Collection of Nelly’s originals goes on display on Crete

It's been some 50 years since Michalis Krasakis looked inside a wooden box at an antiques store in Cologne, Germany, described by the shopkeeper as containing "some stuff from Greece." It is the moment that marked the beginning of a passion for art photography that evolved to the extent that Krasakis now boasts one of the biggest private collections of authentic and certified copies of works by Elli Sougioultzoglou-Seraidari, known by her artistic name Nelly's.

Kathimerini reached out to the Greek collector ahead of an exhibition of Nelly's work at the Hania Municipal Gallery on Crete, to learn what happened after that day in Cologne.

Russian dancer Elizaveta 'Lila' Nikolska photographed in what was a scandalous pose at the time, on the Acropolis, in 1929-1930.

"There were two black-and-white photographs of the Santorini volcano in that box, and as soon as I picked...