The painter and hagiographer (iconographer) Stefanos Sgouros was born in Poulades, Corfu, in 1924 and passed away in Corfu in 2017.
He was the son and student of the painter and hagiographer Dionysios Sgouros. He studied painting at the Istituto Volontà in Rome, graduating in 1952 with honorary titles and distinctions. He subsequently settled in Ano Korakiana, Corfu.
He worked with oil painting and predominantly with watercolor, painting landscapes, as well as portraits, genre scenes, and still lifes. From 1947 onwards, he dedicated himself to hagiography, creating icons and banners for numerous churches in Corfu and private collections, as well as ceiling paintings (ouranies) in the Holy Churches of the Panagia (Most Holy Theotokos) of Agioi Theodoroi in Lefkimmi, the Panagia Odigitria in Pelekas, the Pantokrator in Evropouloi, Agios Spyridon in Saroko, and Agios Nikolaos in Korakiana.
He regularly contributed articles to newspapers and magazines, and published poetry collections, essays, and novels, such as Watercolor (Athens, 1995), The Painting of Words (Athens, 2003), and Corfiot Painters of the 19th-20th Century (Athens, 2004).
He was a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece (EETE) and the Hellenic Authors’ Society.
He held solo exhibitions in Corfu and participated in group exhibitions in Corfu and Brussels (1975). Retrospective exhibitions of his work were held at the Municipal Gallery of Corfu in 2005 and at the “Leandros M. Spartiotis” Art Gallery in Preveza in 2011.
His works are held in the Corfu Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of the Municipality of Central Corfu and Diapontia Islands, the Reading Society of Corfu, the Museum of Modern Greek Art of the Municipality of Rhodes, private collections, as well as his family’s private collection.