The Bank of Greece's Art Collection - 1

60 Years of the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation - Some of the art in their collection 

at the Benaki Museum, Pireos, Athens.

The bank's collection comprises more than 7,000 works of painting, printmaking, sculpture, drawings, illustrated books, tapestries, mosaics and ceramics. A fraction of it is displayed at the Benaki Museum. It spans the whole of the 20th century, giving us an overview of how Greek art developed in that period. The paintings were arranged thematically.

Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, Flowers, 1976

Georgios Manoussakis, Still Life with Cycladic Idolo, 1970, (tempera on canvas)

Niki Karagatsi, Table with Paisley,  Table with Paisley Tablecloth, Palm Bush, Transistor Radio on a Chair, 1974, (oil on canvas)

Konstantinos Maleas, Still Life, 1910, (oil on canvas)

Loukas Venetoullas, Pressure Cooker, 1970, (oil on canvas)

Leuteris Kanakakis, Table, 1973, (oil on canvas)

Stefanos Daskalakis, Table, 1983, (oil on canvas)

Julia Andriadou, The Sacrificial Victim, 1973, (acrylic and collage on canvas)

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Demosthenes Kokkinidis, Piraeus, Immigration, 1961, (oil on cardboard)

Alkis Pierrakos, Hills in Rome, 1974, (mixed media on canvas)

Dimitris Perdikidis, Composition, 1974, (oil on paper)

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George Hadjimichalis, Notes, 2012, (acrylic on wood)

I wish I knew more about this painting, why Bobby Sands is pictured here.

Christos Lefakis, Composition No. 32, 1961, (mixed media on canvas)

There are a few paintings in this selection, where I did not note the name of the artist. I can't remember what happened, but I decided to include them in this post, because I liked them so much. I think this one might be by Alekos Kondopoulos, but I am not sure.

Stelios Mauromatis, Wagons, 1969, (mixed media on canvas)

Thanassis Stefopoulos, Landscape, 1970-79, (oil on canvas)

Spyros Vassiliou, Thessaloniki, 1977, (oil on canvas)

Paris Prekas, Parallel Forms, 1970, (oil on canvas)

Don McCullin: Life, Death and Everything in Between - 2

Don McCullin: Life, Death and Everything in Between - part 2

at Gazi, Athens.

This is the second post on this exhibition. You can see the first part here  .  If you don't want to read the introduction again, move down to the first photograph.

47 images from Don McCullin's book, Life, Death and Everything in Between, which document humanity's most poignant moments, from the depths of conflict and despair to glimpses of resilience and beauty.

McCullin is particularly recognised for his war photography and images of urban strife. His career, which began in 1959, has specialised in examining the underside of society, and his photographs have depicted the unemployed, downtrodden and impoverished.

Between 1966 and 1984, he worked as an overseas correspondent for the Sunday Times Magazine, recording ecological and human-made catastrophes such as wars, among them Biafra in 1968, and victims of the African Aids Epidemic. His hard-hatting coverage of the Vietnam War and the Northern Ireland conflict is held in particularly high regard.

In 1982, the British government refused to grant McCullin a press pass to cover the Falklands War, claiming the boat was full. At the time, he believed it was because the Thatcher government felt his images might be too disturbing politically.

He spoke of his approach to entering war zones: 'I have risked my life endless times, and ended up in hospital with all kinds of burns and shell wounds. I have those reptile eyes that see behind and in front of me. I'm constantly trying to stay alive. I'm aware of warfare, of hidden mines'.

Some of the photographs I took are spoiled with too much reflection. I was tempted not to include them, but I so wanted a record of them.

A young child soldier at a First Aid hospital in the last days of the war, (Cambodia, 1975)

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South Vietnamese capture a Viet Cong suspect. (Mekong Delta, Vietnam, 1965).

A man carries his wife who is dying from cholera, (Bangladesh, 1971)

Contaminated water cooling a cholera victim, (Bangladesh, 1971)

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A 16-year old boy named Stephen, living with a mental health condition and with tropical sores, close to death, (Biafra, 1968)

A dead North Vietnamese soldier and his belonging, (Hue, Vietnam, 1968)

Young boys boxing near the Caledonian Road, (London, England, 1960)

Homeless man sleeping while standing, (Whitechapel, London, England, 1970)

A flooded field near my home, (Somerset, England, 2021)

Tribal people returning from a market, (Mentawai Islands, 1982-83)

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Taking gifts to the sea gods, (Bali, Indonesia, 1984)

Early morning delivery of home furnishings, (Kolkata, India, 1997)

Finsbury Park, (London, England, 1960)

The Valley of the Tombs, (Palmyra, Syria, 2007)

The Great Colonnade, (Palmyra, Syria, 2007)

 

Don McCullin: Life, Death and Everything in Between

Don McCullin: Life, Death and Everything in Between

at Gazi, Athens.

47 images from Don McCullin's book, Life, Death and Everything in Between, which document humanity's most poignant moments, from the depths of conflict and despair to glimpses of resilience and beauty.

McCullin is particularly recognised for his war photography and images of urban strife. His career, which began in 1959, has specialised in examining the underside of society, and his photographs have depicted the unemployed, downtrodden and impoverished.

Between 1966 and 1984, he worked as an overseas correspondent for the Sunday Times Magazine, recording ecological and human-made catastrophes such as wars, among them Biafra in 1968, and victims of the African Aids Epidemic. His hard-hatting coverage of the Vietnam War and the Northern Ireland conflict is held in particularly high regard.

In 1982, the British government refused to grant McCullin a press pass to cover the Falklands War, claiming the boat was full. At the time, he believed it was because the Thatcher government felt his images might be too disturbing politically.

He spoke of his approach to entering war zones: 'I have risked my life endless times, and ended up in hospital with all kinds of burns and shell wounds. I have those reptile eyes that see behind and in front of me. I'm constantly trying to stay alive. I'm aware of warfare, of hidden mines'.

Some of the photographs of the photographs I took, are spoiled with too much reflection. I was tempted not to include them, but I so wanted a record of them.

A mother with her new pram and baby in the steel town of Consett, (County Durham, England, 1974).

Tormented, Unhoused Irishman, (Spitalfields, London, 1970).

Unemployed Men Gathering Coal from the Shore, (West Hartlepool, County Durham, 1963)

Turkish Cypriot defender leaving the side entrance of a cinema, (Limassol, Cyprus, 1964)

Women and children fleeing an impeding massacre, (Karantina, East Beirut, Lebanon, 1976)

Cambodian soldiers with anti-tank gun. (Cambodia, 1970)

Sagar Island, (Delta Ganges River, India)

Woman with clay lip plate from the Mursi tribe, (Southern Ethiopia, 2006)





Blind Man with Leprosy, (Sonepur Mela, State of Bihar, India, 1987)

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Early morning at the Kumbh Mela, (Allahabad, India, 1989)

The holy festival, (Sagar Island, Junction of the Ganges and Grahmaputra rivers, India, 1977)

Horse market at Sonepur Mela, (India, 1987)

Surma tribe, (Omo Valley, southern Ethiopia, 2003-2004)

Officer Peter Osadebe addressing one of his dead soldiers during the Nigerian-Biafran War, (Biafra, 1968)

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Nurses attending a very badly burnt child, injured by napalm, (Saigon, Vietnam, 1968)

US Marines plundering possessions of a dead North Vietnamese soldier, (Hue, Vietnam, 1968)





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