The Last Supper

On exhibition are two preliminary drawings on paper intended as Drossus P. Skyllas' Magnum Opus which was never realized as a painting measuring 42" x 442" and 87" x 191". Also on view, a study for a Crucifixion, 70" x 52", a completed painting, Madonna and Child, 1960-65, oil on canvas, 66" x 47", and a hand-written note stating the artist's wish to find a patron to complete The Last Supper.

Born on the island of Kalymnos in Greece in 1912, Drossos Skyllas was trained as an accountant when his father opposed his early interest in art. He worked for a time in his father's tobacco business before emigrating to the United States shortly after World War II. Settling in Chicago, and encouraged and supported by his wife Iola, he devoted himself solely to his early dream of creative fulfillment. Upon his death in 1973, his creative output consisted of thirty-five paintings — portraits and nudes in studied settings, landscapes, still-lifes and religious figures — all characterized by a meticulous attention to detail.

A perfectionist who even made his own brushes when he couldn't find any ready-made that would produce brushstrokes fine enough, Skyllas expressed the desire to do "only pure, realistic paintings" and believed that his work looked "100% like photographs." Everything is captured in a timeless present, seen face on. Painstaking concern and equal emphasis given to each minute detail produces an effect like that of a tapestry. Skyllas' achievement lies in the creation of something close to a romanticized medieval style, with a peculiar formality and stillness that approaches the fantastic.