Theodoros Stamos is notable for his early use of color to explore possibilities of abstraction and form in painting. Youngest of the first generation of Abstract Expressionist painters and youngest member of the “Irascibles,” the vanguard group of American artists memorialized in Nina Leen’s 1950 photograph, Stamos developed an expressive color field process (Color Field Painting) or Post-Painterly Abstraction as Clement Greenberg referenced this painting style. Stamos, a major contributor to the Color Field Movement, was once quoted as saying:
“…my feeling was to create more infinity with color…”
Born in 1922 to Greek immigrant parents on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Stamos began his formal study of art in 1936 with a scholarship to the American Artists School. Under the guidance of his teacher, Joseph Solman, and Betty Parsons, who gave him his first solo exhibition at the Wakefield Gallery in 1943, Stamos pursued his interest in painting and began studying surrealist literature. Influenced by automatism and the work of William Baziotes, Stamos began to employ indeterminate psychosomatic forms as subjects. An Abstract Expressionist, Stamos joined the likes of Pollock, de Kooning, and Rothko to become the youngest member of The Irascible Eighteen during the late 1940s, and his work is now credited as a precursor to the Color Field movement. Stamos went on to teach at prominent institutions such as the Art Students League of New York, Cummington School of Fine Arts, and Black Mountain College. He continues to be exhibited by more than fifty major museums and institutions worldwide. He died in his father’s hometown of Lefkada, Greece in 1997.
Stamos' Lefkada Series reflects his deep emotional responses to the light, mood, and color of the landscapes he encountered during his extensive travels, especially in his beloved homeland of Greece, with particular focus on the island of Lefkada. Beginning in Lefkada, where Stamos lived part-time from 1970 until his death in 1997, the series was inspired by the island’s natural beauty, history, and mythology, while also serving as a distillation of Stamos' personal history and Greek heritage.
Rather than simply depicting the external world, this work captures Stamos’ inner emotions, thoughts, and state of mind. Spanning many years, the Lefkada Series reflects his intimate reflections on nature, humanity, and history. Among his body of work, this series is particularly passionate, evoking a "sensual" and "earthy" quality. At its core, Stamos' art holds a deeply spiritual essence, rooted in his profound love for nature and his ongoing search for universal human themes.
Theodoros Stamos is also known for his early exploration of color as a means to abstract form and create new possibilities in painting. As the youngest member of the first generation of Abstract Expressionist painters and the Irascibles*, Stamos developed an expressive color field technique, later referred to as Post-Painterly Abstraction by critic Clement Greenberg.
*The Irascibles were a group of American artists who, in 1950, famously protested the conservative selection process of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Painting Today exhibition. Led by painter Robert Motherwell, the group included notable figures such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko. United by their rejection of academic art traditions, the Irascibles championed Abstract Expressionism and played a pivotal role in shifting the center of the art world to New York. Their defiance marked a crucial moment in the evolution of modern American art.