Greek Masters at Sotheby's London
June Samaras
http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=19983
LONDON, ENGLAND.- Over 800 paintings have been sold and over 50 world
record prices achieved since Sotheby's held its first Greek Sale in
London in 2001. These successes reflect interest from a global
audience and the internationalizing of the Greek market, which is
galvanized by the active participation of collectors and institutions
around the world.
On Thursday, May 10, 2007 Sotheby's will present the first of its 2007
biannual sales of Greek art at its New Bond Street galleries in
London. The sale will include 135 paintings and sculpture, among which
are five works by Konstantinos Maleas (1879-1928). At the beginning of
the 20th century, painters such as Maleas, Parthenis and Papaloukas
endeavoured to create a genuine and modern form of plein air painting.
Using as his models French post-impressionism, Fauvism and Nabis
symbolism, Maleas tried to capture the idiosyncrasies of the Greek
light and the varying landscapes of his homeland. Often executed
outdoors with spatulas on small pasteboard or wooden panels, Maleas'
poetic landscapes feature a supremely gestural approach. Maleas
travelled to Naxos in 1920 and it is likely that the work in this sale
– Naxos – was painted during this trip (est. £50,000-70,000;
€74,000-103,000).
Along the Shore by Michalis Economou (1888-1933), one of three works
by the artist included in this sale, is a superb example of Economou's
lyrical and poetic landscapes, showing a characteristic delicate sense
of atmosphere conveyed through the use of a restrained palette of
earthy tones accentuated by the vibrant blue of the sea and the red
sail in the foreground (est. £60,000-80,000; €88,500-118,000). The
inherent calmness of the scene is heightened by the reflection of the
moon in the tranquil sea. Economou initially went to Paris in 1906 to
study architecture, but soon changed his mind and enrolled at the
Academie des Beaux-Arts instead. The 20 years during which he lived
and worked in France had a profound effect on his oeuvre.
Constantinos Volanakis (1837-1907), 'the bard of the Greek sea', was
one of the most important figures in marine painting during the 19th
century. A member of the Munich school, where he initially studied
under Karl von Piloty, Volanakis executed some of his most famous
works in the Bavarian capital during his stay there from 1864-1883.
Painted in Munich, Pushing out to sea (est. £100,000-150,000;
€148,000-221,000) is a typical example of the bold and modern style
that Volanakis employed in striving to produce a marine aesthetic
capable of enobling the sea, and those who live by it for whom it is
the basis of their livelihood. This work is both lyrical and
atmospheric in its immediacy and spontaneity of execution. This sale
also includes the artist's Volos Harbour at night, estimated at
£80,000-120,000 (€118,000-177,000).
Like his teacher Parthenis, Yannis Moralis (b. 1916) was inspired by
the art of Greek antiquity, re-inventing it, using a new idiom.
However, unlike Parthenis, whose work is characterized by soft and
sweeping contours, Moralis preferred starkly geometric forms,
reflecting his lifelong interest in mosaic art which he studied as a
student in Paris. Moralis' abstract works from the late 1970s and
early 1980s, of which Figure I (est. £100,000-150,000;
€148,000-221,000) is a fine example, show a preoccupation with solid
compositional structure and a delicate balance between geometric
vocabulary of form and curved lines.
Widely regarded as Greece's leading expressionist painter, Georgios
Bouzianis (1885-1959) was deeply influenced by the avant-garde
currents with which he came into contact while in Munich from
1907-1934. Whilst in Germany, Bouzianis became associated with the two
groups of Expressionist painters Die Brücke – which counted among its
members Kirchner, Schmitt-Rottluff, Pechstein and Nolde, and Der blaue
Reiter, led by Kandinsky and Franz Marc. Commissioned by Bouzianis'
patron and agent Heinrich Barchfeld, Vater mit Söhnen (Father and
Sons) was painted at the height of the artist's Munich period, cut
short by the rise of the Nazis in the early 1930s, and epitomizes
Bouzianis' preoccupation with colour over form. It is estimated at
£100,000-150,000 (€148,000-221,000).
Together with Parthenis and Maleas, Nikolaos Lytras (1883-1927) is
considered to be a pioneer of 20th-century Greek painting. Like many
of his contemporaries, he studied at the Munich academy under Ludwig
von Löfftz and Karl von Piloty. The son of Munich master Nikiforos
Lytras, Nikolaos Lytras created an aesthetic bridge between
romanticism and modernism in Greek painting. In 1914 Lytras took part
in a group exhibition with Gerassimos Dialismas in Corfu. Portrait of
the Painter Gerassimos Dialismas (est. £30,000-50,000; €44,200-74,000)
was most likely painted prior to that exhibition circa 1905-1910. The
sale includes a further two works by the artist, including a charming
seascape and a landscape study.
This year's Greek sale will also include works by Theodoros Vyrzakis,
Constantinos Parthenis, Nikolaos Gysis, Nikiforos Lytras, Pericles
Pantazis, Polychronis Lembessis, Nicholaos Vokos, Alecos Fassianos,
Vlassis Caniaris, Alexis Akrithakis, Pavlos, Nikos Nikolaou, Theodoros
Stamos among others as well as ten works by Nikos Kessanlis.
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June Samaras
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