Coup d’État

Painter, cartoonist and set designer Minos Argyrakis was born in Smyrna in 1920 and grew up in Athens where his family had fled in 1922.

He studied at the Athens School of Economics and Business. He failed twice the entrance exams to the Athens School of Fine Arts (1943, 1946) and then pursued independent painting studies. Since 1953 he was a contributor to newspapers and magazines in Greece and abroad working as a cartoonist (Eleftherotypia, Avgi, London Magazine, Combat) wand also worked as a set designer. In 1964, together with Yannis Tsarouchis and E. Spatharis, he founded the avant-garde Kivotos tis Ammou (Κιβωτός της Άμμου) theatre in Plaka. He also published albums and illustrated diaries and books.

From 1967 to 1974 he lived in London, Stockholm, Spain, London, Denmark and Paris. His works were presented in several solo and group exhibitions in Greece and abroad, and he also took part in the Pan-Hellenic exhibitions of 1948 and 1952 and the Tolentino Biennale in Italy (1963). Minos Argyrakis died in 1998 in Athens. He was a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece.