Constantinos Grammatopoulos at the Theoharaki Foundation, Vasilissis Sofias Avenue, Athens.
A retrospective exhibition of the works of the painter and engraver. The exhibition included oils, acrylics and posters but it was the flat plane of the woodcuts of the 1970s that appealed to me and this is what is predominantly included in this post.
Nude in Yellow, 1956, (oil on canvas)
The Upbringing of Zeus, 1958 (woodcut)
Galaxidi, 1990, (oil on canvas)
The Heroines of 1940 (poster)
Corfu, 1972, (woodcut)
Hydra II, 1980, (woodcut)
Myth III, The Kidnapping of Europa, 1971 (woodcut)
Aegean XVII, Skyros, 1973 (woodcut)
Delphi I, 1972, (woodcut)
Aegean VI, 1970 (woodcut)
Aegean XVI, Skyros, 1970 (woodcut)
Aegean XI, 1970, (woodcut)
Aegean V, 1970 (woodcut)
Aegean XV, 1973 (woodcut)
Emptying the Nets, 1977 (acrylic)
* * *
Grammatopoulos is best known for designing the readers for the first two years of primary school which were used in Greece from 1956 until 1974. There was a vitrine that exhibited these, but given that I have my own copies, (not the originals, unfortunately) I have reproduced some of the images for this post. This was a serious journey down memory lane for me. I learnt how to read and write from these books and their characters, Mimis, Lola, Anna and Ellie were part of my childhood.
The ABC book
The letter Pi (I don't have Greek characters on my laptop), so, all about a duck, papi
Omega, and the word hour/time
Sk: teacher, and thr: desk gr: writing
The Good Children
the letter O and getting the baby to sleep
L for lalala and olalala Lola.
I remember the reading books lying around my cousins' homes. I regret that I never learned formally to read and write in Greek.
ReplyDeleteI love the woodcut prints, thanks for posting them. I particularly like the juxtapositions of whole view and detail in the compositions. I think that the Corfu one is my favourite, but I like most of them very much.
They're wonderful, aren't they? Three floors of exhibits, and then, on the last floor, on just one wall, there they were. My favourites were two of Mani which I could not post as they had too much reflection on - they were similar to the others, but very abstract at the same time.
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