John Christoforou

JOHN CHRISTOFOROU (Greece, 1921 – United Kingdom, 2014).
Untitled.
Lithograph, print no. VI/XXXV.
Signed and numbered by hand.
Measurements: 77 x 52.5 cm.

John Christoforou developed a highly visually powerful expressionist style, characterized by distorted figures and compositions with intense emotional impact. His work combines elements of abstraction and figuration through thick black outlines, vibrant colors, and organic forms that convey tension, movement, and a strong psychological charge. Associated with the Nouvelle Figuration movement, his painting explores the human condition through a gestural, spontaneous, and deeply expressive language.

A British artist of Greek origin, John Christoforou spent his childhood in Greece but returned to London in 1938; after serving in World War II, he held his first exhibition in 1949. In 1957, he moved to Paris, where he participated in an exhibition at the Rive Gauche gallery alongside Enrico Baj, Jorn, and Mihailovitch. Throughout his career, he held major exhibitions in various countries and worked closely with the Birch Gallery in Copenhagen, where a tribute exhibition was dedicated to him following his death in 2014. His work is currently represented in prominent collections such as the Tate Gallery in London, the Frissiras Museum in Greece, the Fonds National d’Art Contemporain in Paris, and the Museums of Fine Arts in Randers and Silkeborg, Denmark.