Fish

Michalis Tombros, who was descended from a family of marble-masons on Andros, studied sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts under Georgios Vroutos. He left for Paris in 1914, and there he served his apprenticeship at the Julian Academy in the studios of L.H. Bouchard and P.M. Landowski. In France, he came into contact both with Greek artists such as Nikos Hatzikyriakos-Ghikas and Gounaropoulos, and with pioneers such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Constantin Brancusi. Apart from his artistic contribution in the sphere of sculpture, Tombros contributed to the dissemination of modern art by publishing, from 1933, the '20th Century' journal in collaboration with Le Corbusier, Fernand Léger, Christian Zervo, and Nikos Hatzikyriakos-Ghikas.

Michalis Tombros, Antonis Sochos, and Thanasis Apartis formed the group of artists who brought about a renewal in sculpture in Greece during the 1930s and who, together with the painters of the inter-War years, contributed to a break with what was established, in urging art down new pathways. Whereas the Greek tradition still played an important role in the work of Sochos and Apartis, Tombros inaugurated a period of intense Europeanisation of his art. Within this context, of a departure from the 'Greekness' of the subject-matter, Tombros distanced himself from the domination of the human figure and enriched the range of his themes by exploring the world of animals, fish, flowers, and birds.