Irene Leontakianakou is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering of the University of the Aegean, in the subject area of "History of Art”. She holds a PhD (2000), a MA (DEA) (1995) and a bachelor’s degree (Maîtrise) (1994) in the field of History of Art from the Sorbonne University (Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne I), Paris, France, where she studied with a scholarship granted by the Alexander S. Onasis Public Benefit Foundation. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Conservation of works of Arts (Technological Educational Institute, Athens, Greece). She was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (INHA), Paris, in 2019, and at Princeton University Center of Hellenic Studies (Princeton, USA) in 2008. Between 2005 and 2017, she was an adjunct lecturer in the Hellenic Open University, in the undergraduate program «European Civilisation» (2007-2017) and the postgraduate program «Graphics & Multimedia» (2005-2007). Between 2001 and 2009, she taught several courses in Art history and theory, as well as in Art conservation theory, in the Graphic Design Dpt. and the Conservation of Antiquities & Works of Arts Dpt. of the Faculty of Graphic Arts & Design, Technological Educational Institute in Athens. Between 2000 and 2013 she worked as an Art historian-Curator of exhibitions at the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, at the Directorate of Conservation of Ancient & Modern Monuments (2000-2002) and at the Dpt. of Exhibitions and Museum Research, Directorate of Museums (2003-2013). Her research interests focuses on the appropriation of western elements in the Eastern Mediterranean religious painting (13th-18th c.). She also works on different issues of iconography and style that denote the interaction between the East and the Latin West in religious painting during the Late Medieval Era and later (16th, 17th c.). Moreover, she focuses on the analysis of particular works of art or cultural phenomena -such as the gradual abandonment of the “byzantine tradition” in the Ionian Islands in the late 17th c.- which reflect ideological and identity issues within the framework of multicultural societies. Among her recent research interests is the artistic and curatorial perspective of the ‘Garden’. She has a rich teaching experience at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, teaching courses on diachronic surveys and particular periods of history of art and design, theory of art, as well as art conservation theory. Within the undergraduate program of Product and Systems Design Engineering Dpt., the art history and design history courses offer the theoretical background to some studios, such as Studio I, II (Color & Drawing) and Studio V, VI (Product Design), in a number of selected topics, i.e. civilization of Ancient Egypt, China-Japan, Ancient Greece and The Garden. She has successfully accomplished the supervision of final thesis of undergraduate students.
Research Interests
- Eastern Mediterranean religious painting (13th-18th c.): iconography and style, appropriation of western elements, devotional background, social issues.
- Analysis of particular works of art or cultural phenomena -such as the gradual abandonment of the “byzantine tradition” in the Ionian Islands in the late 17th century- which reflect ideological and identity issues within the framework of multicultural societies.
- Religious icon: technology and history of art (a multidisciplinary approach revealing intercultural relations)
- Garden as an artistic and curatorial theme
- 2000 PhD in History of Art, University of Sorbonne (Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne), Paris, France. Τhesis: “L’œuvre peint d’Emmanuel Tzanes. Contribution à l’étude de l’Ecole Crétoise” [trans. “The artistic production of Emmanuel Tzanes Bouniales (ca 1610-1690). Contribution to the study of the Cretan School”]. Thesis grade: “Très honorable avec félicitations”. Alexander S. Onasis Public Benefit Foundation Scholarship.
- 1995 MA (D.E.A., Diplôme des Etudes Approfondies) in Archaeology of Historic Periods, University of Sorbonne (Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne), Paris, France. Alexander S. Onasis Public Benefit Foundation Scholarship.
- 1994 BA (Maîtrise) in History of Art & Archeology, University of Sorbonne (Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne), Paris, France.
- 1993 BA in Conservation of Works of Art, Faculty of Graphic Arts and Design, Conservation of Antiquities & Works of Arts Dpt., Technological Education Institute of Athens, Greece.
- Art Historian -curator of exhibitions, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Dpt. of Exhibitions and Museum Research, Directorate of Museums. Sept. 2002-Oct. 2004, Nov. 2006 – Jan. 2013
- Lecturer in Graphic Design Dpt. and Conservation of Antiquities & Works of Arts Dpt., Faculty of Graphic Arts & Design, Technological Educational Institute, Athens. Teaching courses: art history and theory, art conservation theory. Oct. 2004-June 2006.
- Art historian-conservator: Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Directorate of Conservation of Ancient & Modern Monuments, Aug. 2000-Sept. 2002
- Leontakianakou I., Alexopoulou A. (eds) (2022). Icons in the making: Art and Technology of icons in Greece and Ethiopia, 15th-18th century, Extended Abstracts of the Papers presented at the conference-workshop, Directorate of Conservation of Ancient and Modern Monuments-Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, National Printing House, Athens.
- Leontakianakou, I. (2022). L’allaitement de la Vierge : humain ou symbolique ? Le témoignage des images de l’orient Chrétien, Cahiers Archéologiques 59, 125-137.
- Leontakianakou, I. (2022). Icons of the Virgin Nursing at Sinai and the Question of the Origins of the Madonna dell’Umiltà, Πάντα ῥεῖ, Change in Thirteenth-Century Byzantine Architecture, Art, and Material Culture, Brepols Publishers, J. Albani, I. Christophoraki (eds.), Brepols Publishers, 127-145.
- Leontakianakou, I. (2021). Το άνοιγμα του κήπου: επιμελητικές και εκπαιδευτικές προτάσεις», Εκδοχές του Κήπου, [trans. The Opening of the Garden: Curatorial and Educational Proposals, Issues of the Garden], Fay Zika (ed.), 25-36.
- Leontakianakou, I. (2019). Western elements in icon painting in regions under Venetian rule and the early work of Theotokopoulos, Perceptions of El Greco in 2014, N. Hadjnicolaou, P. Κ. Ioannou (eds.), Benaki Museum, Society of Cretan Historical Studies, Institute for Mediterranean Studies, 28-47.
- Leontakianakou, I. (2011). Ζακυνθινά θωράκια και αφιερωματικές εικόνες: όψεις της εξέλιξης της θρησκευτικής ζωγραφικής στα Επτάνησα (1670-1830), Πεπραγμένα Ι΄ Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου (Οκτώβριος 2006), [trans. Thorakia of Zakynthos, Ex Votos and other aspects of post-byzantine icon in the Ionian islands, Proceedings of the 10th Congress of Cretan Studies], Β3, 13-32.
- Leontakianakou, I. (2009). Une création post-byzantine; l’archange Michel victorieux et psychopompe, Zograf, 33, 145-158.
- Leontakianakou, I. (2006). Από την Κρητική στην Επτανησιακή Σχολή. Μετάβαση από τη λατρευτική εικόνα στο θρησκευτικό πίνακα, [trans. From the Cretan to the Heptanesian School. Transition from votive icon to religious easel painting], Archaiologia, 99, 48-54.