Democracy

Democracy at the National Gallery, Athens.

This exhibition coincides with the 50th anniversary of the restoration of democracy in Greece after the collapse of the seven-year military dictatorship. Two factors contributed to the end of tyranny: the Athens Polytechnic uprising in November 1973, and the coup and Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The 24th of July 1974 was a turning point for Greece. It was during the same period that the considerably longer dictatorships of Salazar-Caetano (1933-1974) in Portural and Franco in Spain (1936/1939-1975) were also terminated. Consequently, the exhibition focuses on the art of the struggle for democracy in Greece, Portural and Spain.

It's structured around four sections: identifying the enemy; resistance; uprising and arousal, enjoying freedom again. Amongst other topics it explores the practices that emerged from the fight for freedom; the role of abstract art; the prominence of social realism; the art of protest in print and posters; the politics of the body.

I really enjoyed this exhibition but feel I did not do it justice in this blogpost. It all takes place in one large space and I found it difficult to differentiate where the different sections were, so it has all come all jumbled up in my blogpost. Anyway, I hope you are able to enjoy the art, even if there does not seem to be much coherence in it.

Konstantinos Parthenis, Portrait of Alexandros Papanastasiou, 1936, (oil on canvas)

Fernando Botero, Franco, 1986, (oil on canvas)

Giorgos Ioannou, The Snitch, 1974, (oil on linen)

Demosthenes Kokkinidis, April 21st, 1967, 1968, (acrylic on cardboard)

Demosthenes Kokkinidis, Courtrooms, 1971, (acrylic on panel)

Yannis Gaitis, Old and Young, 1967, (panel)

Equipo Cronica, Spectator of Spectators, 1972, (papier mache)

Yannis Gaitis, Five or Six, (paint on panel construction)

Niki Kanagini, Silence is not Golden, 1974, (acrylic, mixed media on paper)

Yannis Gaitis, The Murder of Freedom or The Colonels, 1968, (oil on canvas)

Yannis Gaitis, The Bird, 1971, (panel)

Rika Pana, From the series The Erosion of Civilisatiton, (powders and glue on canvas)

Nikias Skapinakis, Bathers, 1971, (oil on canvas)

Paula Rego, Triptych, 1964, (oil on canvas)

These surrealistic, restless, distorted and fragmented bodies reveal Rego's critique of the climate of repression and prohibitions during an exhaustingly long dictatorship.

looking at the individual panels

Equipo Cronica, High Society, 1966, (acrylic on tablex)

Christos Kapralos, Large Wounded Hoplite/Vietnam, (bronze)

detail

Christos Kapralos, Theatre - Vietnam, 1968, (bronze)

detail

detail

Dimitris Alithinos, Happening II, 1973, (mixed media, plaster, metal)

Vasso Kyriaki, Vietnam, 1968, (photographic collage, acrylic, red spray)

Tassos (Anastasios Alevizos), Angela Davis, 1972, (woodcut on paper)

Kyriakos Katzourakis, Che, 1970, (oil on canvas)

Francisco Alvarez, Demonstration, 1962, (linocut on paper)

Lefteris Kanakakis, Mournful Helmet, Trumpet, Flag, 1962, (oil on canvas)

Lefteris Kanakakis, Decoration, 1973, (oil on canvas)

Giorgos Sikeliotis, Naked Angel, 1971, (linocut on paper)

Paris Prekas, The Rape of Cyprus, 1977, (oil on canvas)

Tassos (Anastasios Alevizos), Cyprus 74, 1974, (woodcut on paper)

Tilemachos Kanthos, Black Summer 1974, 1977, (woodcut on paper)

Giorgos Ioannou, From the Well-Known Experience, 1973, (oil on linen)

This and the following few are about the Polytechnic uprising which led to the end of the military dictatorship in Greece

Giorgos Ioannou, Panepistimiou Street, 16.1.73, 18:30 (oil on linen)

Panepistimiou Street is where the University is.

Giorgos Ioannou, Athens, 17.11.73, 1973, (oil on linen)

Giorgos Ioannou, Athens 17.11.73,  1973, (oil on linen)

Konstantinos Malamos, The First Anniversary, 1975, (screenprint on paper)

Alberto Solsona, The Art of War, 1973, (acrylic on canvas)

Tzobanakis Manolis, Archangel, 1976, (reinforced concrete)

looking closer

Tassos (Anastasios Alevizos),  The Archangel with the Machine Gun,In Memory of Che Guevara, (woodcut on paper)

Tasso produced these works during Greece's seven-year military dictatorship, 1967-74. He confessed that the peculiar psychological conditions of the final years, the unbearable, daily violation of human dignity, could have had literally devastating consequences for him, were it not for the solace of artistic expression - his sole lifeline. In his multi-figure, frontal prints depicting both known and unknown fighters for democracy and social justice, Tassos captures grief, defiance, pain, rage and militancy, as well as the act of standing up to modern forms of tyranny. He achieves this by drawing on the cultural memory of religious art and folk iconography of heroes and warrior saints. 

Tassos, Angry Women, 1969, (woodcut on paper)

Tassos, The Dead, In Memory of Che Guevara, 1968, (woodcut on paper)

Yannis Psychopedis, Greek History Lesson (six panels), 1976, (oil on canvas)

Jaume Xifra, Barriere, 1974, (barbed wire)

Vlassis Caniaris, Untitled or Carnations, 1969, (plaster, canvas, panel)

Vasso Katraki, Predicament I, 1970, (stonecut on paper)

Vasso Katraki, Visit IV, 1979, (stonecut on paper)

Vasso Katraki, Waiting I, 1971, (stonecut on paper)

Yannis Hainis, Greece 21.4.67, (tempera on paper)