A Place Called Space

Thursday, 22 November 2018

The Old Court House, St Albans

The Old Court House, sometimes known as the Old Town Hall, is a 19th century building which functions as Museum and Gallery these days. The two-storey classical building was designed by George Smith and features a portico with Ionic columns over a podium.

We were impressed by the way it's been restored: as you enter the building, the café is on the right and the shop on the left.

The small but imposing court room functions as a café now but is also hired out for functions. This is where the book launch that brought us to St Albans took place - it got very noisy with 150 people who attended the book launch, but we had a wonderful time.

We visited the area below where the holding cells are situated

which are tiny

and most of which have been converted into toilets.

We then walked up the stairs that would bring the prisoners and their guards to the dock.

Tuesday, 20 November 2018

St Albans

We spent two days in St Albans last week as we were attending a book launch.

St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman road of Watling Street for travellers heading north and it became the Roman city of Verulanium. it's a historic market town and is now a dormitory town within the London commuter belt.

The town's history is long: there was an Iron Age settlement known as Verulanium; the Roman city developed from the Celtic settlement and became the second largest town in Roman Britain and grew into a significant town; after the Roman withdrawal it became the centre of the territory of the Anglo-Saxon Waeclingas tribe; the medieval town grew on the hill to the east of the Waeclingacaester where the Benedictine Abbey of St Albans was founded, the principal medieval abbey in England; before the 20th century St Albans was a rural market town, a Christian pilgrimage site, and the first coaching stop of the route to and from London, accounting for its numerous old ins; today, it's a major tourist attraction.

It's a prosperous town, with interesting independent shops and lots of bars and restaurants.

The High Street is wide and spacious, in contrast

to the smaller, narrow, medieval lanes

old houses

timber-framed buildings

and interesting alleyways you want to go and explore.

The magnificent Corn Exchange, erected in 1857, is a clothes shop now.

The Clock Tower, built between 1405 and 1412, is a medieval belfry almost unique in England. It contains a large curfew bell dating from 1335. Unfortunately, it was closed when we visited as it's open by volunteers on Saturdays and Sundays only.

This small door on the side says 'Do not commit a nuisance'.

The Cathedral is magnificent

We enjoyed walking around the Cathedral area

and admired this Remembrance bench.

Sunday, 18 November 2018

Yannis Moralis - a retrospective

An exhibition we saw in Athens two months ago.

Yannis Moralis, a retrospective, at the Benaki Museum, Pireos Avenue, Athens.

A retrospective that follows Moralis' progress from decade to decade, through all the stylistic stages of his oeuvre.

Moralis is one of the most distinguished 20th century Greek artists and part of the so-called 'Generation of the 30s', a group of Greek artists active after WWII, who combined folk and modern artistic elements in the quest for 'Greekness'. Moralis' influences ranged from Greek art and Byzantine iconography to neoclassicism, romanticism and realism. In the 1950s the academic approach of his early career gave way to more abstract formulations. In a quest for harmony and balance, in accordance with the fundamental spirit of classical antiquity, Moralis selected geometry as the ideal means of rendering space and the figures that inhabit it. Rhythm, order, a shunning of detail and description, and the simple palette which he gradually imposed in the course of an organic evolution underscore his work.

Distant and elusive, he was an artist known for avoiding publicity, as he rarely gave any interviews: 'One of the reasons I don't give interviews is that I feel the spectrum of my paintings is reduced afterwards. I want my works to be free like myself, as I want the viewer to feel free to read in them the meanings he or she wishes'.

Self-Portrait, 1932, (oil on canvas)

Self-Portrait, 1934, (oil on wood)

Self-Portrait, 1934, (oil on canvas)

By the Outdoor Photographer, 1934, (oil on canvas)

Female Nude, 1936, (oil on canvas)

Male Nude, 1932, (oil on canvas)

Self-Portrait, 1938, (oil on canvas)

The Painter with Nikos Nikolaou, 1937, (oil on canvas)

The Table, 1947, (oil on canvas)

The Painter with his Wife, 1942-43, (oil on canvas)

Two Friends, 1946, (oil on canvas)

Figure, 1951, (egg tempera on panel)

Figure, 1948-49, (oil on canvas)

Study for 'Composition I' 1948, (oil on canvas)

Figure, 1951, (oil on canvas)

Seated Figure, 1952, (oil on canvas)

Figure, 1952, (oil on canvas)

Composition III, 1952-58, (oil on canvas)

Composition, 1951, (oil on canvas)

Funerary Composition, 1958, (oil on canvas)

It was during 1958 that Moralis' style changed, evolving in stages, until, finally, a decade later, his painting becomes abstract. However, before reaching the point of abstraction Moralis is exploring. Traces of this exploration become manifest in a series of six paintings under the title Funerary Composition, where he alternates between abstraction and representation. Moreover, abstraction in the work of Moralis does not signify the disappearance of subject matter, but refers to the simplification of figures and motifs, to the elimination of superfluous detail.