Achilleas Droungas (1940–2015) | City Under Siege II | Original Signed Etching | 1973

City Under Siege II  was created during the final year of Achilleas Droungas' studies at the Slade School of Fine Art in London in 1973, by that pint he  had already established himself as an accomplished printmaker, exhibiting internationally.

This is printed from an unusually shaped plate that extends beyond the conventional rectangular format, allowing the composition to break the boundary of the image. A subtle but telling indication of Droungas' concern for composition and spatial design.

Biography 

Achilleas Droungas was one of the most distinctive figures in post-war Greek art, celebrated for paintings and prints that combine extraordinary technical precision with a quietly psychological sense of space. Rather than depicting dramatic events, he transformed ordinary objects, architecture and empty interiors into carefully constructed compositions that invite prolonged looking.

Born in Piraeus in 1940, Droungas studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts between 1959 and 1964 under the renowned printmaker Kostas Grammatopoulos, developing the exceptional draughtsmanship and compositional discipline that became the foundation of his career. In 1970 he was awarded a scholarship to London's prestigious Slade School of Fine Art, where he studied printmaking under Anthony Gross and Bartolomeu dos Santos, two of the most influential printmakers of the twentieth century. This period proved pivotal, refining both his technical ability and the distinctive visual language for which he would later become known.

Before achieving widespread recognition as a painter, Droungas established an international reputation as a printmaker. He represented Greece in major international print exhibitions including the Alexandria Biennale, the Ljubljana Biennale, XYLON Geneva, the International Woodcut Exhibition in Milan, and print biennales in Norway and Kraków. His work was recognised not only for its technical excellence but for its ability to create atmosphere through structure, restraint and carefully orchestrated space.

Although often described as a realist, Droungas was never interested in realism for its own sake. His paintings are meticulously constructed rather than simply observed. Architecture, classical fragments and everyday objects become the protagonists, arranged with almost theatrical precision to create works that feel at once familiar and quietly enigmatic. Critics have frequently placed his work somewhere between realism, surrealism and magic realism, yet it ultimately defies easy categorisation.

This print dates from 1973, the final year of Droungas' studies at the Slade School of Fine Art and the period immediately before his return to Greece and his first major solo exhibition at Zoumboulakis Gallery in Athens. It captures a formative moment in his career, when the technical brilliance of his printmaking was already fully established and the visual language of his celebrated paintings was beginning to emerge.

Today, Droungas' paintings are held in the National Gallery of Greece and major public and private collections, with his mature oils commanding increasingly strong prices as appreciation for his work continues to grow. His prints remain an accessible way to acquire the work of an artist widely regarded as one of the most important figures in modern Greek art.