Kostas Papanikolaou - Four Seasons

Four Seasons by Kostas Papanikolaou at the Niarchos Centre, Athens.

The exhibition was held in the Library.

Papanikolaou is considered as one of the most important artists of the New Figuration movement in Greece. His works narrate a dreamlike reality that unfolds around a series of recurring themes: urban life and interiors, dreamy landscapes, seascapes.  His paintings are selectively realistic, highly narrative with a disarming simplicity and a bold use of colours.

This exhibition was organised around the four seasons.

Summer:

Poros, 1998, (oil on canvas)

looking closer

Poros, 1998, (oil on canvas)

Hydra, 2021, (egg-tempera on plywood)

Houses in Poros, (fresco on bricks)

sideways view

Spring:

Landscape, (oil on canvas)

View from the Window, 1983, (pencil and tempera on paper mounted on cardboard)

Summer Room, 1981, (oil on paper mounted on canvas)

Poros, (watercolour on paper)

Window, (pencil and oil on paper)

Autumn:

On Board, 2020, (egg-tempera on plywood)

On the Board on the Way To Galatas - Poros, 2019, (egg-tempera on plywood)

Night Landscape - Eleusis, 1978, (oil on canvas)

Olive Tree, (fresco)

Lemon Tree in Poros, 2021, (charcoal and egg-tempera on plywood)

looking closer

Inner Courtyard in Exarchia, 1979, (watercolour on paper)

Fuga No. 7, (mixed media on plywood)

Fuga No. 8, (egg-tempera on marine plywood)

Winter:

Apartment Building, 2024, (egg-tempera on plywood)

looking closer

Athens, (pencil and egg-tempera on plywood)

looking closer

Teachers' Office at Karpenisi High School, (pencil and ink on paper)

Teachers' Office at Karpenisi High School, 1989, (pencil and ink on paper)

Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika: Juvenilia

This exhibition covered the work of eleven Greek artists who were influenced by the major events of the 20th century: WWII, the occupation of Greece by the Germans and the famine that ensued; the Civil War that followed the end of the war, and how it divided the nation; finally the seven years of the military dictatorship that brought so much suffering to the Greek people. 

In the exhibition we were shown how each artist's work developed and changed as they matured and how some moved on to abstraction. I will cover the work of one artist in each post.

Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika: Juvenilia at the Benaki Museum, Pireos, Athens.

A member of the 'Thirties Generation' group of artists, Ghika developed Cubist and Constructivist formulations in his painting, which he used in combination with Greek trends in art, and consequently achieved a purely personal style. His aim was to focus on the harmony and purity of Greek art and to deconstruct the Greek landscape and intense natural light into simple geometric forms.

The progression of Hadjikyriakos-Ghika's work in this exhibition is explored through washing on the washing line. He made several works on this theme, for over 50 years, starting in the 1930s: the clothes are sometimes dancing in the wind, sometimes they are concealed, and sometimes they are geometrical. As the artist's work evolved and changed so did this theme, moving into abstraction.

Washing Line, 1930, (oil on paper)

Washing 1, 1936, (oil on wood)

Washing II, 1936, (oil on wood)

Terrace in Athens, 1939, (ink on paper)

Washer Women, 1946, (oil on wood)

Plants and Trellis, 1954, (oil on canvas)

Garden in Hydra, 1959, (coloured pencils and pastel on paper)

Neoclassical building with griffins, 1955, (oil on wood)

Mitropoleos Square, 1940, (oil on canvas)

Opy Zouni - Geometric Abstraction

Geometric Attraction - Opy Zouni at the Theocharakis Foundation, Athens.

This is the second post on the Geometric Abstraction exhibition. The exhibition was on three floors and two and half of those were dedicated to the work of Opy Zouni so it felt right to do a separate post on her work. As usual, I will include the introduction from the first post - if you have read this already, jump to the next section which is right after the next picture.

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When Wassily Kandinsky painted his first abstract watercolour around 1910, the revolutionary upheaval that began in European art was as momentous as the introduction of perspective a few centuries earlier.

Throughout the 20th century, abstract art passed through many stages: it was questioned, attacked and rejected, then gradually achieved recognition and prominence. It became associated with artistic freedom, imagination, and the transcendence of visible, objective reality; with philosophical systems, scientific discoveries, mystical quests and political-social contexts; or it assumed cosmic and universal dimensions. At times, it served specific purposes, adopting multiple forms.

For a long time, women artists who turned to abstraction remained ignored, marginalised, or rendered 'invisible' within the male-dominated history of art, with few support networks available to them. A series of important exhibitions in recent years, from New York to London and Paris, have methodically and rigorously opened up, reassessed, and redefined the contribution of women artists to the history of abstraction. They present 'another' history countering one that frequently diminished or silenced the significant role women played in developing abstraction.

Zouni studied painting, pottery and photography in Cairo. In 1963 she moved to Athens where she studied at the School of Fine Arts - painting under Yannis Moralis, pottery and set design. She is known for her geometric and op-art style where she combines strict geometry with concepts of perspective and illusion. Her work explores the relationship between light, space and form, often carrying a poetic dimension. The main issue that has preoccupied her is the transition from two dimensions to three, the passage from a closed space to an open one. Through geometric shapes and bold colours, she captures light, shadow, motion and perspective.  The  immense spaces she creates seem even more immense due to human absence.

Roads in Reflection, 1972-1992, (acrylic on canvas)

White Room, 1989, (acrylic on cardboard and wood construction)

Chessboard Nature, 2002, (acrylic on canvas)

Climbing Towards Red, 1991, (acrylic on canvas)

Green Horizon, 1991, (acrylic on canvas)

Stairs in a Square Opening, 1990, (acrylic on canvas)

Stripes in Blue, 1984, (acrylic on canvas)

Cubes on a Chessboard, 2002, (acrylic on canvas)





Column, (acrylic on wooden construction)

Symmetrical Columns - Shadows, 1998, (acrylic on wooden construction)

We also watched a video where the artist talked about her work.