About Dimitri in English
Early life
Papadimos was born in Cairo, Egypt of Greek parents in 1918. His father was from mainland Greece, Pelion, and his mother from the Greek island of Imbros At a young age, Papadimos lost both his parents.
Career
Dimitri Papadimos met the British architect Austen St. Barbe Harrison, in Cairo in the late 1930s. In 1939, Austen Harrison sent Papadimos to study cinematography in Paris but the outbreak of World War II put an early end to his studies. During WWII, Papadimos served as «War Photographer» for the Greek Forces that fought by the side of the Allies. Throughout his professional career he met many European writers, including Robin Maugham, Patrick Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross, A. W. Lawrence, Philip Sherrard, Francis Noel-Baker and Arab intellectuals such as Hassan Fathy; and was the contributing photographer to many of their works (see Books with photographs by Dimitri Papadimos).
Papadimos’ photographs illustrated many magazines and books of travel literature, including Business & Finance, Tourism in Greece, Harper’s Bazaar, La Famme Nouvelle, Loisirs, News of the World and Parade. At the same time, he presented his work in exhibitions, 1949-«Life and Landscape in the Middle East» British Institute, Cairo, 1950-«XIIeme Salon National de Photographie», Palais Khedive Ismail, Societe des Amis de l’Art, 1952-«Exposition Mondiale de la Photographie» Luzern Suisse mainly in Cairo and Athens. He moved to Athens in 1956. He traveled throughout Greece, from Thrace to Crete, photographing the land extensively. In 1974, the publishing house «Olkos» published his album Greece: A vanishing culture. In 1981 the second edition of his album appeared, published by the publishing house «Nea Synora». He collaborated with the Museum of Greek Folk Art and the Hellenic Tourism Organization (EOT). He became connected with many artists, including Lawrence Durrell, Jean Cocteau, Austen St. Barbe Harrison, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Melina Mercouri, Robin Maugham, and Philip Sherrard photographing them and their work. He worked in the production of motion pictures, both Greek and foreign such as Jules Dassin, a 1957 French film, He Who Must Die, Phaedra, Carl Forman’s The Guns of Navarone and Lawrence Durrell’s film The Spirit of Place, a BBC documentary about Egypt. He lived the last years of his life, from 1986 to his death, on the island of Spetses. Papadimos died in Athens in 1994, aged 76.
Dimitri Papadimos Archive
The «Dimitri Papadimos archive» was donated to European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA)- The Hellenic Literary and Historical Archive, part of the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation (MIET)[9] during the autumn of 1994, a few months after his death. The donation was made by his widow, Liana Papadimou and his son Ioannis D.Papadimos (Yani), according to his wishes.