Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas was born in
Athens on 26 February 1906. His father, the admiral
Alexandros Hadjikyriakos, and his mother Princess Eleni
Ghika both played an important role in the
Greek War of Independence of 1821. He first exhibited his artwork when he was 17 in 1923 at the
Société des Artistes Indépendants (
Salon des Indépendants) and not long afterwards took part in several group exhibits at the
Salon des Tuileries and the
Salon des surindépendants. and in the international exhibitions of Paris and
Venice. A year later in 1935 he shared an exhibition again with
Michael Tombros along with painter Gounaro, an event which, just like his previous shared exhibit in 1928 considerably stirred the athenian art world. Moreover, he arranged a further retrospective, this time containing a hundred of his paintings, at the
Whitechapel Gallery in London, in 1968 and in 1970 he was awarded The First Prize in Fine Arts by the
Academy of Athens (modern) which in 1973 nominated him to a full membership. which focuses on the friendship of Ghika, the artist
John Craxton, and the writer
Patrick Leigh Fermor; their shared love of Greece was fundamental to their work. ==Aspirations==