Lambros Orfanos: Expressions of engraving

The Historical Archive of National Bank of Greece (HA/NBG) is organizing a temporary exhibition dedicated to the pioneering Greek engraver Lambros Orfanos. The engraver, an employee of the Bank of Greece, contributed to the engraving of many Greek banknotes in 1960s and 1970s. His technique and the quality of his work enabled the Greek state to proceed securely with the engraving of banknotes within the country, without resorting to foreign companies as in the past. Orfanos’s work, however, was broader and extended to specialized printing works, i.e. security prints production for the Greek public sector (OGA, Hellenic Post, etc.), the majority of which were printed by the Aspiotis–ELKA Graphic Arts S.A. company, as well as to personal artistic creations. The HA/NBG exhibition seeks, through micro-narratives, to present his work in a comprehensive way and trace, at the same time, his activity in the international environment through material evidence of his work. 

 

The exhibition is organized by HA/NBG in collaboration with the engraver’s son, Minos Orfanos, who has kindly provided almost all of the exhibited items for this purpose. Some of these items have already been incorporated, as his own donation, into the permanent collections of HA/NBG. A small number of exhibits are loans from other institutions such as archival material from the Bank of Greece and the artist’s self-portrait from the collection of the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece (MIET). 

 

The works of Lambros Orfanos are displayed within the exhibition halls of the Megaro Diomidi, where they function interpretively in conjunction with the historical material of individual thematic sections of the permanent exhibitions. These concern the history of the Greek banknote (1822–2002), the history of the National Bank, and aspects of the company development of the Aspiotis–ELKA Graphic Arts S.A. As a result, a new exhibition narrative is created in dialogue with the existing ones, thus enhancing the interpretive value of the exhibits while enriching the overall experience of visitors to HA/NBG. 

 

Free admission