Memos Makris leaves for Paris aboard the liberty ship "Mataroa"

In the aftermath of 'Dekemvriana" the French Institute of Athens and its director Octave Merlier offer a number of scholarships for young scientists and artists to study in France. On December 21st the "Mataroa" transports the Greek recipients from Peireus to Taranta to board the train to Paris. Among them, there were painters NtikosVyzantios, Anna Kindyni, PavlosPantelakis, Eleni Stathopoulou, Konstantinos Grammatikopoulos, sculptors Bela Raftopoulou, Konstantinos Valsamis, Kostas Andreou, Kostas Koulentianos, FrosoEfthimiadi, and, lastly, Agamemnon (Memos) Makris (1913-1993.) Makris was a student of Michalis Tombros and Thanasis Apartis at the School of Fine Arts, where he had exhibited a very mature style of work.

At the same time, he had been active in the Resistance. In France, Makris excelled, but he was expelled from the country in 1950. He settled in Hungary, where he managed to establish himself as one of the most well-known European sculptors of the post-war era. His sculptural oeuvre depicted his vision for a better, socialist world with humanity in its center.