Misty morning

American Abstraction

American Abstraction at the Thysse- Bornemisza Museum, Madrid.

It was such a pleasure seeing these paintings, particularly those of O'Keefe.

Georgia O'Keefe, Shell and Old Shingle, 1926, (oil on canvas)

In the early 1920s O'Keefe produced isolated images of simple shapes found in nature such as shells, bones and flowers, in reaction to the excessive intellectualisation and insularity to which painting was being subjected at the time. 'We were shingling the barn and the old shingles, taken off, were free to fly around. Absentmindedly I picked up a loose one and carried it into the house and up to the table in my room. On the table was a white clam shell brought from Maine in the spring. I had been painting it and it still lay there. The white shape of the shell and the grey shape of the weathered shingle were beautiful against the pale grey leaf of the faintly pink-lined pattern of the wallpaper. Adding the shingle got me painting again'.

Georgia O'Keefe, From the Plains II, 1954, (oil on canvas)

The vastness of the plains of Texas is imposing, heightened by the horizontal format of the canvas and by the flaming colours of the sunset. O'Keefe commented on this painting that 'the colour is just plain colour out of the tube - red and orange to lemon - it shocks me so that I'm rather struck with it - I don't know what it will get to'.

O'Keefe has simplified and enhanced the abstraction of the image in order to provide a visual equivalent of her memories. 'My first memory is of the brightness of light - light all around you', she said on one occasion. Her obssession with the light, which had moved her so greatly in Texas, led her to spend long periods away from New York from 1929 onwards in radiant New Mexico, and she settled permanently in the small village of Abiquiu in 1949. In these remote parts the luminosity of her paintings became even more transparent. She also used increasingly large formats to adapt to the imposing scale of the desert landscape.

Georgia O'Keefe, White Iris No. 7, 1957, (oil on canvas)

As in her other paintings of flowers, O'Keefe depicts the iris as if viewed from a close-up camera lens. Also derived from the photographic framing technique is the manner of cutting off the subject-matter at the edges, a device that further adds to the abstraction of her compositions.

Close-up views of flowers were a frequent theme in O'Keefe's artistic output. These images have very often been explained from a gender perspective and nearly always interpreted as having a sexual significance. The painter systematically rejected what she considered an erroneous interpretation, as evidenced by the text she published in the catalogue of the exhibition held in the New York gallery in 1939, in which she stated: 'Well - I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see of the flower - and I don't'. Wonderful!

Jackson Pollock, Brown and Silver 1, 1951

Pollock, one of the foremost practitioners of Action Painting, began to work on his first drip paintings in 1947. From then on, he firmly espoused the idea of automatism, an automatism derived largely from Surrealism. 'When I'm in the painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing', he said. Furthermore, with the invention of the drip technique, he gave up easel painting and for the first time avoided any direct contact between the artist and the canvas: 'I continue to move further and further away from the painter's usual tools like easel, palettes, brushes and so on. I prefer sticks, spoons, knives, flowing paint that I drip or a thick paste with sand, ground glass and other unusual materials'.

He has applied the brown paint straight from the tin, using sticks and dry paintbrushes and has approached the composition from all four sides.

As the painting is not signed, it is not possible to ascertain its correct position.

Willem de Kooning, Abstraction, 1949-51

In this painting, De Kooning reveals a new conception of painting based on gesture and colour - an accomplished style of his own that is far removed from any previous modern language. Despite being titled Abstraction, this composition is based on traditional pictorial motifs, and is infused with figurative references.

The iconography of death, present in the skull in the lower right corner and the symbolic representation of Golgotha in the ladder and post to the right of the composition, contrasts with the unusually distorted and brutal pink and yellowish flesh tones. The force and mobility of the planes and figures result in a confusing image of life and death.

Eating and drinking in Styra

Whilst we were in Nea Styra we stayed in Hotel Sunday, the modern building on the left of this picture. They did own the Neo-Classical building on the right as well, the ground floor serving as the bar of the hotel - I don't know about the rest of the building. It's a boutique hotel and it's wonderful - we loved our room.

This was the view from our balcony

We had breakfast here - at the front of the hotel, an area that was open when the weather is good, but could be closed off with glass in winter or when it got chilly.

We had our pre-dinner drinks here. As I said in my previous post, we walked to Kefala on our first day, saw this place, like dit, so came back in the afternoon. The next day we tried somewhere else, but did not like it as much, so, this place, Ammos, became our place every afternoon.

There were lots of other bars of course, but as it was the end of season, some had closed and some had this 'end of season' feeling. This place was perfect.

It was by the sea, which was an added bonus

with excellent views.

Dusk was lovely

and some people still went for a swim.

The other place we tried was Iliovasilema (Sunset) at the other end of the village.

When we first sat down, we sat behind this tree, to shield our eyes from the sun as it was shining directly on our faces

but then we moved to the table on the far right in this photograph

and watched the sun set

and then this weird black cloud moved in.

