Chryssa

Chryssa Vardea-Mavromichali was a Greek American artist who worked in a wide variety of media. An American art pioneer in light art and luminist sculpture, known for her neon, steel, aluminum and acrylic glass installations, she always used the mononym Chryssa professionally. She worked from the mid-1950s in New York City studios and worked since 1992 in the studio she established in Neos Kosmos, Athens, Greece.

Chryssa was born in Athens into the famous Mavromichalis family from the Mani Peninsula. Her family, while not rich, was educated and cultured; one of her sisters, who studied medicine, was a friend of the poet and novelist Nikos Kazantzakis. Shortly before her birth, Chryssa's father passed away, she was raised by her mother and two older sisters.

Chryssa grew up in Nazi-occupied Greece, which she later cites as formative to her art practice. The Greek resistance would write messages on the walls at night, which served as both a critical means for communication to citizens and an early lesson on the power of letters and symbols. As a child, she was imprisoned on three separate occasions during the German and Italian occupation.

Chryssa began painting during her teenage years and also studied to be a social worker. In 1953, on the advice of a Greek art critic, her family sent her to Paris to study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière where André Breton, Edgard Varèse, and Max Ernst were among her associates and Alberto Giacometti was a visiting professor.

In 1954, at age twenty-one, Chryssa sailed for the United States, arrived in New York, and went to San Francisco to study at the California School of Fine Arts. Returning to New York in 1955, she became a United States citizen and established a studio in the city. April of 1955, Chryssa has her first experience at Times Square, which would become a major influence for her work. In the same year, she married fellow artist Jean Varda and moved to Sausalito. The couple separated in 1958 and divorced in 1965. Although never an official resident of the Coenties Slip, Chryssa was associated with a group of artists connected by this residence. During this time, Chryssa had a relationship with Agnes Martin.

Her image is included in the iconic 1972 poster Some Living American Women Artists by Mary Beth Edelson.

At the age of 79, Chryssa died of heart-related problems, in Athens, Greece, on December 23, 2013.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2024