Last summer, the French auction house FauveParis celebrated the great success of its auction “Alkis Pierrakos, le dernier expressionniste”. All the works came from the private collection of businessman and physician Thomas F. Widmann. With 100% of the lots sold, this was a “white glove” sale, with a total of 37,185 euros including fees. Among the fans, well-known Franco-Greek presenter Nikos Aliagas is a great admirer of Alkis Pierrakos’ paintings. Dr Thomas F. Widmann was a close friend of Alkis Pierrakos. You could even say they had a sort of father-son relationship. “Their friendship began when Widmann arrived in France to study medicine at the age of 22-23,” describes Dimitri Joannides, expert and shareholder of FauveParis, also responsible for the sale. Widmann was an outstanding scientist and cardiologist. For many years, the Basel billionaire stole a few moments from his professional obligations to spend his afternoons and evenings conversing with Alkis Pierrakos about art. “It was a real breath of fresh air and a spiritual uplift for him,” adds Dimitri Joannides. The fact that Alkis Pierrakos studied at the Basel School of Fine Arts in 1949 brought the two men even closer together. Moreover, as Dimitri Joannides points out today, Pierrakos was one of the few Greek artists to have acquired German culture before moving to Paris in 1954. Thomas F. Widmann has prospered so much that he managed to sell his company Actelion, one of Switzerland’s most powerful pharmaceutical giants, to Johnson & Johnson in 2018 for $30 billion (!). Throughout his life, Thomas F. Widmann frantically purchased works by Alkis Pierrakos, the only Greek in his collection. Next to him, Nikos Aliagas could be considered an amateur collector, since he is not known for his assiduous visits to galleries and auction rooms. But he remains a man of Art. And so his story intersects with that of Widmann and Pierrakos.
When Nikos Aliagas was young, around 25, he studied journalism in Paris and was a very close friend of Pierrakos. The latter was even his mentor in the art world. “I remember reading poems Nikos had written when he was young in Pierrakos’ studio. He’s a very cultured and educated person, and always open to Art,” adds Dimitri Joannides about Nikos Aliagas. Although he declined to comment on the buyers of the Widmann Collection sale, Dimitri Joannides did confirm that Nikos Aliagas owns several works by Alkis Pierrakos, with a soft spot for black and white drawings. Perhaps it has something to do with his love of black-and-white photography, since the star presenter is also a well-known photographer. That’s why Dimitri Joannidès suggested he organize an exhibition featuring only Pierrakos’ black-and-white drawings and his own photographs. “I hope it happens one day,” he concludes, pointing out that the Pierrakos market is gaining an ever wider audience year after year.