Effie P. Michelis (1906-1984)
Effie Michelis, née Marangou, the wife of Panayotis Michelis, was born in Athens.
She made her artistic début in 1952 with paintings in the naïve style that retain a childlike freshness.
She participated in all the national art exhibitions from 1952 to 1973, as well as in many group exhibitions both in Greece and abroad.
Her works are exhibited in many Greek and foreign art galleries and museums, and are included in private collections. Effie Michelis bequeathed most of her paintings to the Panayotis and Effie Michelis Foundation.
A member of several art organisations, Effie Michelis was a pioneer in founding the Fédération Internationale Culturelle Féminine, of which she was elected president in 1980. She worked with great zeal to found the Greek branch of the Fédération, and served as its president from 1974 to 1984.
She was a member of the Hellenic Society for Aesthetics and of the editorial board of the Society’s review Chronika Aisthetikes / Annales d’Esthétique / Annals for Aesthetics, to which she was a regular contributor. To honour and acknowledge her contribution to the review and the Hellenic Society for Aesthetics, volume 25-26/1986-87 of Chronika Aisthetikes was dedicated to her memory.
Effie Michelis established the Panayotis and Effie Michelis Foundation in 1979. She served as its first president and bequeathed it her entire estate.
The Panayotis and Effie Michelis Foundation has organised exhibitions of the paintings by Effie Michelis in Athens (2002), Rethymnon/Crete (2005), Berlin (2006) and Plovdiv/Bulgaria (2010).