When we went to the village of Styra, we sat here, at this traditional kefeneion for our pre-dinner drinks

Our favourite place for lunch was this

Sarde...litsa which means little sardine, but it's also a play with words, too difficult to explain

it's right by the sea

This is the path right below where we sat, that leads from the bungalows to the village

 

and most days we had a visitor who sat on a branch right above my head

We also had lunch here, To Akrogiali, the Seashore

with great views, right ahead of us. We sat right at the back to be away from the sun, as did most people, but this couple obviously did not mind

On that first evening when we walked to Kefala we wanted to go and eat at Matina's, a favourite from the times when we used to come to Styra every summer, but it was disappointing - there was no one there, probably because it was the end of the season, but anyway, we did not fancy it. So, we went next door to Meidanis which was also deserted, only one other table was occupied, but we had good views of the village. 

O Nikos, (the spelling, I know) became our favourite for the evenings: the food was good, and it was always busy, which unfortunately, many places were not, due to it being the end of season

I had yet again, a visitor one evening, right above my head.

When we visited Styra we wanted to eat at Christos', a place we used to frequent quite often, where we had wonderful nights, where they served the best chips and where Ken talked about music with Christos, the owner. The place was still there, but it was not Christos' anymore, I should have asked what happend to Christos, as I should have taken some photographs of the taverna, but I did neither. So, no memories. Instead, I have posted a picture of the lit up church which is exactly opposite where we sat. 

This is a picture of the place I took earlier, and this is where we sat. Anyway, the place is now run by three women, the food was very good and we had a wonderful time. 

Styra

As I mentioned in my previous posts we had a house in Kouvelles and we used to go to Nea Styra for  swimming, for eating out and for our social life in general. 

We also used to go to Styra, the village that is situated up on the hills. As with many villages on Greek islands there is the original village up on the hills and then later, residents also created a second village, quite often with the same name, situated on the coastline where they used to go for the summers, to fish, and later, to lure tourists to their areas. So, Nea Styra is the coast village, 'nea' meaning 'new', and Styra is the original village.

This is where my mother's ancestors came from and this is where she used to spend her summers while at school and then later when she was in medical school. She bought a house in Kouvelles, a nearby village many years later when she was married and had kids.

When we stayed in Kouvelles in the summers we would occasionally spend a morning or, more often, an evening here. Coming here was also part of our reminiscence tour.

The taxi deposited us here, in the main square

which is dominated by the church which was all lit up by the setting sun

The square was quiet at that time of late afternoon, but it would come to life later in the evening

I walked down this alleyway to look at the view of the hills surrounding the village

but soon went back to the square where nothing seemed to have changed

except for this new taverna, which we later rejected as it was a bit too kebab-oriented

First place we wanted to go was the Brysi, the spring, so we took the path on the side of the church

uphill all the way

This is an unspoilt, traditional, quiet village, but there is the occasional new build

and everything is up or down hill

and as we climbed up

the views glimpsed between the houses got better and better

Surprised to see the ruins of the old mill have been transformed into an art gallery

The grindstones in the middle

and we had arrived, the spring, the well, the centre of the village. This is where women would come to 

get water and carry it home.

The arched stone construction was built in the Ottoman era, when Greece was occupied by the Turks. People would come here to water their animals, but it was also a stop over for people who travelled from Karystos to Aliveri. The arched recesses have three taps and the water comes from the mountains.

The water is collected in the cistern and from there flows in two channels that surround the village so that residents could water their gardens.

This was the social centre of the village, and women would sit here and talk, exchange news, see their friends but also get news of the area from the people who were travelling through.

In the shade of the plane trees, dominated by this old one which has had to be propped up and which is more than 600 years old.

We were shocked to see that the whole area had been transformed into the seating area 

of this taverna, but I guess, it must be lovely sitting here, eating a meal. The place was closed when we visited, for the winter I presume, as tourism had stopped when we visited. Locals nowadays prefer to congregate in the square.

The well was used to supply water to the mill as well as providing water for the village.

Stunning news from here, including of the sea when I zoomed in.

It was time to go and see my mother's cousin's house and I was very pleased that I remembered the way in the maze of the village paths

More views of the countryside and the sea in the distance 

A sign pointing to the way to the Drakospita, a group of around 25 ancient homes thought to belong to the early Hellenistic times, 5th to 4th century BC. There are many theories about the use of these mysterious homes, some argue that they served as ancient sanctuaries of the gods, particularly Hera or Zeus, while others argue that they served as military guard posts.

They were built of massive square and oblong limestones, some of which weigh thousands of pounds, placed on top of each other without any building materials such as mud or cement, supported only by their own weight. Any gaps in the walls were filled with smaller stones while the roof was elaborately made of huge, thicker stones in a pyramid shape. A long window-like hole in the middle of the facade allows light in or smoke out.

Most of these dragon homes are preserved in excellent condition despite the fact that no binding materials were used in their construction.

We did not go to visit the dragon houses but continued on our way

and then I saw it, my mother's cousins' house

Originally, the ground floor of a lot of these houses was used for the animals or storage, but nowadays both floors are converted. I remember we used to go up the stairs and enter the kitchen

and then sit on the small balcony on the first floor and watch village life and talk

I talked to the woman on the balcony and asked her permission to take photographs before we moved on.

Most houses in the village are the old, traditional ones

and you get views of the surrounding hills from every point in the village

We retraced our steps

past the spring

past the fire station

back in the square

Another relative lived in this house, but I can't remember anything about her

We sat here for our pre-dinner drinks

Had a look at this taverna afterwards and then went to eat at Christos' which unfortunately I don't have any photographs of

except for this one, depicting the chairs set out in the square.