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)