishing his cartoons and drawings in publications of the School of Languages and Commerce of Constantinople, which he also attended. After having worked at a branch of the National Bank of Greece in Thessaloniki, he permanently settled in the city of Athens in 1918. Four years later, he fully focused on political cartooning, contributing to the newspapers Patris and Kathimerini, as well as the newly launched weekly Eleftheron Vima (later To Vima) and daily Athinika Nea (later Ta Nea). Especially present in the latter between 1953 and 1968, he created about 4,500-5,000 drawings for the newspaper's front pages. In addition, his cartoons were published internationally. Dimitriadis also made book illustrations, for instance for a Greek edition of 'Don Quixote', a picture story adaptation of Homer's 'Odyssey' and works by Georgios Roussos and Dimitrios Psathas.
"Everything's for the people." Lying on his back, the Greek citizen says to the politicians: "Thanks for your service. About your payment, wait until election time".
Style
Between 1945 and 1960, Dimitriadis was one of the most influential political cartoonists in Greece, working in the tradition of the cartoonist Themos Anninos. With a satirical and dynamic art style, accompanied by iconographic visualizations and eloquent humor, he perfectly captured the characteristics of certain politicians. Since Minister Konstantinos Tsatsos had staged a performance of age-old Greek play 'The Birds' in 1959, Dimitriadis constantly drew him in the company of a hen. Once, at an event, Tsatsos asked the cartoonist why he also drew him with a hen, Dimitriadis replied: "That's strange, dear minister, the hen asks me exactly the same thing!". Another famous depiction by Dimitriadis was of the politician Konstantinos Tsaldaris with a "panther goat". As it seemed, Dimitriadis was a fervent supporter of the forced "reformations" of exiled left-wing soldiers and civilians after the Greek Civil War at the Makronissos concentration camp.
"Waiting for Eisenhower", 1959 cartoon with Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis and his ministers Konstantinos Tsatsos (with hen), Evangellos Averof and Panagis Papaligouras.
Picture stories
During the 1960s, Dimitriadis was also a regular contributor to the newspaper Macedonia (Μακεδονία), which ran his political cartoons anonymously because of his official association with Ta Nea. Other notable contributions were a couple of educational picture stories to Macedonia's Sunday editions. Starting in the edition of 9 December 1962, the paper ran 25 weekly installments of a text comic depicting the life and work of the great Greek politician Eleftherios Venizelos (1864-1936). Each of the 350 images was accompanied by a short caption, written by the journalist Giorgos Maniatakos, while the graphic designer Yiannis Svoronos took care of the technical adaptation.
Nazi interrogation during the German occupation of Greece: Greek civilians were brutally tortured, before being sent to the concentration camp in Chaidari, a suburb of Athens.
This first picture story was followed, between 31 October 1965 and 23 January 1966, by a comic of 78 pictures about the epic battle of Stalingrad ('Η Εποποιία του Στάλινγκραντ'), which largely decided the war on the Eastern Front during World War II. On 20 October 1968, the newspaper began the serialization of a strip series by Dimitriadis entitled 'Spies That Changed the Course of the War' ('Κατασκοπείαι που άλλαξαν την πορεία του πολέμου'). In addition, Dimitriadis illustrated editorial series in Macedonia, for instance 'The Last Battle' (1967) about the fall of the Third Reich, and 'Oceans Are Burning', about the Pacific Front in World War II.
Greek people giving cigarettes to British soldiers, captured by the Germans.
Recognition
In 1961, Dimitriadis received the First Prize at the World Political Cartoon Competition in Los Angeles and in 1969, he was bestowed with the "Excellence in Letters and Arts" of the Academy of Athens.
Death and legacy
Fokos Dimitriadis died in Athens in 1977. Between 2000 and 2004, several posthumous Fokion Dimitriadis cartoon collections were released by the Evangelos Averoff-Tositsa Foundation and the publishing house Modern Times.
Fokion Dimitriadis.