The sculptor Kostas Dimitriadis studied in Athina, München, and Paris and worked in two studios in Paris and London. He was inspired by models from classical antiquity, as well as by more modern sculptors such as Auguste Rodin. In 1930 he returned to Greece to become director of the Athens School of Fine Arts. During his time in office he founded the first branch offices of the Academy and initiated the Greek participation in the Venezio Biennale in 1936. In 1932 he worked on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Syntagma Square in Athina. In 1936 he was elected a full member of the Athens Academy and in 1937 was awarded the “National Excellence in Arts and Letters”. He won the gold medal for his sculpture Finnish Discus Thrower. The statue stands in Randall’s Island Park in New York, but a copy was placed in front of the Panathinaikos Stadium in Athina, the site of the first Olympics.
Greece