Alexander Iolas lived a thousand lives. Born Konstantinos Koutsoudis in Alexandria in 1908, he adopted the pseudonym “Iolas” early on — a reference, in ancient Greek, to a companion of the mythological hero Heracles. The son of a Greek middle-class merchant family based in Egypt, he set his sights on an artistic career from adolescence. He chose dance, studying first in Athens at the age of seventeen, and later in Berlin.
In 1932, he arrived in Paris and enrolled at the Sorbonne to study art history. There, he formed several key relationships — notably with Florence Meyer, a socialite and photographer close to Man Ray and Constantin Brancusi. It was thanks to Meyer’s father, the influential owner of the Wall Street Journal, that Iolas would later obtain his green card in 1945. He also became close to Theodora Roosevelt, granddaughter of the American president and herself a dancer.
Iolas recounted that his love of modern art began in Paris in 1933, in a gallery on Rue Marignan, when he found himself mesmerised by Melancholy, a painting by Giorgio de Chirico. He bought the work on credit, and later described this moment of epiphany as the spark that would one day inspire him to open a gallery of his own.
Graceful and strikingly handsome, Alexander Iolas danced alongside George Balanchine at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, amongst other venues. He became a leading figure in the celebrated company of Jorge Cuevas Bartholin, known as the Marquis de Cuevas, and toured the world. But in 1944, an injury brought his stage career to an end. Iolas then embarked upon new path — that of the gallerist.
In a now-legendary interview, Iolas recounted that his love of modern art began in Paris in 1933, in a gallery on Rue Marignan, when he found himself mesmerised by Melancholy, a painting by Giorgio de Chirico. He bought the work on credit, and later described this moment of epiphany as the spark that would one day inspire him to open a gallery of his own.
By 1945, Iolas was living in New York, moving within the city’s artistic circles and forging a particularly close friendship with Max Ernst. In 1946, he took over the Hugo Gallery on 26th Street. And in 1953, he finally opened his own gallery in Manhattan — the first to bear his name alone.
