From 4 August 1936, the dictatorial Regime established by Ioannis Metaxas imposed censorship and tried to bring intellectual activity under its control. In the ideological field he adopted the cause of Greekness, presenting it in a context of his own devising that reflected the nationalistic ideology he intended to establish. In this way he endeavoured to combine a return to tradition with classical Greek values - mainly with reference to the civilization of ancient Sparta. Literary and artistic creation was not interrupted; many intellectuals, however, were persecuted, while others came to terms with the new situation, each in his own way. Some chose silence, or defined their relationship to politics through the values they expressed in their literary works. Other prose writers exhibited a tendency for escapism, or nostalgia for the past. In this period the First Panhellenic Exhibition of (carefully selected) Artists was organized. At the same time the School of Fine Arts was reformed and works for public buildings were commissioned from Yorgos Gounaropoulos, Photis Kontoglou and Spyros Vasileiou.